Message from Ted Thomas Chair of the SAG
From AFSWiki
The Advisory Support Group is working on revisions to the liaison monthly report form in Global-Link. The report is the written record of the organization's contact with the Participant, Host Family and School. As such, the monthly report satisfies a number of requirements and desires listed as follows:
1. The State Department requires a documented monthly contact with the Hosted Participant and the Host Family. The School contact requirement is three times for the year program and twice for semester program.
2. The report provides a mechanism to notify and engage others in the Support chain when significant problems occur.
3. The report prompts discussion of desired topics, as listed.
4. The report documents the history of issues and their resolution.
5. The report can list beneficial activities that the liaison may discuss with the Participant and Host family.
6. The report can document School data and satisfaction with our program.
7. The report serves as an indicator of a student's cultural adjustment based on host family, natural family, and host community interaction patterns
During our January meeting we discussed a sub-committee draft revision to the current format that covered the six requirements and desires listed above. The topics were worded to require a written response rather than a rating or a yes/no answer. It became apparent during our discussions that for most students for much of the year we do not need an in-depth written response for all topics and that this would be a burden for our liaisons. Only when there are significant problems (a low rating) is a comment required for that issue. We have consensus that we want three separate report formats with topics specific to the participant, host family and school. For example, when the button for the student report is clicked the student format will appear. The sub-committee is currently revising the wording to retain the rating system with space to comment when appropriate. We believe the revisions will make the monthly liaison report a much better tool for AFS, and benefit the students and host families. We hope to complete our revisions and have Global-Link re-programmed in several months.
