GPRA 9.2.  Percentage of parents/family members who report talking about the importance of college and career (9th-12th grade)

Definition. This indicator is intended to measure whether parents or family members discuss the importance of college and career with their high school children.

9.2.a % of parents/family members who report talking about the importance of college (9th–12th grade) - indicator from SCCS “I talk to my child about these plans for after high school regularly (about 1-2 times per month): Attending a two year or four year college”

9.2.b % of parents/family members who report talking about the importance of career (9th–12th grade) - indicator from SCCS “I talk to my child about these plans for after high school regularly (about 1-2 times per month): Finding a job for money”

9.2.c % of parents/family members who report talking about the importance of college and career (9th–12th grade) - indicator from SCCS “How often do you have conversations with your child about career or college preparation?” with answer options being: daily, weekly, monthly, once a semester, yearly, or never.  We considered a favorable response as daily, weekly, or monthly.

 School Climate Survey

Click Here to access or upload your Data Plan with Approved Targets

Family Support Teams - Family Engagement Specialists (3,5,8,9):

Chatham hosted many activities to build relationships and create fun experiences as a family including activities that can boost mental and physical wellness such as the family Fun Swim and skiing opportunities. Other activities focused on linking families to learning and place: bringing cultural, STEM/STEAM, and place-based learning opportunities home to families. With the Mushroom Cultivation Project, students cultivated mushrooms at home. Volunteer Science Educators led lessons in microscope use, swabbing, agar plates, slide preparation, aseptic techniques, microbiology, fungi classification and role in the environment, mushroom life cycles and needs, dichotomous keys, etc. and guided students to inoculate grains, prepare substrates, and care for/observe inoculated grains at home. Project includes ongoing care of mushrooms & follow-up lessons with students at school. A Hydroponics course, which received supplies through the AK Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) engaged families in growing lettuce. Water Safety courses continue to be a priority for families, and Chatham again provided those to families this fall.

Hoonah was finally able to re-initiate family activities after COVID. In July, the Moby Greenhouse was moved to the middle of town where students and community members grew vegetables. In August, the school year began with National Night Out, which was a huge success. There were many booths and activities with many families participating. In September, they held the annual Food Fair, which brought out over 120 community members and students. A feast was prepared and many traditional native subsistence foods were handed out to everyone who was there. According to Hoonah staff, “Our traditional foods are our way of life. Feasting on locally harvested food nourishes our bodies, minds, and spirits. We know it takes a community to cook for a community! Our community meal featured abundant quantities of halibut chowder (15 gallons) ...”  In addition, a monthly Family Art Night which focuses on music and natural art and connects families with the art department, and a weekly Community Sketch Club which is open to anyone in the community.

Hydaburg hosted regular family events throughout the year, including an art walk, a Mother’s Day tea, several community gatherings, and weekly time with the principal to build relationships. In addition, the school counselor offered individualized services to 38 families who needed extra support and did home visits for students who had missed a lot of school. Staff also worked with 8th grade families to prepare them for the transition to high school via two parent meetings with the 4 families. The language teachers offered regular afternoon/evening culture classes for students and families to learn about their language and culture together, which were very well received and had families and students working pre-literacy and literacy skills in the Haida language.

The Sitka School District partners with Sitkans Against Family Violence (SAFV) and the Pathways Coalition Family Engagement Workgroup (FEW) to implement various activities in the community and schools aimed at engaging families. These include the Sitka Kids website and Facebook group that connect families to agencies, organizations, services, and activities; the Sheet’ka Family Challenge, which is a set of activities coordinated by the FEW for 12 weeks in the spring to encourage family connectedness; and inter-agency collaboration through the workgroup to expand family services and make them more accessible to all Sitkans.

Juneau was able to fill their vacant family engagement specialist position in August. The district re-launched their social media pages (instagram and facebook) and implemented 11 family nights through the fall semester, reaching 1,082 parents. Unfortunately, the position turned over again; the new specialist started in her role in January 2023.

