Resource Center

Show Notes

• Frances talks about the traditional paradigm of parent involvement in schools, in which parents were viewed as “assistants” rather active or equal partners in their children’s education.

• Hector describes the new model of family leadership, in which parents are considered actual collaborators, fully capable of making sense of complex information in order to have a greater voice in the educational process.

• Frances names some of the Title I requirements for family engagement and discusses how they’ve been effective.

• Aurelio notes that the No Child Left Behind Act also includes regulations that have moved families out of “volunteerism” mode and into more active and participatory leadership roles.

• Hector and France explain how parents have embraced -- rather than been overwhelmed by -- the concrete data presented to them in the IDRA OurSchool portal, and then turned that data into “actionable knowledge” by helping their children.

• Frances explains the key elements of the promotora model.

• Hector shares a recent success story from a PTA Comunitario group, when parents quickly rallied more than 80 students to attend an important meeting about the changes to school funding in Texas.

• Frances stresses the importance of creating a relationship-building setting, where parents depend on each other.