Seniors in Service sends a warm, sincere, THANK YOU! to all of our classroom teachers and school administrative staff for their tremendous work and diligence in seeing that completed Child Care Plans for the 2014/2015 school year were submitted to our Foster Grandparent Program staff! We received 583 completed Child Care plans representing a 91% return of all plans requested – this is amazing! And, it demonstrates the effective communication, focus on outcomes, commitment, and inter-dependence between Seniors in Service and our partner schools.
What is a Child Care Plan, you wonder, and what does it do? A Child Care Plan quantitatively demonstrates the effectiveness of the Foster Grandparent Volunteer’s role on the improvement of the child in his or her improvement areas. The Child Care Plan, completed by the teacher, is a pre and post measurement tool. It measures the student performance and the impact of the Foster Grandparent, as evaluated by the teacher, NOT by Seniors in Service. This teacher evaluation, arguably the professional MOST suited to make the determination of improvement, is one of the aspects that sets the Foster Grandparent Program apart in its outcomes and accountability. The teacher completes a Child Care Plan on each student they have identified as needing one-on-one tutoring or mentoring at the beginning of the school year. The Child Care Plan includes the student’s individual goals and areas of challenge. This information effectively maps out specifically what areas the Foster Grandparent Volunteer will cover when tutoring the student. At the end of the school year, the Child Care Plan evaluation measures the student’s progress/goals achieved, as determined by the teacher. At the teacher’s discretion, it may include the Fountas and Pinnell Reading Scale Assessment, a nationally recognized literacy scale.
Historically, the Foster Grandparent program receives an average of 50% of the Child Care Plans at year-end. What affected this bumper-crop? Thoughtful, strategic relationship building, effective communication, and mutual goals shared by Seniors in Service and our partners have continued to develop and strengthen our partnerships. Excellent work by all! Thank you!