STEPS AK Family Partnership learning community:

The Family Partnership group is made up of family engagement staff from participating STEPS AK districts, and met 3 times this year - in the spring, fall and winter. Family Engagement work was shared and the district family engagement staff provided input on family partnership planning (community dialogues), using data from School Climate Connectedness Survey, and also follow up on Harvard Grad School of Education Family Engagement training specifically looking at Theory of Action for the family partnership work and staff turnover.

Collective Impact, Coalition Building, and Workgroups (Community and Regional):

Juneau’s Haa Tóoch Lichéesh Coalition includes over 20 local organizations who are committed to creating a community of care, including culturally safe and equitable spaces for youth and accessible organizations. Work during this reporting period includes increasing access to culturally rich activities for youth and community members, creating safe spaces for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ youth at school, decolonization and anti-racism work with local organizations, and supporting the Juneau School District’s equity goals.

Also in Juneau, the ROCK Coalition, which primarily focuses on Early Childhood (see GPRA 1a), coordinated an online training with the Equity Literacy Institute in May. The training was open to all social service and child care providers in Southeast Alaska. 37 people signed up and 19 people were able to attend. Attendees included professionals from social services, school district, early childhood providers, and the Juneau Public Library. Many of the participants who could not make it cited Covid as their barrier.  The training covered the basics of 'Understanding Equity and Inequity', strategies to identify equity strengths/ weaknesses in our organizations, and how to make an action plan to improve. As time and resources allow, ROCK will host follow up opportunities to revisit equity concepts and support organizational change.

The Sitka Pathways Coalition continues to meet regularly, including workgroups focused on Peer Culture, Family Engagement, and Communications. This coalition includes about 8 local organizations focused on addressing the shared risk and protective factors that are associated with positive youth outcomes. School district family engagement staff also participated in the Wooch.een Health Networking Group, the Sitka Community Recreation Initiative, and the Sitka Health Summit, as well as various STEPS workgroups and PLCs.

STEPS AK Coalition and Workgroups:

STEPS partners continue to meet virtually quarterly for topical conversations focused on building connections and collaboration and gathered in-person for a longer session in May. Topical workgroups meet even more often and are reported on in the relevant GPRAs:

• Tlingit & Haida Language Teachers (GPRA 2.1) - 15 members
• Tribal Organization Leaders (GPRA 2.1) - 6 organizations - 20 members
• Trauma Engaged Schools Champions (GPRA 2.1) - 8 members
• Mental Health (GPRA 4) - 12 members
• Family Partnership (GPRA 9.2)- 4 members
• Postsecondary - Southeast Network of Alaska CAN (GPRA 5) - 25 members

Community Dialogues (Community):

Regional Dialogue Host Training

Informed by First Alaskans Institute’s Dialogues on Racial Equity (ANDORE), the host training in April served to educate those in attendance about facilitation techniques when hosting dialogues, and collaboration for addressing racial, gender, and educational equity. 35 participants from all across the state of Alaska had the opportunity to attend the host training and discuss racial equity with other Alaskan school staff, tribal organizations, community leaders, and change makers. STEPS partners from Sitka, Juneau, and regional organizations (SHI) attended.

Community School/ Family Dialogues -

Chatham - AASB hosted a community dialogue with students during school and families during the evening in November that brought together school staff, community members, and elders. The student responded to questions about what they wish to learn in school, what they’d like to see taught to the next generation, and what they envisioned the school would look like when the things they asked for were integrated within school? The student responses were shared at the family dialogue. The community dialogue with families centered on how the school and families could partner together to support student learning. 

