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Family Connections

An ambitious project aims to prove Web-based technology can break down language barriers and increase parents' ties to the classroom.

Story and photos by Rhonda Barton

Delta Junction, Alaska—Nine-year-old David Abramov quietly practices his spelling list, neatly printing words such as "the," "is, "you," and "we" in rows on lined notebook paper. He recites vowels and occasionally stumbles over an o-a or o-u sound, but that's understandable: David arrived in the United States just one month ago from Uzbekistan. This is his second one-to-one lesson with Sirje Kulakevich, a Title I aide from Estonia who is a resource for the Slavic families that have flooded this town at the end of the 1,400-mile Alcan Highway that stretches from Alaska to Canada.

One-third of the students in the Delta/Greely School District share similar stories to David's. From the Ukraine, Moldavia, Romania, and Russia, they've come to this spot where farmers raise yak and grain, and where some of the businesses on the commercial strip are named for an elusive herd of bison that populate nearby woods. Families are drawn here by cheap land, jobs in the gold mines, and a supportive immigrant community that revolves around the charismatic Pentecostal church. They seek opportunity and an easier life for their children, free of the turmoil of homelands still struggling to adjust to noncommunist rule. For children and parents alike, the language barrier presents the biggest challenge in adapting to their new life. For the 844-student school district, communications is a stumbling block in helping immigrant children succeed. But, technology may hold one of the keys to bridging the linguistic gap and bringing Slavic and American cultures together.

Breaking the Barrier

At Delta High School, a small room crowded with hard drives and servers is the nerve center of Project Parent Connect, an uncommon attempt to use computers to increase parent involvement and improve student academic performance. Initially funded by a $284,000 Enhancing Education Through Technology (E2T2) federal grant and subsequently by school district dollars, the project has two main components: switching to a Web-based student information system and using Russian language translation software to make that information—and teacher communications—accessible to non-English-speaking parents. By encouraging parents to actively participate in their children's schooling, the project seeks to mitigate the high risk of educational failure that accompanies poverty and limited English skills.

The initiative is the brainchild of Rick Johnson. It grew out of his personal frustration with paperwork and the rising and falling fortunes of Delta Junction. Settled into a comfortable booth at the Buffalo Diner, Johnson launches into the story of how Project Parent Connect (or PPC) was conceived.

Johnson was teaching third grade at nearby Fort Greely when the Army base was mothballed and the base school closed. Casting about for a way to make a living in Delta Junction, he bought the diner—known for its buffalo burgers—and started teaching part-time at the Delta Cyber School, a statewide online charter school. Three years later, when Fort Greely reopened as a national missile defense site and the town swelled with Slavic immigrants, Johnson was able to sell the diner and return to teaching full time. But, making the transition from a technology-based school system to a traditional one was tough. "My pet peeve was that I was expected to take attendance on a piece of paper, enter it into a computer, then have a student take the paper to the office where that staff would enter the numbers into their computer," he recalls. "I began to design in my mind what was needed for an automated information system that would originate in the classroom and eliminate all those steps."

At the same time, Johnson was searching for a way to engage the families of his Slavic students just as he had at the closely knit Fort Greely school. "If you can bring the parents into the information flow, and make them aware of their child's progress on a real-time basis, they're much more likely to get involved with his education," he observes.

PPC was the answer. The district's new Web-based student information system and translation software allow any Slavic family with a computer to monitor classroom performance, review it with their student, and freely communicate with teachers. Families without home computers—especially those whose children receive free and reduced-price lunch or are recommended by their teachers as needing improvement—can borrow the equipment from the district. One group of families is being selected to receive computers and training during the first semester while a second group will get equipment and training during the second semester.

Measuring the impact of the program on students' test scores, attendance, and report card results is a PPC priority (see "The Research"). An assessment plan calls for surveying parents and teachers on a regular basis, conducting interviews, and tracking the number of computer hits to see how they correlate to student improvement. The group that received computers and training during the first half of the year will be compared to the "control group" that will be served at a later time.

The plan to capture rich data and use a randomized experimental evaluation design is what distinguishes the program and excites Gary Graves, a Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory evaluator. "This project has many strengths," says Graves, "but one feature of PPC sets it apart from any other E2T2 grant that NWREL is aware of: a commitment to and support for using a scientifically based evaluation model to measure the project's results. The U.S. Department of Education is asking for evidence of impact, and PPC has the potential to help answer one of education's more difficult questions: What difference can technology make in student learning?"

