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Subscribe to feed Viewing entries tagged Families Improving Education Initiative

CALIFORNIA DEMOCRACY

Engaging Parents Leads to Better School Policies

BY Amy Dominguez-Arms | Apr 04, 2013

A new report by Harder+Company Community Research on Irvine’s Families Improving Education (FIE) initiative offers fresh insights into the impact of parent and community involvement in educational policymaking. The report highlights how equipping parents with data, engaging them in discussions with school officials and connecting them with others in their region can transform school policies toward better educational outcomes for students.

The James Irvine Foundation launched the FIE initiative in 2008 to support parental involvement in K–12 educational policymaking. The Foundation partnered with Families In Schools to build the capacity of organizations in the San Joaquin Valley and Inland Empire to engage parents and families in local and state decision making for education policies that affect their children.

Once the initiative was well-established, the Foundation and Families in Schools recognized the opportunity to evaluate the work and assess the most promising practices in FIE. We then contracted with Harder+Company to gauge the initiative’s impact on parents, organizations and school policymaking.

Regional Initiative Empowers Parents To Develop Civic Engagement Skills

BY Alex Barnum | Oct 01, 2011

State budget cuts have forced California school districts to take drastic measures in recent years. But in the sprawling Lodi Unified School District, a proposal to eliminate 32 staff positions providing bilingual services was still a shock to Ger Vang, CEO of the Lao Family Community, when he learned it was on the agenda for the district’s June board meeting.

The proposal, he knew, would be a blow for the district’s 49 schools, which have one of the state’s most diverse student populations. But it would be particularly devastating to a growing effort to involve the district’s parents in their children’s education. Many of these parents speak a language other than English as their primary language, including Spanish, Hmong, Cambodian and Vietnamese.

“Parents want to support district policies,” recalls Vang, a Hmong refugee from Laos whose organization is one of the leaders in the parent-engagement effort. “But when there are no interpreters during meetings, parents feel excluded and stop participating.” He knew it would be important for the Lodi school board to hear from these parents before voting on the measure.

Many parents in the San Joaquin Valley’s low-income and ethnic communities are not accustomed to having a voice in debates like these. Yet studies show that when parents do speak out at school board meetings or organize themselves, they can make a difference. Their efforts have contributed to changes in educational policy and funding decisions in counties throughout the state.

The Irvine Foundation, as part of its focus on increasing civic engagement in underrepresented communities in California, launched its Families Improving Education Initiative in 2008 to promote this kind of involvement. The initiative is managed by Families In Schools, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that, in turn, is working with 11 community organizations in the Central Valley and Inland Empire.

Irvine Initiative Helps Empower Parents to Improve Local Schools

BY Alex Barnum | Sep 22, 2008

Patricia Rodriguez is a fulltime mother who is devoted to her two daughters and wants the best for them. But she was "too shy" to even discuss her concerns about her children's education with their teachers at a Fresno public school because she speaks only Spanish, and their teachers speak only English.

"I didn't really have the nerve to come up and ask the teachers questions," she said through an interpreter. "I would just brush off my concerns."

Maria Casillas

"We all know that it's the squeaky wheel that gets the attention. We want that noise to become a melody that will generate changes in our schools and improve education for all our children."

– Maria Casillas, president
of Families in Schools

Such reluctance is not uncommon among California's non-English speaking parents and in low-income communities. Even though their children are more likely to attend one of the state's underperforming schools, many of these families often don't speak out at school board meetings or get involved in local educational policy and funding decisions.

Yet studies show that when parents do voice their opinions and organize themselves, they can make a difference in local schools. Their efforts have contributed to changes in policy, resources and educational programs in districts and states around the country.