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.
“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.
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.
