Family Workshop Results Report

Student Name: ​Nicole Simpson

Internship Site and Location: ​Oakview Elementary School, Holly Springs NC
Date and Location:​ Tuesday, April 17, 2018 @ OVES Gymnasium
Workshop Title: ​Ocean Commanders: Parent Information Session

Names, titles, and organizations of all persons involved in delivery of workshop:

Nicole Simpson - OVES School Counselor Intern
Kristin Poe - OVES School Counselor
Chris LaRose - OVES 50% Counselor

Number of workshop participants ​(Sign-in Sheet attached)​:

17 Participants signed in via PearDeck, but approximately 250 people were in attendance

Outline of workshop content ​(PowerPoint Presentation attached):

a. Welcome and Introductions of the Student Support Team
b. Introduce the ​Ocean Commanders​ curriculum
c. Defining ​Emotions​, and naming them
d. Explaining the ​Wave of Emotion
e. Defining ​Coping Strategies
f. Identifying healthy coping strategies, and ones that are personally effective
g. Parent feedback
h. Questions/Comments, and availability to talk afterwards

Description of marketing/participant recruitment plan and description of attendance

incentives:
Parents and guardians were notified of this workshop via blurbs and reminders in the
PTA monthly newsletter, OVES Counseling newsletters, Oakview’s Wise Weekly newsletters,
and the principal’s Moore Owlsome News video newsletters. Since the workshop took place
during the PTA meeting before the spring chorus concert (for all grades K-5), parents and
guardians who were not informed of the workshop may still have been in attendance because of
the special circumstances.
Participants were involved in an interactive, engaging workshop where they experienced
lessons their children have been taught. Participants also had access to light refreshments, and
could stay for the chorus performance.

Summary of participant evaluations:

This workshop imitated the lessons students received in the classroom, so Google
Classroom and PearDeck technologies were implemented (to the best of my abilities). The
Google Classroom slides showed parents the same slides their students have seen and created,
and PearDeck allowed for real-time feedback from participants. PearDeck kept track of the
number of participants who signed in, but was not indicative of the actual number of people in
attendance (17/~250, or approximately 7%). Participants were able to input responses such as
emotions they feel during the week, examples of healthy coping strategies, and answers to
feedback questions at the end. There were also paper copies available for parents and guardians
who did not wish to use the technologies, but not enough to accommodate the amount of
participants who wanted paper instead of using technology.
At the conclusion of the presentation, parents were asked the following questions:
1) Were you familiar with Ocean Commanders before this presentation?
2) How likely are you to use this information with your children?
3) Any questions or feedback for the student support team?
For questions 1 and 2, participants were asked to rank their response on a scale of 1-5 with 1
meaning “Not at all” and 5 meaning “Definitely”. The results for these questions are shown in
Figure 1 and Figure 2 below.

Figure 1

According to Figure 1, 97.5% of participants recorded knowing absolutely nothing to very little
about the Ocean Commanders curriculum prior to this presentation. These results show that
regardless of parent and family buy-in to the curriculum, the significant majority of them were at
least exposed to the lessons, the language used, and the positive implications of beginning
conversations with their children around the topic.
 Figure 2

According to Figure 2, 81.1% of participants reported strong agreement to using this information
with their children in the future. Participants who responded positively will likely conduct
meaningful conversations with their children about emotions, coping skills, and healthy lifestyles
using the same language as the school counseling program. This is promising for student social
and emotional development as stakeholders will be reinforcing these life skills both inside and
outside the school environment.
Following the presentation and chorus performance, the school counselors stayed visible
throughout the gym and cafeteria for any parents or family members seeking more information.
A handful of parents and family members approached us, voicing their appreciation of the
presentation. Through written and in-person feedback, many parents expressed their gratitude for
the open communication and opportunity to be involved in what their children are learning, as
well as the information on how to physically see their child’s work. A few parents expressed
their appreciation for the fostering of social and emotional skills.

When and how did you share the workshop results with school leadership?
Workshop results were shared with the OVES Principal, Assistant Principal, and Student
Support Team on 4/18/18 following the School Improvement Plan team meeting. The number of
participants, percentages and charts, and summarized learned knowledge were presented to all
individuals present. I summarized the findings, offered my feedback for future recommendations,
and left the session open for questioning and clarification.
Provide a brief summary of recommendations for future family engagement efforts in your
school:
Overall, parent and family attendance was fairly high for this workshop, and the feedback
was significantly positive. This could be in large part due to the previous lack of knowledge as
well as the convenience of the time, day, and location because of the chorus performance. For
future workshops and engagement efforts, I would continue to collaborate with other school
events to make the time and location feasible for families, as well as consider how to reach out
and include families that were unable to attend.
After developing and implementing this workshop, I would strongly recommend an
increased intentionality in working with parents. Oakview has a high level of parent
involvement, but it is possible that since parents are extremely involved in day-to-day upkeep,
little attention is placed on parent workshops and relationship building opportunities. A more
balanced family connection may consist of intentional parent workshops and family nights that
further foster common language and expectations, taking advantage of the already-present family
motivation and willingness to be involved.
For future workshops, I would recommend a different way to gather feedback and
information from families than what I implemented. I believe there is value in showcasing
PearDeck and Google Classroom since these are how we teach lessons to students, but they are
not the most effective means of gathering data and perceptions from parents and families. Paper
is also a less-than-ideal method, considering the sheer number of people attending the event. Out
of approximately 250 people in attendance, only 17 (7%) signed in to PearDeck and only 122
(49%) provided feedback. Counselors at Oakview should be creative with their measures for
gathering data on attendance and feedback, perhaps looking into other technologies or additional
incentives for filling out surveys.
Participant Sign-In via PearDeck: