Immersion
For the immersion, I attended Parent teacher conferences. This was my first time going to Clay High School, but it reminded me of any other high school that I had been to. The doors were open to parents and there were staff members near the entrance and strolling through the hallways. The staff was courteous and helpful in pointing us in the right direction. We were able to meet many administrators and teachers and get to experience the Clay atmosphere the way that Clay wanted parents to see it.
This visit to Clay was surprising because I expected a lot more parents and teachers to be there. I expected it to be easy to interview a ton of parents quickly and get valuable information, but as we roamed the hallways, we felt like we would never find a parent to speak to. The staff explained that there was an open time period where any parent could come. There was no particular order or schedule for who was going to show up.
When talking to the staff, we realized that parent-teacher conference days do not typically reflect the range of students that are at the school. Most of the parents who come to these conferences are some of the best performing students because there is a correlation between parent involvement and educational success, as well as behavioral issues. Many of the students they repeatedly create problems do not show up to events like this one.