Building Relationships Between Students, Families and Teachers
After 10 incredible years of the Parent Teacher Home Visit (PTHV) program, we know that a strong relationship between teachers, students and families is a valuable part of supporting children’s educational potential. When students and families have positive relationships with their teachers, they are more likely to do better in school. This year, Spring Home Visit Week runs from April 26 – May 9, and we encourage all of our students, teachers and families to meet and get to know each other outside of school through this program.
Home visits occur all throughout the year, but we especially celebrate the opportunities families and educators have to connect during this special week. Although the COVID-19 crisis has changed how we do visits, it hasn’t changed the priority of connecting with students and families. The program shifted online in 2020, and now offers both in-person and online visits.
What’s a visit look like?
During this Spring Home Visit Week, families and educators meet for a 30 minute visit. This visit can be a socially distanced in-person visit or an online visit, whichever is most comfortable for you and your family. During the visit, families have the opportunity to share their hopes and dreams for their student(s) and learn how the school can work with them to achieve those goals. The visit experience is an inspiring way DPS educators are working to achieve the vision that every student thrives — not by accident, but by design.
How do I sign up?
Please complete this interest form to let us know your preferences around scheduling a visit.
How the Parent Teacher Home Visit Program Started
The district’s PTHV program got its start at Fairview Elementary, where passionate educators had established the first program in DPS. Believing that the program was making a big difference for his students, teacher Don Diehl invited the superintendent at the time to join him on a home visit to see the positive impact firsthand — and soon thereafter, DPS launched a pilot program in four additional schools in 2010 – Valverde, Munroe, Barrett and Maxwell. After the first pilot year, the program expanded rapidly, and now is in a part of over 130 schools in the district. Educators and families have participated in more than 70,000 visits in the last 10 years! These days, any district-run traditional or innovation school can choose to engage in the PTHV program as one of their district supports for promoting family engagement.
DPS’ program has been recognized as the second-largest home visit program in the nation and we participate in national studies about the outcomes of home visits for student and family success.
Questions?
If you have any questions or would like to sign up for a visit, please reach out to Jen Parker at jennifer_parker@dpsk12.org or Iesha Mitchell at iesha_mitchell@dpsk12.org.
English
አማርኛ
العربية
Français
ဗမာစာ
नेपाली
Русский
Afsoomaali
Español
Tiếng Việt