Home Visit Protocol

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have a general rundown of what is going to happen at a home visit? DS is going into PS3 and his teacher (per materials) is someone new to staff. Who will come? What should we offer? How long would it take?

All experiences are of interest. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Here's a 10 minute training video. It's actually pretty straightfoward process when done effectively. Usually two teachers. Pretty informal. Ours were about 30 minutes. No time for snacks. Teachers got down to business asking and answering questions. Asked DC to show favorite toys and books. Took pictures with DC at the end and put up in class the first day. DC loved that!

http://youtu.be/Y03oP_RRg9U

It's not a Big Brother government intrusion. All the KIPP schools do it. Teachers are trained to make good use of time.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this! Extremely helpful.

[Anonymous]

All the KIPP schools do it?? How is it then that KIPP in Shaw has over 50% Maryland license plates dropping off each morning (I know. I drive by it every day and notice it)? (I know, SOME of them probably are relatives or nannies or whatever, but surely not all of them). Do the teachers travel to MD to make their home visits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the KIPP schools do it?? How is it then that KIPP in Shaw has over 50% Maryland license plates dropping off each morning (I know. I drive by it every day and notice it)? (I know, SOME of them probably are relatives or nannies or whatever, but surely not all of them). Do the teachers travel to MD to make their home visits?

The address of record is probably a relative and the visits are announced so the parents meet them there and play it off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the KIPP schools do it?? How is it then that KIPP in Shaw has over 50% Maryland license plates dropping off each morning (I know. I drive by it every day and notice it)? (I know, SOME of them probably are relatives or nannies or whatever, but surely not all of them). Do the teachers travel to MD to make their home visits?[/quote

Oh get off it, your eye driving down a street is nowhere near scientific!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the KIPP schools do it?? How is it then that KIPP in Shaw has over 50% Maryland license plates dropping off each morning (I know. I drive by it every day and notice it)? (I know, SOME of them probably are relatives or nannies or whatever, but surely not all of them). Do the teachers travel to MD to make their home visits?[/quote

Oh get off it, your eye driving down a street is nowhere near scientific!!

And what would a "scientific" study of this particular issue look like? (Would we need to take blood samples?!) PP didn't say that that over 50% of students attending Kipp in Shaw live in Maryland, only that what (s)he sees during his/her pass through each day is that more than 50% of the cars dropping off kids have MD license plates. I agree that some of these might certainly be legitimate DC students, but who are you trying to kid?

Truth be told, I've griped about this very issue myself from time to time on DCUM, because it's so blatant and done with such complete disregard for the kids they put in this position, not to mention the families of legitimate DC residents who might like a crack at attending. It's completely insane that there's no clear process for reporting this particular type of infraction observed in this particular way. Like PP, I see those license plates too, but because I don't have student names to associate with them (because I'm a member of the community but not a KIPP parent), there's absolutely nothing I can do to have the issue investigated. Honestly, I understand why KIPP parents wouldn't want to report, even if it's the right thing to do. But it IS the right thing to do. And OSSE, etc. acknowledge it as such. But their policies don't align.

I see that KIPP does great things for the kids they serve, so I can only assume that the leadership is smart enough to know about the numerous offenders, but without the integrity to do the right thing about it. What a shame.

[Anonymous]

DCPS has one dedicated investigator for residency cases, most charters can't afford to have a dedicated investigator. A friend of mine who works in a charter office told me that a PI charges nearly $2500 per case - sometimes the schools want to run residency cases down, but can't afford to...The state (OSSE) should provide this service to schools free of charge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS has one dedicated investigator for residency cases, most charters can't afford to have a dedicated investigator. A friend of mine who works in a charter office told me that a PI charges nearly $2500 per case - sometimes the schools want to run residency cases down, but can't afford to...The state (OSSE) should provide this service to schools free of charge.

OSSE should do independent investigations. It's a potential conflict of interest for schools to investigate their own source of funding. That's how the whole thing started with low enrollment schools looking the other way to keep funding.

Home visits are not at all tied to residency verification. Visits could happen at a library or Starbucks if parents want.

[Anonymous]

I just visited my child's school website and yes it says the teachers should be calling to set up a home visit. Hope I don't have to order take out.

[Anonymous]

We had one last year to verify our DC residency because we had just moved and didn't have residency paperwork. They felt awkwardstopping by, we felt awkward and then it was done, no big deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just visited my child's school website and yes it says the teachers should be calling to set up a home visit. Hope I don't have to order take out.

As a teacher who just started doing home visits last school year, I thought I'd chime in. The sole purpose we have for doing the home visit is to better serve your child. We're not there to judge your parenting style, your home, etc. - we're there to get to know you a little bit better at the beginning of the year because research has shown home visits both increase parental involvement in their child's education and helps foster good communication between parent and teacher. It's a little awkward for us too, but it's ultimately about helping out your kid.

Here's more info about the goals and purpose of the visit: https://www.neafoundation.org/content/assets/2012/11/Parent-Teacher%20Home%20Visits%20Issue%20Brief.pdf

[Anonymous]

I just received a call from my child's teacher for a visit. She indicated that it should take from 30 minutes to an hour. The aide is also coming along with her. This should be interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just received a call from my child's teacher for a visit. She indicated that it should take from 30 minutes to an hour. The aide is also coming along with her. This should be interesting.

best practices state there should be two teachers and the aide benefits from meeting the kid too.

[Anonymous]

Our teacher didn't do home visits. She just did in room conferences.