Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2015 V45 No 1 | Page 33

Since then, another academic language tool developed by Kate Kinsella, the Academic Vocabulary Toolkit, has been deployed in all middle schools to help students meet the rigors of the Common Core State Standards. Families In Schools is providing family academies for all students at two middle schools. As for Fernando? He reclassified in his first year of the program, and in his year-end reflection at the end of the second year, he noted that he would be able to attend a fouryear college of his choice instead of a community college. “If I wasn’t in this program, I wouldn’t be getting straight A’s right now – I’d probably be getting B’s because of the academic words I wasn’t using, ” he said. Fernando’s family recently moved out of the district, but he now is truly ready for his new school and a bright future. behavior interventions grant, and a STEM academies grant. n References Kinsella, K. (2010). English 3D. New York: Pearson. Kinsella, K. (2010). Academic vocabulary toolkit. Boston: National Geographic Learning. Olsen, L. (2010). Reparable harm: Fulfilling the unkept promise of educational opportunity for California’s long-term English learners. Long Beach, CA: Californians Together. Involving all stakeholders Sometimes being a site administrator can be challenging when an ambitious initiative impacts your school. But as Principal Dudek said, “I have learned that the likelihood of a program’s success increases when all stakeholders are involved. [FFC] is a perfect example of an initiative that was not topdown, but was collaborative, well-informed, well planned, and data driven. It has served as a wonderful example to me, as a newer principal, of how to make successful change happen. “My hope for all of the students involved in the Families for College program is that they continue to grow academically, that they continue to involve their family in their academic pursuits, and that they enroll in the college of their choice five years from now. I hope that families will remember our school as that special place where they were fully supported and where their dreams to attend college became a reality.” The district has also benefited in unexpected ways as a result of the FFC program. Numerous offers to join additional grantfunded programs as a result of exposure from this first grant have resulted in the district receiving services as an LEA partner in three additional “Investing in Innovation” grants (school leadership, social and emotional learning, and math instructional strategies), three “GEAR UP” grants, an English learner/community dialect learner instructional strategies grant, a positive Martinrex Kedziora is assistant superintendent, Educational Services, Moreno Valley Unified School District. Kimberly Hendricks is Accountability & Assessment director for Moreno Valley USD, where Lilia Villa is director of English Language Learner Programs. Katie Sandberg is a grants consultant and CEO of Sandberg Creative. September/October 2015 33