Hoonah - AASB hosted a community dialogue with students during school and families during the evening in November that brought together school staff, community members, and elders. The goal of the dialogue was to discuss what a healthy community and educational partnership might look like in Hoonah. An important focus in this dialogue was to open conversation with families, community members, teachers, and administrators. In addition to the community-wide dialogue, AASB also facilitated a dialogue with students, where questions paralleled those asked at the community dialogue. Hoonah school staff reported that both conversations “brought about ideas for change and meaningful connection.” Some of these ideas included the importance of Tlingit cultural values, the need to focus on time with Elders, community bonds, and youth programs.

Juneau - In addition to the May dialogue reported in our APR, JSD and Haa Tóoch Lichéesh hosted another family dialogue in October focused on the transition from middle to high school. Some of the needs identified were to: 1) create positive relationships and sense of community, 2) acknowledge and address the impacts of COVID, 3) create safety nets for students who need additional support, 4) provide more information, sooner, to families about high school, 5) improve quality and format of communications to families, and 6) provide services/ support to families, not just students.

Sitka - In December, Sitka invited parents of incoming and recent kindergarteners as well as staff from the elementary school and childcare centers to gather for a dialogue around kindergarten transitions. See GPRA 1a.

Tlingit & Haida, Haa Tóoch Lichéesh Coalition Cultural Events (Juneau)

Haa Tóoch Lichéesh (HTC) Coalition and Tlingit and Haida offer various community programs aimed at increasing the knowledge, acceptance, and value for SEAK traditional values, language, and culture. This is an important piece of building racial equity in our STEPS communities.

Data for this indicator is from the School Climate and Connectedness Survey. Most recent data was shared in our previous report.

Activities reported under this GPRA are focused on engaging families and communities and working to improve large, community- and systems- level factors associated with the conditions for learning - such as racial equity and cultural connectedness. This includes community events and opportunities for learning traditional cultural skills and indigenous languages, as well as community dialogues.

Some Successes:

• Deepened Family Offerings. Our schools have deepened their relationships with families and made clear links to learning through the summer cultural, STEM/STEAM camps which have begun to be integrated into the school year curriculum and activities such as the hydroponic gardens.  The schools are also reaching and supporting high-need families by offering one-on-one support to students who are chronically absent.
• Collaboration. Districts have had better success in reaching and building relationships with families by collaborating with community and tribal organizational partners that have connections to families.  This also offers better alignment of culturally responsive curriculum, links to learning as schools and tribal organizations share learning resources to use with families.  Finally, sustainability has been increased by utilizing multiple sources of funding and creating partnerships  between schools and community partners to serve students and families.
• Return to dialogues with COVID restrictions eased. Due to the sensitive nature of the topics covered at community dialogues and the cultural context in which they are held, this strategy was not able to be implemented in a virtual setting. Now that Covid-19 restrictions are reduced, there has been a surge in requests for community dialogues.
• Exceeding Targets for year 5. While there are still numbers to reach from Covid-19 years, we had exceeded our targets for year 5.

Some Challenges:

• Staff Turnover. We continue to see family partnership staff change annually (or more often) at most of our school sites. This has made it difficult to embed deeper, systems-level family partnership work into the schools. In addition, teaching staff is turning over more frequently, making it difficult to build relationships.
• Hard to reach families continue to be under-represented at school hosted events. Collaboration with community partners is helping build relationships which is slowly increasing participation.

Staff turnover is consistently a problem which either stops or limits family engagement activities.  We’re working with districts to better prepare for transitions including holding meetings before/after the staff leaves to document key activities and contacts to share as we meet with the new staff.  We’re also working with districts to build the family engagement capacity among more staff and encourage learning activities that are systematically added so that at least some activity continues even with vacancies.

Given the history of Alaska Native families and the disproportionate COVID impacts, many families need increased and additional resources.  Trauma engaged practices combined with culturally responsive curriculum and activities provides resiliency and connection but also builds relationships between families and school community and staff.  District collaboration with families has been successful in reaching families who tend to be underrepresented. Our work in continually bringing together schools and community partners has been necessary and productive.