Many parents desire to play a more active role in their child's education, but rarely have the chance to do so.

Gatewood Elementary and Denny Middle Schools are helping parents by bringing that opportunity for involvement, literally, knocking on the front door.

These schools are part of the Seattle Public Schools "Flight School Project," which brings local educators together to work towards closing the achievement gap and helping all students achieve success. The underlying principal in the project is to foster family and community partnerships to create a more personal learning environment.

One component of this effort was a week of "home visits" to incoming students during the summer of 2006, where teachers and administrators personally visited the homes of incoming students. The visits normally lasted around 30 minutes, and gave students and parents a chance to pose questions to school staff, learn more about the upcoming academic year, and discuss student goals.

"The purpose of the home visits is to build the connection between home and school," says Jeff Clark, principal of Denny Middle who visited numerous families this summer. "Development of these relationships is paramount to the education process."

Particularly in an area as ethnically diverse as West Seattle, many families can feel marginalized by their language and cultural heritage. Around 22 different languages are spoken in the homes of Denny students, which can be a communication hurdle for parents and educators alike. But the home visits were able to use the schools' ethnic diversity to establish relationships, not prevent them.

"I love teaching here because of the wonderful diversity of the school and the home visits gave us as educators a chance to be learners about the family, and their culture," says Clark.

Teachers were also an important guest in the visits, and found that the one-on-one interactions continued to benefit their classes well into the academic year. Katherine Abraham, a second and third grade teacher at Gatewood, said she was pleased with the improved opportunity for parent involvement.

"I have had much more consistent contact from parents who I had trouble reaching last year," she says. "Also, calling them for support on a behavior or work issue feels much more comfortable."

Darren Radu, a fourth and fifth grade teacher at Gatewood, says, "We've found a lot of leverage in terms of building relationships with families that have been traditionally silent partners in our work."

But more importantly, the home visits made a notable positive impact on the students. Particularly for those completely new to the school, the initial interactions with school staff had made for better relationships, higher comfort levels, and an overall improvement in achievement.

"My kids were really excited about the visit," says Karen Lehman, mother of two Denny students. "They really felt like they we being listened to."

"It was a wonderful experience for both my son and I to have time one on one with the school staff," says Candace Haberkorn, another Denny parent. "Overall it just gave us more of a sense of belonging and mattering."

"Kids were really excited and proud to have people from school at their homes, and the teaching staff were willing and excited to go about the home visits," says Clark, "It allowed us to continue to support the students in their goals."

Although positively received by all involved, it is still not certain that the home visits will continue in following years, due to factors that continually hinder educators- funding and scheduling. Although only in its initial phase, the "Flight Schools" project is gaining popularity with parents and educators, who express hope that its goals and tactics will not be abandoned.

"We want to continue the visits," says Radu, "We can honestly say that they have made a significant positive impact on every student that we've been able to visit, and that they are a great tool for overcoming the achievement gap."

Whitney Cork is a University of Washington NewsLab student and may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com