Handout 18: Spreading the News

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Task:

Profile one of the ways that your program involves parents in a decision-making team. You will use this profile to inform other parents about opportunities to get involved in decision making.

Part I: Do Background Research

Gather information about how decisions are made in your Head Start program. This might be information about:

• Events, meetings, or committees.
  
  
• Program decision-making policies and practices.
  
  
• People who have been involved in decisions.
  
  
• Significant decisions and their impact.

Step 1: Brainstorm possible sources for information. For example, you might review:

• Your program's in-kind records to identify when committee meetings were held and who attended.
  
  
• Your program's newsletters, calendars, or other print materials.
  
  
• The Head Start Program Performance Standards (to identify areas where parents must be included in making decisions).
  

Use chart paper to list all the possible sources for information. Decide what information you want and can get, and who will be responsible to collect it. Set a time and place to meet again.

Step 2: Decide as a group how you will review your material. For example, you may want to read all the information as a group and discuss it together. Or, you may want to assign each team member different material to read.

Step 3: Focus in on a good story to tell. Your story may be about an important decision that has been made, or about the process that a committee uses to make decisions. Or, it may be about one person's experience taking part in a decision-making team. When you have decided on the "angle" for your story, decide which of the resources that you have collected is relevant. Collect other resources as needed to tell the story.

Step 4: Come back together as a group. As you review your resource material, look for facts that are relevant to your story topic. Summarize these facts on index cards.

Part II: Add Points of View

Most good stories have a "human interest" angle. That is, they contain information about, or quotes from, people who are actually involved in the story. This makes stories more interesting and appealing. This is especially true if readers can identify with the people featured in the story.

Step 1: Make a list of people involved in your story. As a group, decide which of these people to in terview.

Step 2: Brainstorm a list of interview questions. For example:

• What made you get involved?
  
  
• What process did the team use to make a decision?
  
  
• How did your team measure the effectiveness of its decisions?
  
  
• What would you tell other parents (or staff) who are interested in becoming part of a decision-making team?
  
  

Select five to eight of the best questions and put them in a logical order. Use this list of questions when you interview your subjects.

Step 3: Make a plan for interviewing. For example:

• Assign interviewers. You may choose to interview in pairs. In this case, one person could ask the questions while the other takes notes.
  
  
• Decide who will contact the subjects to arrange for the interview.
  
  
• Set a deadline for completing the interviews.
  
  
• Decide whether and how to take pictures of the people you interview.
  
  

Step 4: Conduct the interviews. Ask permission to use pictures or direct quotes from people you interview. Ask for the correct spelling of any names and titles.

Step 5: Come back together as a group. As you review your interview material, look for facts or quotes that are relevant to your story topic. Summarize the facts and write the quotes on index cards.

Part III: Create a Story

There are many ways to tell a story. For example, you can:

Write a story for your program newsletter or local paper/


• Create a storybook of pictures and information/
  
  
• Tell your story through video/
  
  
• Design a poster that recruits new members to the decision-making team.

Step 1: As you consider different ways to tell your story, think about:

• The resources (money, people, materials) that you would need.
  
  
• Its appeal for your audience.
  
  
• The long-term usefulness.
  
  
• How you will deliver it to your audience.
  
  

You may want to ask parents and staff from outside your group for their opinions.

Step 2: Produce your story. Use the information and quotes from your index cards to create your story. Your story should answer these questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?

Step 3: Ask other parents and staff to review a draft of your story. Their feedback can make it even better. Work with your coach to finalize the story. Then, make plans to deliver it to your audience.

Step 4: Decide how you will know if your story was effective. In other words, set benchmarks and make a plan for measuring success.