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Results of HOME WORKS! The Teacher Home Visit Program
HOME WORKS! The Teacher Home Visit Program: (
)
HOME WORKS! The Teacher Home Visit Program uses an external evaluator to improve the program and report to the Community Advisory Board and all the schools about the effectiveness of HOME WORKS! Teacher home visits in all ten schools are being evaluated in terms of implementation and outcomes.
The implementation part provides data about the effectiveness of the program and areas for improvement. Data for the implementation evaluation includes interviews and focus groups of principals, teachers, students, and parents at each school, and school records.
The outcomes part of the evaluation provides data about the success of the program in meeting its objectives. Data from attendance records, student grades, discipline records and standardized test scores are collected and analyzed to determine the impact of HOME WORKS! on student academic achievement.
Results of the most recent comprehensive evaluation are availabe in PDF form in the HOME WORKS! The Teacher Home Visit Program Final Report 2009-2010 (Jan 2011). Here are a few of the highlights:
- In the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS), HOME WORKS! student grades in math improved significantly more than the grades of non-HOME WORKS! students.
- SLPS parents who received home visits reported more contact with the schools and more frequent attendance at school events after their visits. They also felt there had been positive changes at home including establishment of rules about homework and limits on television viewing.
- Analysis of student performance measured by the AIMSWeb (a standardized test for grades 2-5) assessment of Maplewood Richmond Heights (MRH) elementary students showed that 2nd grade HOME WORKS! students improved significantly more than non-HOME WORKS! students.
- There was significant improvement in attendance among MRH students receiving free or reduced lunch; that is, the attendance of HOME WORKS! students on free and reduced lunch increased whereas attendance of non-HOME WORKS! students declined
- When MRH students with poor attendance (defined as less than 90%) were examined, there was improvement among HOME WORKS! students.
- 74% of parents at SLPS felt “very connected” to their child’s school after their home visit compared to only 48% before the home visit.
Comments from Parents
It was a complete relief meeting our teacher. It most definitely eased ours and our child’s minds. (ECC parent/guardian)
We had a chance to express concerns and situations that there isn’t time to otherwise. It was easy, relaxed, and not pressured. (Middle school parent/guardian)
My son is always excited to see his teacher "on his turf." The teacher asked questions to get to know our son better and he really liked being the focus of her attention. (Elementary school parent/guardian)
It was exceptional. I love knowing that staff and teachers care as much about my daughter’s education as I do.
I am a working Mom so I frequently feel disconnected from my child's school experience. The home visit provided me with the opportunity to ask questions of the teachers in an uninterrupted setting.
Teacher Comments
We were invited to stay for dinner at the home of one of our students whose behavior was an issue. It was a wonderful evening with this student's family and extended family. This student was so proud to see his teachers eating the types of foods he ate and enjoying being in his house, enjoying the company of his family. It was written all over his face! After that evening he became a model student! We never had another problem with his behavior and he began to work much harder, academically. It was one of best experiences of my long teaching career.
I learned more about the students when I went on home visits. The rapport with the families was better. Students were more responsive to me because they knew I could go to their houses. I found how different some of my students were at home and how to have higher expectations of them because of the information I gathered at these visits.
The insight you gain from crossing the threshold of these families is priceless. The connection you make by going to their home is 'chips in your bank' when you have a difficult situation to talk to the parent about later in the year.
Student Comments
I feel that my teacher visiting is very good because she gets to know me just a little better.
It was fun and good for my mom to know how good I am.
I learned that our teachers really want us to learn. They will keep trying to help us. They won’t give up.