Programs Offered

Parent Leadership Program

The Parent Leadership Program courses cover the information and skills required for parent leaders to assist the parent school community to become informed participants in the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) educational policy. Participants will learn about effective tools to design parent involvement programs to meet the requirements of the NCLB. Parents will produce a portfolio of their work products.

COURSE SCHEDULE

“Leading From Within”: The Role of Parent Leadership in School Communities — This class provides a space for parent leaders to gain competency in building caring parent-school communities. Participants will acquire the skills to build effective parent involvement capacity at their local school site.
The History of Parent Involvement –This class will provide parent leaders with an overview of the historical evolvement of parent engagement strategies and tools in public education.
Engaging Parents in the California Standard-based Curriculum K-12: Math and Science — Parent leaders will gain effective ways to engage parents in meaningful participation with standard-based and rigorous math and science lessons. Emphasis is placed on parental involvement in the development of algebraic thinking K-12 and science-based inquiry.
Engaging Parents in the California Standard-based Curriculum K-12 Literacy and Social Studies — Parent leaders will gain effective strategies in how to engage parents in meaningful participation with standard-based and rigorous literacy and social studies lessons. Emphasis is placed on parental involvement in the development of effective literacy strategies that enable parents to support student’s academic achievement.
Facilitating Parent Competency in State Assessments, Data — Research: California School Report Card –Parent leaders will acquire the skills to analyze state and school assessments tools. Parents will collect, organize and analyze data relative to parent involvement at their local school site.
Strategies to Personalize Parent Involvement Within The Small Learning Communities (SLCs) — Parent leaders will engage in simulated role-playing with teachers and administrators to recognize and to further develop effective mediation and negotiation skills to work with SLCs. Extended class activities include designing parent-school partnership programs, creating more spaces for parent-teacher dialogues and school leadership.
Understanding How to Offer Quality Parent Involvement Activities — Parent leaders will acquire the tools to effectively plan, implement and evaluate parent involvement that is aligned with school-wide goals.
Field Work — Parent leaders will learn research skills such as interviewing, focus groups and surveying to collect data to assess parent community needs. Parents will learn how to use the result of this data to design and implement meaningful parent involvement activities.
Presentations and Culmination — All classes will culminate with class 9. Parent leaders will present their design for more effective parent involvement to an audience of teachers, administrators, parents and education policy makers.

Special Needs Parent Advocacy Leadership Institute (SN-PALI)

Institute designed to support parents as informed advocates for their special needs children.

PROGRAM GOALS

To provide support for the leadership development advocacy of parents with special needs students in the SLCs
To build on parent’s knowledge about parents and student’s rights and special education public school policies
To create a special focus on math literacy and student’s civil rights throughout the Parent Leadership institute

PARENTS COMPLETING THE SN-PALI WILL

Serve as parent advocates working with other parents in their SLC
Network with other parents across the SLC in a school-wide effort to improve the learning experiences of students with special needs

COURSE SCHEDULE

We are All Leaders for All of Our Children
- Crenshaw Parent Leadership: Crenshaw Parent Coalition (CCC)
- Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA)
- Personalizing Parent Leadership in the Small Learning Community
- Parents Networking Across the SLCs
Social Emotional Learning
- Shifting Parent/Student Expectation Paradigm
- Decision-making and problem solving
- Creating supportive spaces: Identifying and utilizing resources in the SLC
Learning Differently Does Not Mean Learning Less!
- What does it mean to learn different?
- Learning strengths
- Building on what we know: The Art of Questioning
- Expanding our student’s capacity to understand
Planning to Succeed: Individual Education Plan (IEP)
- Planning a vision for success
- Parents as Authors of IEPs
- Stop the Labeling! Building bridges for student’s academic achievement
Accommodations in the regular classroom
- What are effective learning accommodations: Identifying strategies that work
- Using assessments to understand: Alternative ways of learning
- Parents partnering with the classroom teacher: How to be critical friends
Networking Outside Resources
- The Treasure Hunt: Looking within and outside of my community to meet my child’s individual needs
- Creating a resource notebook & using technology
What are my rights: IDEA Law
- Mediation
- Due process
Building consensus, collaboration and partnerships in the Small Learning Communities
- Identifying areas of need
- Gathering information
- Creating an action plan
- Implementing the plan
- Reflections, modification and sustaining successful Parent Leadership Practices
College Going Culture of Special Needs Students
- Designing an IEP to support college success
- How Colleges support special needs
- The IEP as a powerful Link to completing college/ technical schools
Parents’ Presentations at UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
- Parent Leaders will present their Action Plans at UCLA