In an effort to continue to equip Communities In Schools site coordinators with the latest strategies and techniques to help at-risk students succeed in the classroom, Communities In Schools (CIS) of Georgia conducted a recent training in Atlanta. CIS site coordinators are based in K-12 public schools, work in conjunction with local CIS affiliates, and act in partnership with school staff to connect needed community resources and volunteers to youth who are not succeeding and their families.
During the training, the site coordinators discussed the importance of a support team (school staff, parents, student, mentors, tutors and other volunteers), examining and understanding a student’s needs based on a comprehensive assessment, family risk factors, and developing an individualized student plan.
Educators see site coordinators as a valuable partner in a student’s success. Josh Morreale, principal of Cobb County’s Osborne High School, says his site coordinators have increased student success by 20%.
CIS site coordinators are based in 166 locations throughout Georgia, and there are over 700 site coordinators throughout the national CIS network.
Additionally during the site coordinator convening, other educators who work with CIS Performance Learning Centers® (PLCs) took advantage of training focused on the Common Core shifts in literacy. PLCs provide small learning environments for high school students who are not succeeding in the traditional school setting. Participants were introduced to ideas to improve instruction in the PLC blended learning environment and gained ideas regarding how to write and evaluate a teaching task to accomplish the Common Core shifts. This included framing literacy-rich project-based units so that students engage in all three Common Core shifts.