Famille, cole, Communaut, Russir Ensemble (FECRE) Program

1) Category:
General program

2) Issues Behind the Program:

Success in school poses greater challenges in disadvantaged communities than in more affluent ones. Graduation rates are low and drop-out rates are high. More often, parents feel destitute and have more trouble contributing to their childs success. Teachers are overloaded by the many difficulties they encounter every day. According to researchers, work with the family of the student concerned, along with rallying of the various people in the students environment, is vital in narrowing the gap between have and have-not communities. In the long term, preventive intervention also fosters the academic success of all students and higher graduation rates in underprivileged districts.

3) Objectives:
Bring together all the players within the community to create synergy aimed at promoting the academic success of children in underprivileged circumstances. Develop the childrens reading and writing skills. Get parents involved in their childrens education. Acknowledge teachers for their qualities and competence. Increase after-hour school services.

4) Environment:
Primary schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods Families

5) Target Group:
Participating school boards Families and their children from 2 to 12 years old Primary schools Departmental, institutional and community partners

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/.

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6) Key Words:
Famille cole communaut russir ensemble, FECRE, coeuraction, school-familycommunity partnership, general program, MELS, intervention, disadvantaged communities, education communities, mobilization, joint action, academic success, success in school

7) Description:
The purpose of the Famille, cole, Communaut, Russir Ensemble (FECRE) program is to establish education communities (school, family and community) to foster academic success in underprivileged neighborhoods. The programs organizational structure is integrative, dynamic and interactive, and based on partnership led by MELS. The approach is multidisciplinary, comprehensive and cohesive. There are five intervention systems: child, family, class, school, and community. The idea here is to encourage the integrated evolution of practices. Regular exchange is needed to maintain the synergy between the local teams and to pass on know-how. Reports will enable ongoing monitoring, constructive evaluation and any required adjustments.

8) Steps:
The steps involved vary depending on the needs of the school community and the activities that will be introduced.

9) Activities/Actions:
Practices aimed at improving communication between school staff and parents: o o o o Drawing on parents skills in school or extracurricular activities by involving them in learning projects Adapted language in written communication with the parents Increased accessibility by families to school resources, e.g. the library Parent networking to increase their participation in planning and carrying out activities

Making the most of school resources:

10) Resources Required:

Human resources (established during the pilot project): o Steering and interdepartmental monitoring committee (composed of representatives from various government departments and participating school boards, program evaluation team, parents representative and program manager) Program support committee (composed of members of the Direction de la formation gnrale des adultes, the Direction de la recherche, des statistiques et des indicateurs and the Direction de ladaptation scolaire et des services complmentairesvarious Department of Education directoratesand the program manager)

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/.

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Local project teams (composed of representatives from the schools selected, members of participating school boards, the parents in participating school districts, and community group, institutional, cultural and municipal representatives by territory) Development officer Program manager

o o

Financial resources

11) Roles of the Participants:

Steering and interdepartmental monitoring committee: o o o o o o o o o o contributes to the strategic thrusts of the program and facilitates adherence to program guidelines; evaluates and recommends funding prospects within the partnership; supports local project teams. helps with program coordination and relevant research; produces and implements the framework for program evaluation; sees to program evaluation and transmits the results to the MELS directorates. describe the school community and design the local project and action plans; ensure that the projects and action plans are carried out and support integration of the practices within the partner organizations; help with detailed planning of project activities, action plans, and reports (including the evaluation report); determine which actions, tools and programs are suitable for carrying out the project and local action plans. prepares and chairs local project team meetings; takes part in putting the project and the local action plans together and collaborates in implementing them; performs the duties determined by the local project team; supports partnership within the local project team and implementation of the action plans. appoint someone to liaise with the Steering and interdepartmental monitoring committee; disseminate the knowledge and the expertise acquired during the program and foster their practical application; mobilize the potential partners in the designated territories and make sure that two local project teams are involved; make sure the project has funding and services; participate in choosing two primary schools (ranked 9 or 10) within the school board territory and support these schools and their principals; appoint a project development officer.

Program support committee:

Local project teams:

Development officer: o o o o

School boards: o o o o o o

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/.

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Participating schools: o o o o work with the school board to see to program implementation; rally the school staff and the Governing Board around the program and establish a local project team; integrate relevant outcomes into the educational project and the success plan; contribute funding or services. takes part in project design and detailed planning; contributes to establishing and monitoring the local project teams and liaising between them and the Steering and interdepartmental monitoring committee; determines local project teams professional development needs, makes training arrangements and helps with administrative management; works with the local management teams to draft progress reports and the evaluation report.

Program manager: o o o o

12) Scientific Basis or Validity:

This program was tested by MELSs Direction de la formation gnrale des adultes (DFGA) further to the Action Plan for Adult Education and Continuing Education and Training. The program is based on different approaches: ecological systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), early intervention, resilience approach, prevention, partnership, enabling and empowering (Dunst, Trivette and Deal, 1989; Terrisse, 1997) and social capital. The program was evaluated from 2003 to 2009 in collaboration with Universit de Sherbrooke. The results are available at https://depot.erudit.org/id/003221dd. [in French only] A very high percentage of those who responded (local team members, schools, public agencies, school boards and parents) to a survey on the participation rate of local teams and the synergy created among them reported that FECRE had had a major effect on school-community organization partnership and on partner mobilization on the academic success front. Verbatim analysis (Larose et al. 2008) findings revealed that parents showed more interest in their childrens success in school and their participation in school life. Participants commented that their children had a greater feeling of belonging to the school, were absent less often, and had fewer behavioral problems.

13) Program Material:

Guide de la MRC du Haut-Saint-Franois Guide des attitudes et des comportements (attitude and behavior handbook) put together by all the partners in collaboration with two school teams. Intended as a guide that parents can use to help their children throughout their passage through school.

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/.

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14) Additional Information:

This program was tested in 24 primary schools (with a socioeconomic index of 9 or 10), 12 school boards, and community organizations and institutions. The information contained in this factsheet was taken from: o o the following website [in French only]: http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/dfga/politique/fecre/pdf/cadre_fecre.pdf; International Perspectives on Contexts, Communities, and Evaluated Innovative Practices (Deslandes, 2009).

15) Contacts:
Ministre de l'ducation, du Loisir et du Sport Direction de lducation des adultes et de laction communautaire 1035, rue De La Chevrotire, 13e tage Qubec (Qubec) G1R 5A5 Tel.: 418 643-9754

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/.

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