Washington Elementary School has one of the highest poverty levels in the Oshkosh Area School District, as determined by the number of students eligible for free and reduced meals. Based on current enrollment, Washington has approximately 71% of its students at or below the poverty level. Due to many of these factors, family involvement is low, yet the need for family support is high in order to increase student achievement. As the VISTA member with the Wisconsin DPI at Washington, Tracy Steffens’s primary goal is to create strong parent and community partnerships in the school in order to increase student achievement and combat the impact poverty has on the students. Tracy brought her passion for helping students achieve in the classroom and in life to her work at Washington. She is a committed volunteer and has given two years to VISTA service.

Tracy has been instrumental in making connections with dozens of community partners who now provide services to the students and parents of Washington including UW-Oshkosh, the local public library, the high school French Club, and Master Gardeners. Most of these partners provide homework assistance and enrichment programs to students as part of an after school “Lighted School House” program that Tracy helped to develop. As a result of Tracy’s efforts, the highly effective “Lighted School House” program provides 60 students with homework assistance and enrichment opportunities. Tracy has spent hours recruiting and training 36 volunteers to work effectively with students and who have collectively spent 1,306 hours volunteering at Washington. In addition, Tracy has strengthened partnerships with parents by becoming involved with the PTO, training staff on family and community involvement and seeking ways to strengthen partnerships.  Washington now hosts monthly family nights and evaluations from the events have been overwhelmingly positive with over 90% of parents responding favorably to all evaluation indicators.  Tracy has engaged staff and parents in making meaningful decisions regarding school improvement through the creation of an Action Team for School Improvement. She has also facilitated the Partnerships committee of the Action Team, which is responsible for revising the Parental Involvement Policy, planning family nights, mapping resources, and evaluating parent and community involvement annually. She has also initiated other school-wide programs, including a reading challenge and a parent reading/resource center. Furthermore, Tracy seeks out grant opportunities and assists with grant writing. She has been critical in securing over $1,600 dollars in grants and in-kind donations from local businesses for the school and its programs. Washington School and the community have benefitted greatly from Tracy’s service.