Giving Compass' Take:

• Schools in Detroit are using home visits to foster goodwill and understanding between families and educators. 

• How can the tactics deployed in Detroit work elsewhere? What are the long-term benefits of programs like school home visits? 

• Learn how community schools are improving outcomes. 

Instead of spending time enjoying one of the first warm spring evenings of the year, teacher Melanie Wallace and Principal Melissa Scott from Coleman A. Young Elementary School spend hours after the school day ends driving from home to home to visit their students’ families.

 

Detroit school leaders are trying to change the culture of schools that, for years, have been among the lowest performing in the nation, but experts say teachers can’t do that alone. They need the help and support of parents.

Adding even more urgency, Detroit schools are constantly in danger of losing money as parents choose to exercise their options to attend dozens of district, charter, or suburban schools inside and outside their neighborhoods.

“I had students — kids who don’t have behavior issues — who would stand next to their desks, and I would have to ask them to sit down,” Wallace said. “I didn’t understand why it was happening, but then I went on home visits and realized it was because they don’t have furniture, so they’re not used to sitting.”

In order to meet the needs of the families they have visited, Scott said the school provides access to the staff kitchen, a shower, and a washer and dryer. Teachers pay out of pocket to keep laundry detergent and bath products stocked.

Scott said families come in every weekend to cook meals and do laundry for free. If Scott notices a child hasn’t gotten a bath recently, she’ll pull the student out for a shower.

Read the full article about school home visits by Amanda Rahn at Chalkbeat.