- Teachers at Howard High School of Technology meet to discuss student progress for parental engagement initiative.
Around a table twice a week at Howard High School of Technology, a team of teachers talks about the students they have in common.
The teachers are young, many refer to laptop computers, and they talk about everything from what strategies worked in the classroom to why a student may have missed a class. In pairs, they go through a list of students and if both teachers have concerns about that week’s work, they write the student’s name on an index card. At the end of the session, the index cards are passed to Tena Gladney.
Gladney, the mother of a Howard student and a former market research analyst with Chase Bank, calls the homes of the names on the index cards. Sometimes the phone call is no more than a chat. Other times, Gladney will set up a face-to-face meeting to discuss class absences or missed homework assignments and to offer success strategies for a student.
“My passion is people,” Gladney said. As the parent and community engagement coordinator at Howard, Gladney is an intermediary for parents who can sometimes get overwhelmed by what students are learning in high school. Getting parents involved in education can be tough in an inner-city environment where low-income households make up 61 percent of the student population. Many of the parents haven’t graduated from high school themselves, let alone attended college.
Gladney’s position is a result of Howard’s Partnership Zone designation. As a school performing in the lowest five percent in Delaware, the school received an infusion of funding and created a plan for the school’s reform. A major component of that reform plan is to engage parents and the school’s larger community to take part in Howard’s transformation.
In a newsletter she sends to parents and guardians, Gladney answers questions from parents and tries to anticipate their needs. Since joining the school’s staff in March, she has helped compile pieces for Howard’s website, including a “Success Career Path” for each grade which spells out to parents what is expected of students.
“I think parents applaud (my position and availability),” Gladney said. “They don’t see me as an administrator or a teacher.”
Gladney said she talks to parents about how they can help their children with classes, even if they aren’t familiar with “new math” or the literature students are studying.
She also meets with business owners in Wilmington to talk about partnerships companies can forge with Howard.
“Some of the days are long,” Gladney admits while talking about early morning meetings and an upcoming evening mixer at the school. “But, like I said, my passion is people.”
