Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is aiming to increase family engagement and student outcomes through a new partnership with a national organization.
The National Center for Families Learning is a nonprofit focused on building more equitable communities through an education model that involves parents.
One component of this is called “family literacy,” where parents learn with their children at school. There are also home visits, child care support and programming to strengthen parents’ leadership skills.
WS/FCS has used a family literacy model in six schools over the past 20 years. At a board of education meeting on Tuesday, WS/FCS Director of Multilingual Learner Services Yamil Bullock says it’s been successful for families where English isn’t their first language.
“It is amazing to see what parents are doing and what the children are doing and how they are supporting the children also at home, because that's the idea," Bullock said. "We have had parents sharing that now they're able to communicate with the teachers because they already know the language."
The district will receive $30,000 a year for three years to implement the programming at 11 schools, impacting more than 50 families.
Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.