Getting Started

Armed with the federal grant, Johnson started putting the pieces in place last year but discovered that PPC's goals were simply too ambitious for a one-year time span. The bulk of the 2003-2004 school year was spent replacing outdated district software and hardware and fine-tuning the student information system, which uses the Web-based PowerSchool program. Familiarizing teachers with the system, putting the translator server online, and getting the word out to parents started in earnest as the semester drew to a close. This year, the project will concentrate on placing computers in the homes of low-income English-language learners, offering training to both parents and teachers, and continuing to collect and analyze data.

Johnson has relied heavily on his bilingual technology assistant to get the project off the ground. James Shestopalov, a 21-year-old Estonian, not only has the perfect combination of language and technical skills, but can relate personally to what the Slavic families are experiencing. He arrived in the United States at age seven, not speaking a word of English.

Shestopalov's Jeep bumps along the rural roads, bringing computers and technical assistance to the far-flung homes of Slavic families. An unofficial goodwill ambassador for the district, he installs the equipment—patiently showing parents how to access their children's homework and grades and how to use the translator. So far, he says, families seem to be embracing the new tool. "They like it because whenever they want to, they can find out how their kids are doing," he says. "They don't have to wait for a report card."

Keeping Track

Shestopalov pulls off a deserted road onto the long driveway of a two-story wood frame home where the Kurilchenkos live. Olga—in a flowered skirt, sandals, and T-shirt that belie the five inches of snow covering her garden—warmly welcomes him with a burst of Russian. With Shestopalov translating, she explains that her four children attend two different schools in the Delta/Greely district. Her husband, a musician who supports the family as a school bus driver, goes online once or twice a week to look at the youngsters' progress reports or to e-mail teachers. She uses the translator to help her children with homework assignments in between shifts as a cook at the local pizza parlor. It's been two years since the family emigrated from the Ukraine—brought by "the style of living," she says—and her children are progressing in their studies. "Someday, I'd like to see them go to college," she confesses with a shy smile. Sirje Kulakevich, the Title I aide, has also found that PPC helps her keep a close watch on her flock of nine school-age children. "I use the computer for my three high-schoolers because I don't have time to check on them (with their teachers). PowerSchool helps me know what's going on—especially when there's a problem," she reports.

It's also a huge benefit professionally, cutting down on requests from harried coworkers at the elementary school. "Before, I was spending part of my time translating letters to parents," says Kulakevich. "Sometimes it was overwhelming because teachers would leave me papers and say, 'How fast can you do this? It's an emergency.'" Now, teachers can simply e-mail messages, send school documents, and update student Web pages that are automatically translated from English to Russian. Parents' replies are instantly converted from Russian to English.

Bringing Teachers on Board

Johnson has found that winning teachers over to the system depends on their basic comfort level with technology. "My challenge has been to provide some teachers with an introduction to PowerSchool and the translator server concept while I'm holding the hands of others who are intimidated by turning the computer on." This year, he's scheduled a series of one-hour sessions—held immediately after school—where teachers receive training in Web page development plus a small stipend for their time.

Michelle Beito, a Title I teacher, admits she needs to become more proficient so using the computer doesn't take her so long. But, she already knows she'll put the translator to work "talking about what we're doing in reading and why literacy is so important." She adds, "Most of our students are Slavic and their parents need to be sure they read to them and talk about books at home—whether in Russian, Ukrainian, or English. Getting that message out is my goal."

Wayne Butler, who teaches high school social studies and coaches the fledgling football team, has nothing but praise for the system and its ability to give parents a real-time window on their child's progress. "Some parents last year would check on their kids daily—I swear hourly, in some cases! I'd get e-mails saying, 'Why does so-and-so have a 50 percent? F's are unacceptable in our family,' and I'd be able to leave a message saying he only did half the assignment."

Besides bolstering communications and "tearing down boundaries," Butler also sees the updated student information system as an essential piece of his practice. "I can really look at my assessment data and use that to drive instruction."

Just how much of a difference Project Parent Connect makes won't be known until at least the end of this school year, but Johnson is hoping for a 3 to 5 percent improvement in student scores. Even if those gains aren't realized right away, Johnson firmly believes that the program has the potential to help other school districts struggling with similar issues. He and Shestapalov are working on a template with a Slavic language library that could reach families like David Abramov's wherever their quest for a better life takes them.