Stories from the Field
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The P.I.E. Program & Mansfield Elective Academy
The P.I.E. Program
The PIE Program takes place at Weinland Park Year Round Elementary School, 68 East 2nd Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201. This project is a collaborative effort between The Ohio State University P-12 Project, The Interprofessional Commission of Ohio, and Columbus Public Schools. The program is able to operate because of the partnership with the Weinland Park staff, including the school psychologist, teachers, principal, and assistants in the recruitment of students and parents.
Parents Influencing Education (PIE) pairs third-grade students with fifth-grade peer tutors to help them in the area of Reading Comprehension. Graduate students from The Ohio State University work as mentors with the pairs of students. Parents will learn and practice skills that they can use to help their children with schoolwork. This program gives parents the opportunity to meet other parents, discuss the education of their children, and learn how to help them with their schoolwork. Third graders have the opportunity to participate in interesting and educational tutoring activities with other students from Weinland Park and The Ohio State University.
Why is it important for parents to be involved in their children’s education?
School-Family-Community Partnerships foster resilience and provide protective factors especially for at-risk students. They build social capital and a network of trust that families draw from to help their children succeed. These relationships provide a source of connection, information, and understanding that facilitates the exchange of knowledge across cultures and leads to bridging the gaps between home and school cultures, values, and expectations.
To raise children’s reading abilities, collaboration with teachers, school counselors, and other school staff can be very beneficial. One study found a slight positive correlation between children's reading comprehension level and the amount of parental involvement in their schooling. Educational aspirations of parents exerted a powerful influence on achievement. Parents with higher aspirations engage in more verbal communication about school with their children.
What is expected?
Parents: Parents of third-grade students come together to discuss raising healthy children and encouraging behavior that results in academic achievement for their children, while building a support network for themselves. By observing their children in a learning environment, the parents will discover how to better support the needs of their children.
Third graders: These students will participate in activities to improve reading comprehension skills, learn how to positively interact with older students, and discover strategies for studying.
Fifth graders: High-achieving fifth graders will be in the role of the tutor. These students will increase social skills, helping skills, act as a role model for the third-grade tutee, and benefit from a working relationship with the OSU mentor.
Mentors: First-year graduate students in the Counselor Education program from The Ohio State University act as mentors for the PIE program. They will supervise the tutoring relationship, act as positive role models, build rapport with students, help students with any academic issues, and assist in developing activities.
Mentor expectations:
- Mentors will be expected to attend every Monday meeting. If something prohibits this, s/he will contact one of the program coordinators.
- Be supportive to the tutor and tutee
- Be an active listener, and keep the group on task
- Act as a resource person, but avoid being the “leader” of the group
- Be attentive to potential conflict
- Assist with the integration of parents into the tutoring triad when needed
- Provide parents with reinforcement and feedback
All Weinland Park students participating in the program will be expected to:
- Attend Monday meetings
- Be willing to participate in the planned activities
- Show respect for others in the program
Parental expectations: Parents will have the opportunity to attend weekly meetings on Monday afternoons from 3:45-5:00pm. They will have a chance to meet with other parents to discuss issues that are important to them concerning their child’s education. They will also be able to learn how to help their child with his or her schoolwork.
The Mansfield Elective Academy at the Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center
My name is Sophia Speelman and I am the Director of the Mansfield Elective Academy. I recently came on board to help open this exciting new school. We are the third conversion school that is being sponsored by the Mansfield City Schools. The first two were STAR (at Stadium) and IMAC (at Richland Academy). Conversion schools are community schools that are sponsored by districts to help provide families with educational choice. Although Mansfield is our sponsor, we will have the ability to create something unique and specific to our students. In addition, the school will have its own board of directors.
We are a K-8 school that will follow the calendar of the Mansfield City Schools. We have 50 students divided into a primary class (K-3), an intermediate class (4-6), and a middle school class (7-8). Our teachers are certified to teach their grade levels and they will follow the state standards created by the Ohio Department of Education. Kids Connection will provide us with guidance counseling and Children’s Services will provide us with a social worker. We are located on the third floor of the Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center at 445 Bowman Street in Mansfield.
Our goal is to create a very nurturing, positive, family environment to help children achieve. Therefore, teamwork between families, staff members, community/agencies, and students is an integral component of our school. Our target population is the nontraditional family—specifically children in foster care or children living with extended family members, such as grandparents in the Kinship Program. However, we did not want children to feel singled out, so the second phase of enrollment was open to anyone that could benefit from our philosophy. In order to decrease the mobility factor of those students that might be in multiple foster homes over time, students are free to remain enrolled with us even if they move outside of the Mansfield City Schools (within Richland County).
Before students can begin to achieve in school, they must feel trust, acceptance, and respect. A major part of what we plan on doing is meeting the child’s individual needs so that the child can be engaged in academics. This is why we have adopted the Comer Model for Instruction by Dr. James Comer from Yale University. We will be trained in this model and we will have a consultant following up with us throughout the entire year to monitor progress. For more information regarding the Comer Model, please visit http://info.med.yale.edu/comer/.
We are very busy and extremely excited about our new venture. We are coordinating everything from the very start. Our first day of school is Monday, August 28. The energy among the people involved is heartwarming. If anyone would like to learn more about our school, feel free to contact us at 567/247-4475.
