Interesting Article in Today's Guardian

Thoughts of my visit to see Professor Ho at the Chinese University of Hong Kong came to mind today when I read Hugh Muir's article in the Guardian entitled: "School success – the Chinese way"

A new study reveals that British Chinese people aged 16 and over are four times as likely to be full-time students as the wider population.

You can read the full article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/27/diverse-britain-school-success-chinese

• Hugh Muir
• Guardian, Wednesday 27 October 2010

Christine Yau's comments resonated very much with what I learnt during my trip to Hong Kong, as a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellow, where I met with Professor Sui Chu HO at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research shows that there is a strong relationship between 'At Home' parental involvement and student success. In this model, parents focus less on bringing about changes at school and focus more on providing a strong learning environment at home, value-added extra-curricular activites, books, computers and, most importantly, making sure that homework assignements are completed. There is a lot to be learnt from her research as well as from the research of Professor Joyce Epstein at John Hopkins University, another leading researcher in the field of Parental Involvement and its impact on students' success.

20th - 28th September - Work & Play

My time in Hong Kong was spent meeting with Professor Ho at the Chinese University of Hong Kong which is located in Sha Tin. Professor Ho is a leading researcher in the area of Parental Involvement and my it was exciting to meeting with her and especially to gain a cross-cultural perspective of work in this area. I also met with Professor Wong who is the Chairman of the Committee on Home-School Co-operation, an organisation that is working to increase parental involvement with schools through the formation of PTA's as well as with  schools to promote parental involvement.

 

I was lucky to be in Hong Kong at the time of one of the largest cultural events of the year  in Hong Kong - The mid-autumn festival. The festival takes place on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar year which occured on September 22nd this year. It celebrates the time when the moon is at its biggest and brightest as well as the autumn harvest. I joined locals in Victoria Park near Causeway Bay to see the most spectacular display of lights and lanterns I have ever seen in my life. Martial arts displays, acrobats, movies etc kept the crowds of children and adults - most carrying lanterns - entertained until the climax of the evening: the dragon dance. I gasped in awe at the sight of the 67 metre long Tau Hang Dragon covered in thousands of burning incense sticks as it was paraded in the park. I left Victoria Park knowing that I had witnessed an unforgettable cultural event.

The only mid-autumn tradition I missed out on was enjoying a moon cake. The  duck's egg in the middle meant that I could not have one as I am allergic to eggs!



Arrival in HK on 19th September

I arrived at Hong Kong International airport to be greeted by the beautiful sight of young people in traditional dress carrying lanterns and large moon cakes. I was told that this was in aid of the forthcoming mid-Autumn festival (also known as the Moon festival) on 22nd and 23rd September. I walked out of the terminal into a hot humid Hong Kong day to find the bus to Sha Tin in the New Territories.

In between days

I left the conference on 14th September highly inspired and with a good feeling that comes from being with people committed to a shared vision for education. I also came away with many cards exchanged during networking sessions and several research and summit papers

15th September was a reading and planning day.

I flew from Washington on 16th September on a lovely sunny day looking forward to catching my flight to LHR. BA0114 was in fact delayed by nearly 3 hours as a tornedo had hit Queens in New York and some flights were diverted. I learnt later that my flight was delayed because the crew were stuck in traffic for over 5 hours! I must confess that the time I spent waiting at the airport went very quickly as I sat a read Professor Epstein's book on School, Family and Community Partnerships. It really is an interesting read!

I arrived in the UK on 17th September exhausted but happy to be home for one day to pack a new suitcase for the second stage of my Travelling Fellowship to Hong Kong.

More from the conference on 13th & 14th September

Apologies for not posting a blog for a while. I had a problem with my laptop, which I am happy to say is now fixed!

NATIONAL SUMMIT ON FAMILY/ SCHOOL/ COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CONFERENCE ON 13^TH & 14^TH SEPTEMBER

This two day National Summit was hosted by the National Education Association in collaboration with a coalition of 20 organisations with representatives from all 50 State drawn together by an interest in strong school-family-community partnerships. The participants included teachers, educational administrators and consultants, academic researchers, principals (head-teachers), lawyers, NGOs, representatives from the US Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services, political researchers, journalists, representative from parents’ groups, PTA representatives and a Winston Churchill Research Fellow.

I was impressed by so much at the conference, including:

• The passion the participants had for strong partnerships between school, family and community
• The strong research-based information and data that informed the discussions
• The opportunity to question civil rights lawyers and political advisors
• The mix of listening to keynote presentations as well as participation in breakout workshops

 The leaders of the summit will use the output from the summit to lobby politicians and influence national policy and programs on increasing meaningful family and community engagement to support student learning and success.

I was delighted by the warm welcome I received, and the opportunity to learn about the latest work from leaders in the field.

Monday 13th - Tuesday 14th September

CONFERENCE DETAILS:

NATIONAL SUMMIT ON FAMILY/ SCHOOL/ COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Monday, September 13, 2010 9:00 AM - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 4:00 PM (Eastern Time)

 Key Note Speaker on 13th September: Eugene Robinson, 2009 Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist

http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=873121

Friday 9th - Sunday 12th September

Weekend Reflections

Friday was administration day: a time to plan travel, book accommodation and do some reading. One tip I would offer Fellows is to make sure to build time in for planning and reading. I came away from my visit to John Hopkins University with enough reading material for at least 3 months!

Being in the US on 9/11 brought home a deeper insight into the emotion that Americans still feel as they remember loved ones who perished in the attacks on that fateful day nine years ago. This year it was made even more emotional with the threat by a Pastor in Florida to burn copies of the Koran (thankfully cancelled) and the debate over the plan to build an Islamic cultural centre near Ground Zero. The nation remembered 9/11 with ceremonies held at Ground Zero in New York and at the Pentagon near Washington. I spent the day visiting the sights around Washington DC; most memorable for me was the Lincoln Memorial that honours the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is also from here that Dr King made his famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech in 1963.

