Thursday, March 13, 2025, 6:17AM |  49°
MENU
Advertisement
The hall at Clayton Academy is filled with student art and marks of student achievement.
1
MORE

How can more Pittsburgh parents become engaged in their kids' education?

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

How can more Pittsburgh parents become engaged in their kids' education?

How can more Pittsburgh parents become engaged in their kids' education?

For the Heinz Endowments, an answer is training and organizing parents through community groups to have the skills to advocate for what they want in their children’s schools.

The foundation is spending $584,500 on an effort that will provide 10 community groups with training from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University.

Advertisement

“Even if the schools were doing everything right, we do believe parents deserve to create their own opportunities and methods in how they engage in their children’s education,” said Melanie Brown, Heinz Endowments education program officer.

Rather than a criticism of school-based opportunities for involvement, “this is about building capacity within communities that can last beyond what might be a staff person in a school,” Ms. Brown said.

Keith Catone, the institute’s principal associate, said, “One of the advantages of working with community-based groups is their independence from the schools. It gives them the autonomy to say what needs to be said or to be able to push or collaborate with schools in a way that brings a new set of capacities to the table.”

The 10 groups involved in the Pittsburgh Parent Power Program are Action United, Hill District Consensus Group, Lawrenceville United, Local Task Force for the Right to Education, One Pittsburgh, Parent Education and Advocacy Leadership Center, Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children, Project Destiny and the Ready Freddy program of the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development.

Advertisement

Each of the 10 organizations will have five members, most of them parents, involved in the training, beginning with a dinner followed by a daylong session in two weeks.

Other sessions are planned for January and near the end of the school year. The grant includes a $1,500 stipend for each participant.

The effort began with an institute study of existing community-based, education-related family engagement leadership and organizing work in Pittsburgh.

The report, which was released last week, states, “Over the last several years, more and more evidence has emerged that effective parent involvement can positively impact school culture, working conditions and student achievement.

“Recent research, as well as our own experience, has shown that effective community organizing has resulted in better student outcomes, help build school-community relationships, parent involvement and trust and can stimulate important changes in educational policy, practices and resource distribution.”

In Pittsburgh, the report found there are “many shortcomings” in the efforts of Pittsburgh Public Schools to engage parents, but it notes a “basic foundation of policy, practice and commitment upon which to build.”

The report also found “relatively little community-based work aimed at increasing parent voice and power” but says there is “promising potential” across the “spectrum of service, advocacy and organizing groups.”

In Pittsburgh as in many other cities, “there is a growing understanding of the need for organized parents and organized communities to build power and have a voice in what’s happening in their public schools,” Mr. Catone said.

Education writer Eleanor Chute: echute@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1955.

First Published: October 28, 2014, 4:00 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin greets New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) after an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
1
sports
Gerry Dulac: Steelers have made offer to Aaron Rodgers, but holdup has nothing to do with money
The dome of the U.S. Capitol is seen in December 2024, when the House previously approved a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown.
2
news
Fetterman says he won't back government shutdown as funding deadline looms over Senate
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talks to quarterback Russell Wilson (3) during an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
3
sports
Joe Starkey: Steelers staging the saddest quarterback derby there ever was
The Social Security Administration Building at 6117 Penn Circle North in East Liberty Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019 in Pittsburgh.
4
news
Social Security Administration to begin withholding full benefits from overpaid recipients
Keeanu Benton, left, and Cam Heyward work on a defensive line drill at Steelers Minicamp Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side.
5
sports
With their free agency focus on QB, Steelers missed out on landing a top defensive lineman
The hall at Clayton Academy is filled with student art and marks of student achievement.  (Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette)
Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST local
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story