Aurelio M. Montemayor, M.Ed.

Authentic Family Engagement through Education CAFEs – Podcast Episode 174 | Classnotes Podcast 174

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Classnotes Podcast (September 8, 2017) IDRA has launched the next generation of its model for family and community engagement. Originally called a “Comunitario,” an Education CAFE is a parent group that is rooted in a community-based organization rather than in a single school. Its sole purpose is to collaborate with schools to improve the success of students in the community. The new name, Education CAFE, emphasizes the diversity of communities who are engaged in impacting their public schools.

In this episode, Aurelio M. Montemayor, M.Ed., IDRA senior education associate, discusses how this innovative model has evolved and how you can start your own Education CAFE (Community Action Forums for Excellence). With new W.K. Kellogg Foundation funding, this empirical model developed by IDRA is expanding across Texas in areas with urban populations of varied ethnic backgrounds and economic classes. Education CAFEs also are taking hold in other parts of the U.S. South in states served by the IDRA EAC-South. Aurelio is interviewed by Paula Martin Johnson, M.A., an IDRA education associate.

Show length: 13:14

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Resources

IDRA Education CAFE – A Structure for Families Transforming Schools in their Communities, by Aurelio M. Montemayor, M.Ed.

Steps on How to Start an Education CAFE

Education CAFE – Community Action Forums for Excellence, website
¿Y Ahora Qué? And Now What? – Community Groups in South Texas Work Together to Improve Education, by Josie D. Cortez, M.A.

Video on communities using data

Sources of Education Data

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Show Notes

  • Aurelio shares how IDRA’s parent engagement projects have evolved since the 1980s, including the current model and mission of Education CAFEs.

  • Aurelio explains how Education CAFEs differ from traditional PTA organizations, including the gathering and organizing inside communities rather than on the school campuses themselves.

  • Aurelio tells the story of an Education CAFE in the Texas Valley, and how parents there gathered own data by surveying 1,600 families on the impact of Texas’s newer, weaker graduation requirements.

  • Aurelio talks about the current expansion and opportunities for future growth of Education CAFEs beyond Texas.

  • Aurelio shares the five steps for starting a new Education CAFE.