Today, The Los Angeles Times published an article headlined LAUSD parent centers aim to boost involvement at schools. It reports on plans to spend $20 million to “upgrade” parent centers in the District. The article discusses a positive report on parent centers from the LAUSD “Inspector General.” I’d like to share my thoughts in two […]
L.A. Unified to spend $20 million on parent centers is the headline of an article in today’s Los Angeles Times. I generally don’t tend to be a big fan of these kinds of parent centers because they are often well-intentioned efforts to “do to” parents (involvement) instead of “doing with” (engagement). It can have a […]
From a newspaper article about a New Jersey school: Allen Frear Elementary School in Camden is winning acclaim for finding a new way of getting parents involved that might be familiar to anyone who’s ever kept a customer appreciation card in their purse or wallet. This year the school has been handing out “Frear Frequent […]
It’s that time of year again, so here’s a listing of what I believe to be my best posts during the second half of the year on building parent engagement in schools. You can see Part One here. You might also be interested in a listing of all my parent engagement-related “The Best…” lists. Here […]
The Houston School District has been touting the creation of five new “parent super centers” with computers. I’ve previously posted about my reservations about these kinds of centers: I generally don’t tend to be a big fan of these kinds of parent centers because they are often well-intentioned efforts to “do to” parents (involvement) instead […]
L.A. Unified board OKs new parent center at Miramonte Elementary is the headline of a story in today’s Los Angeles Times. That school is the site of the horrible situation where two teachers have been charged with molesting students, and where the entire teaching staff was removed (apparently without checking first with parents and, in […]
The Detroit Public Schools has begun giving $25 gift cards if parents come to their parent centers. What in the world are they thinking? I hope someone there reads my Washington Post piece, Why paying parents to attend school events is wrong.
“LA aims to engage parents in schools with services” is the headline of a new Associated Press article on the reorganization and expansion of a District parent involvement program. Unfortunately, it appears to promote a misguided “If you build it, they will come” model of creating parent centers and coming up with classes that they […]
School centers help parents help kids is an article in the Atlanta Constitution about the expansion of parent centers in schools. I’m not “sold” on the value of these kinds of centers. It seems to me the resources used would be generally better spent supporting school staff going out to the community listening to and […]
I’ve written several posts about parent involvement/engagement activities in Detroit, including questions I have about what’s going on. The Detroit News recently ran an article about one of the new parent centers there, and I have to admit I liked a quote from the director (which is in the second paragraph of this article excerpt): […]
Last month, I posted about an organization called the Detroit Parent Network, and how they were likely to get a major contract from the Detroit Public Schools to coordinate parent involvement for the district. That contract has indeed come to pass, and they’re opening seven “parent centers.” From what I read, the Parent Network sounds […]
Groups that want to run up to thirty schools in Los Angeles have begun making their presentations to the Los Angeles School Board. The Mayor’s organization, Partnership For Los Angeles Schools, now runs twelve schools and is competing for some of the schools that are “up for bid.” According to the Los Angeles Times, they […]