Parents Building Communities in Schools

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Expanding Parent Involvement Programs into More Schools

Over the next few years, the process of establishing Parent Mentor Programs and CLCs was repeated in nearby schools as parents and principals asked for the programs. Today, LSNA has CLCs in six schools and Parent Mentor Programs in nine schools; many other programs, activities, and organizing efforts grew out of these efforts.

The programs have reaped enormous benefits for the parents involved. Over 1,300 mothers have graduated from the Parent Mentor Program. The majority returned to school or got jobs. About fifty hold part-time jobs working for LSNA in schools running parent programs, tutoring, or working in community centers as childcare providers and security guards; ten have been AmeriCorps volunteers with LSNA; eight hold full-time jobs at LSNA as education organizers, community center coordinators, or health outreach workers; and two are teaching after graduating from LSNA’s teacher training program. At the CLCs, thousands of adults have studied English, while 500 have earned their GED certificates. About 700 families participate weekly in activities that range from adult education and family counseling to tutoring, recreation, and music and art for children.

The Parent Mentor Program and CLCs have also proved highly generative. Parent mentors sought a way to involve parents who couldn’t visit the school during the day and helped develop LSNA’s Literacy Ambassadors program to bring parent-teacher teams to homes to read, share food, and build bridges with groups of families. Parents who surveyed neighbors became dedicated to block-club organizing and then health outreach, helping many uninsured families access affordable health care. When mentors found they loved working in classrooms, LSNA brought in experts from Chicago State University to create a bilingual teacher training program specifically for parent mentors. (It now serves as the model for a state-funded, statewide Grow Your Own Teacher program initiated by a coalition of community organizations.)

The impact on the schools has been huge.“We add a lot of life to the school,” said parent Lucila Rodriguez. “We run all the activities. And the students don’t feel they are alone, because their parents are there too. And if it’s not their parent, it’s a neighbor, or the parent of a friend.” School climates have become more positive and welcoming, and standardized-test scores have tripled. After visiting one of LSNA’s centers in 2002, Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan called for 100 schools to establish CLCs, and many have done so.

Rules of Engagement

Despite the interest in the concept, the value and function of deep parent participation in schools is less well understood, if only to judge from the many visitors LSNA gets (from as far away as the Philippines and Russia) who ask: “How do you get parents involved?”

What has LSNA done to bring parents into the schools and keep them involved over the years? Here are some simple guidelines.

• Real work: While schools have traditionally tapped parents – as outsiders – to help with fundraisers, costumes, and the like, there is nothing quite so empowering as becoming part of the educational process. Transformation at LSNA has come from involvement in the real, respected work of teaching and learning and parents consistently rise to the challenges and achieve success. When a parent mentor tutors a failing student and that student, for the first time, learns how to read, the parent, like the student, is transformed and committed.

• Respect: Respect is a complicated idea, taking on new meanings as relationships deepen. We find out what the parents know and care about. We value their culture, language, and experience – and tap their knowledge (language, culture, life experience, and knowledge about children) for the curriculum and to connect to the students. Respect also means following the “iron rule” of organizing – don’t do for others what they can do for themselves. It’s important to challenge them to keep moving forward.

• Reciprocity: Respect requires reciprocity – mutual support and mutual learning. Parents learn how difficult a teacher’s job is, and teachers learn how much parents have to give, particularly their passion for children and strength in building relationships with them. Parents and students learn together and from each other.

More specifically, here are some ways we operate:

• Recruitment. We recruit person-to-person, as well as by flyers. We take virtually every parent who applies, regardless of education or language; we have found from experience that everyone is useful in some classroom. We always look for new mentors and work to avoid cliques.

• Stipends. Money shows that work is valued. It is one way to tell mothers they are wanted and it is an extra incentive to overcome fears of the school or feelings that they have nothing to offer. For many mothers, the stipend is their only personal income, and legitimizes their work to their husbands.

• Bridges and spaces. A Parent Mentor Program graduate who runs the program can be the bridge across the school-community divide, backed by LSNA staff who help deal with crossclass or cross-cultural tensions. The initial training is a bridge and a space: on Day 1, mothers are shy and scared; by Day 5 they are ready, though a bit anxious, to meet their teacher and enter the classroom. The Parent Mentor Program creates a legitimate parent space inside the school, with its own rules and identities and its own cohort for support.

• Apprenticeship. We’re not against informational workshops, but we believe deep knowledge and commitment come from experience. The Parent Mentor Program structures experience to provide the learning. Teachers are told that parent mentors must work directly with children, not make copies or clean floors. Parent mentors learn about the school as they experience it every day.

• Leadership development. The theme of the parent mentor training is, “You are leaders in the home, school, and community.” Parents are challenged to be leaders – not clients. At every possible opportunity, LSNA is preparing parents to take on leadership roles – working as an “assistant teacher,” speaking in workshops or public meetings, telling their story to the press or to funders, recruiting new parents.

• Community engagement. Parents are always encouraged to take on new challenges and to organize together to improve schools and community. Some forty-nine LSNA parents sit on the school councils, where they help select principals and approve budgets. They participate in LSNA issue committees, community meetings, campaigns, and marches – taking positions on immigration reform, affordable housing, safety, or health. They pass petitions, testify, and meet with aldermen and state legislators