A very major effort is getting underway in Birmingham, Alabama, to create a series of “Parent Universities” throughout the school district.

I’ve written quite a bit about “Parent Universities” in the past.

Elisa Gonzalez, our school’s Parent Engagement Coordinator, has done an extraordinary job working with parents to create an extremely popular Parent University — on that focuses on what parents say they want to do and learn, and one that does not have a pre-packaged curriculum. In addition, parent leaders and Elisa work with the University of California-Davis to identify learning resources.

Many classes done in the name of “parent university” around the country, however, do not seem to share that same emphasis on parent leadership.

I hope that’s not the case in Birmingham…