PURPOSE:
 

Home Visits are a vehicle for engaging in a process of collaborative partnership building between staff and families. The goal of this partnership is to establish mutual trust and to identify family strengths, capacities, needs, goals, and necessary services to support progress. 
 

   RACS conducts home visits are various times throughout a student’s academic career.  Home visits start when a student is in seventh grade as a way to establish family contact and start building positive rapport between home and school. Home visits are also conducted in high school as a way to strengthen or establish the connection between home and family for both new and returning students to RACS. Home visits can also be at the request of a parent which is unable to come to school to discuss their student as approved by administration. Home visits are also conducted on an as needed basis as determined by administration.  Some examples of when home visits are conducted as needed are: drop in grades, drop in attendance to school, issues of concern (homelessness, death of a family member, loss of communication between home and school and general well being check).  

The following guidelines outline what must occur on home visits:

• Promote partnership between parents and teachers.
• Encourage parent involvement.
• Parents gain a better understanding of school’s educational policies.
• Provide new understanding of students’ learning style.
• Understand emotional and social needs and behaviors of students.
• Identify students’ latest interests and concerns

Teachers will contact the parent via phone to ask to make a home visit. If the parent agrees on it they will schedule a time for the visit. Teachers will come in pairs. A typical home visit takes 30 min to 1 hour. Teachers at the visit will

• Give feedback about student. 
• Talk about student’s records, grades, motivation, and performance. 
• Give suggestions to enhance student’s achievement.
• Elicit feedback from parents regarding child’s interests, concerns and progress.
• Get feedback about school.
• Discuss parents’ interests, hobbies and strengths.
• Reinforce positive parenting and more parent involvement.
• Provide information about future parent activities.(potluck, picnic, etc)
• Highlight school activities, events. (field trips, potlucks, science fair, etc.)
• Invite parents to get involved.
• Discuss next visit.