Denver Public Schools Task Force on Early Education and School Readiness

Feb. 17, 2005

Subcommittee: Parent Education/Involvement

Present: Helen Thorpe, Mar Munoz, Valin Brown, Monique Lovato

Absent: Cec Ortiz, Rosemary Rodriguez

Recording: Jan Burke

Top Priorities:

Recognize parents as first teachers and the critical role they play from birth
Build a reciprocal relationship between schools and parents, acknowledging the strengths both parties bring to the table
Identify the role of DPS in supporting parents in their role as the child’s first teacher: ad campaign, encouragement, education? And/or increased collaboration with existing programs?
Explore the role of DPS in building parent involvement and trust with the parents of children in the years before they enroll in the public schools
Bring parents of the community’s youngest children into the schools early
Educate/inform parents about “school-readiness,” what they can do, and the transition to school-age (TBD)

What are your needs (information, staff support, etc.)?

A presentation on how parent involvement works in Head Start
Information on the existing interactions with parents that occur in DPS programs and other opportunities that occur in the schools for parents of young children. (CSC, MOPS, etc)
Provide information on the top three programs in the country regarding parent involvement. (The best practices subcommittee could provide this?)

When is your next meeting date, time and location?

Maintain e-mail contact, update missing members, and meet again at regular March meeting

Are there other people you would like to invite to be on your subcommittee?

●The knowledge and experience of Padres Unidos and the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition will provide rich information to support this subcommittee’s activities

●Valin to contact Charlie Butts, President of the Board for The Parent – Child Home Program in Port Washington, NY

Other Comments:

Recognize parents as the child’s first teachers. Their parenting starts long before school begins its formal role. The importance of these years has been confirmed by early brain development, language development, and parent-child bonding research.

What is the role of DPS? (I.e. public advertising, resource and referral, getting information from parents, providing information to parents)

Community members may ask, “Why is this necessary now?”
A question was raised related to the analysis of the data that indicates that more involved parents have more successful children. Why is this assumed to be a cause – effectrelationship?
The belief that children learn best in the home can be the basis for a rejection of formal early education programs.

How can DPS strengthen its role in fostering collaboration with existing ECE programs in the community?

How can DPS increase capacity to meet community needs by leveraging existing resources?

How can we link families of children from birth to five to the schools?
Locate activities in school buildings
Onsite immunization clinics
Car seat checks
Open schools evenings and weekends to community activities

Identify school-readiness indicators and develop ways to share information with parents in the community.

Community volunteers and advocates can play an important role in building relationships with parents and welcoming them to the schools. The Hispanic Ministry, Centro San Juan Diego utilizes this type of volunteer successfully to engage the Spanish-speaking community.

The Parent Education/Involvement Subcommittee has a role in addressing all 5 draft goals listed in the Draft Vision, Mission and Goals of the Task Force document.