After nine continuous days of glorious sunshine, it rained on Sunday. By the afternoon it had stopped, when I set off from Maryland for Alexandria, in Virginia to attend a two day conference: “ The National Summit on Family, School and Community Engagement".

Thursday 9th September

“Choose Your Seat, Get Involved”- PIMA slogan

MARYLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS AGAIN RANK NUMBER ONE

"For the second straight year, Maryland’s public education system received number one rankings in 2010 from Education Week; the College Board for Advanced Placement performance; and, once again, Newsweek for the highest percentage of rigorous high schools in America. We should all be truly proud for these consistent and remarkable accomplishments".

--Nancy S. Grasmick, State Superintendent of Schools

I had the privilege of visiting the Maryland State Department of Education and learning first-hand about one of their initiatives: the Comcast Parental Involvement Achievement Award (PIMA), an exciting award program that is the first of its kind in the US. It recognises the achievements of parents and legal guardians whose efforts have had a positive impact on public schools. The PIMA award is also considered important in encouraging parents to get involved with schools in whatever capacity they can.

I was truly inspired by the passionate support for the programme. The history, highlights and achievements were shared with me in a meeting convened by Maureen Moran, Director, Division of Academic Policy and included members of her team and representatives from Comcast, their PIMA partner organisation led by Lori Riordan, Regional Vice President, Governmental Affairs Comcast.

Hearing about the diverse ways in which parents are making a difference in working in partnership with schools in Maryland, as Heather Bradbury, Education Program Specialist, led the tour of the gallery of photos of the 24 PIMA semi-finanlists was a truly awe-inspiring experience.

Wednesday 8th September

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see”

Another great day in the company of a team passionate about education and student success through partnership of school, family and community. At the helm, the well-respected and oft-quoted, Professor Joyce Epstein. Kevin Ryan, of Boston University, said of her, "Epstein has her hand on one of the most crucial levers for improving our educational system". My conversations with her and the members of her team will be the subject of my WCMT report. I gained further insights into the work the team has been pioneering from Darcy Hutchins, Steven Sheldon and Brenda Thomas.

In addition, thanks to Brenda for making time to taking us to Lenny's to get the best corned beef sandwich in the city and showing us the school where series 4 of 'The Wire' was filmed. Above us she had us in stitches; she is so funny.

Ended the day on a real high: feasting on local crabs (this is the thing to do in these parts) and drinking beer with friends, Mundia and with Larry and Beth who drove over from Wilmington to see me. Thk so much for a great experience.

Tuesday 7th September

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"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give"

Visited a Partnership school (part of the National Network of Partnership schools) that has adopted the pioneering research-based work of Professor Joyce Epstein and her team. This school's culture reflects the  'best practice' drawn from Professor Epstein's 'Framework of Six Types of Involvement'. I saw first-hand the brilliant work being done at district level by Jean West Lewis, at the Faulkner Ridge Center, in Columbia in Howard County and at school level by Maureen Gomez, a former teacher and now a Parent Laison Officer and by the Principal, Troy Todd, at Running Brook Elementary school in Howard County.

The quote above embodies for me the great work they are all doing to help students succeed through effective partnership of school, family and community.

Monday 6th September

Labour Day holiday in the US is most closely akin to May Day holiday in the UK. However the holiday is now largely seen as a celebration of the end of summer and for most students it marks the return to school. Americans celebrate in a variety of ways including parades, picnics, Days Out and BBQs.

I spent the day in Annapolis, the capital of the state of Maryland. This beauty city is steeped in British colonial history and was, I learnt, the capital of the US for a short period from 1783-1784.
On our walk around the city, we visited the Maryland State House, the Thurgood Marshall Memorial, The Kunte Kinte Memorial (of Roots fame) and, last but not least, the US Naval Academy, based in Annapolis since 1845.

The tradition in these parts is to feast on steamed crab, crab cakes or seafood of some kind. I am saving that pleasure until Wednesday evening when I will have the pleasure of steamed crabs!

Departure from LHR on Saturday 4th September

BA0229 took off nearly an hour late from LHR. After all the planning I was finally on my way to Baltimore in the US, on the first leg of my Travelling Fellowship. The flight was very pleasant. The 8 hour flight soon passed as I chatted to my neighbour and then spent time reading the in-flight magazine, newspapers, the latest WCMT newsletter and planning notes.

I landed at Baltimore’s Thurgood Marshall International Airport around 2015. After the full 10 digit finger-printing and photograph, my passage through immigration was made very easy after the officer was shown my letter of introduction from the WCMT.

I emerged from the baggage area to warm greetings and a bouquet of flowers from two young ladies whom I have mentored over the years. My heart was truly warmed to see how they had both blossomed. My visit to ‘charm city’ had started. I plan to spend the next couple of days gaining my orientation and preparing for my meeting with Professor Epstein on 7th September. .

Reflection

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchhill

This is one of my favourite Churchillian quotes. I have been reflecting on this as I prepare for my journey.

Less than 2 weeks to go!

With less than two weeks to go, the trip is now a reality and I am filled with excitement tinged with a little anxiety as I contemplate the number of things I still have to do at home, work and putting the finishing touches to my travel plans.
It's been really helpful reading the blogs of other travelling Fellows, as well as the blogs of friends. I have particularly enjoyed Terry's witty blog charting his and Lorain's cycle ride from Land's End enroute to John O'Groats.