(November 10, 2006) Few people question the value of parents being involved in schools. But many school leaders struggle with traditional strategies that have little meaning or success. IDRA’s goal is bigger than parent involvement in education, rather it is parent leadership. This model is a vision of all parents as advocates of excellent neighborhood public schools. Aurelio Montemayor, M.Ed., director of the IDRA Texas Parent Information and Resource Center, describes the four dimensions of the IDRA’s model for parent engagement and how it can unleash powerful transformations for school success. Aurelio is interviewed by Bradley Scott, Ph.D., director of the IDRA South Central Collaborative for Equity.
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Resources
Texas IDRA Parent Information and Resource Center – a comprehensive, multicultural and multilingual parent leadership support program for strengthening partnerships between parents and schools for student success, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. http://www.idra.org/Texas_IDRA_PIRC.htm/
00:49 Dr. Bradley Scott, host, opens the show. He describes the purpose of the Classnotes podcast series.
01:10 Bradley summarizes the mission and work of IDRA.
01:38 Bradley invites listeners to leave feedback through e-mail to
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or through a web form at www.idra.org/podcasts.
02:22 Bradley invites listeners to subscribe to the podcast – free of charge – through iTunes or podcast directories.
02:43 Aurelio introduces the topic of this episode and guest Aurelio Montemayor, a key developer of IDRA's Parent Leadership Model.
05:39 Aurelio talks about the history and evolution of parent involvement, participation, and engagement in the schools.
09:34 Aurelio explains IDRA's model of "valued parent leadership" was established.
10:51 Bradley asks whether the model responds to the "deficit views" of parental involvement and engagement and if it allows parents that are typically underserved to be significantly engaged in their children's education.
13:02 Aurelio: "Every parent is an expert in his or her child."
14:16 * Model is based on peer support and rotating responsibilities.
14:24 * Model is based on ongoing support for new parent leadership.
15:02 * Model validates each parent's strengths.
15:31 * Model is focused on collective action.
16:21 * Building relationships of trust and compassion are essential.
16:57 Aurelio notes that research on parent involvement has "hit a new high" in the past 15 to 20 years. Dr. Joyce L. Epstein and Anne Henderson are among the leading researchers.
18:17 While Dr. Epstein's six levels of parent involvement are based on the point of view of the institution, IDRA's Four Dimensions of Parent Leadership start from the perspective of the family and parents.
19:06 Aurelio describes each of the four dimensions:
19:09 * Parents as Teachers
20:35 * Parents as Resources
24:50 * Parents as Decision Makers
30:00 * Parents as Leaders and Trainers
37:03 Aurelio notes that IDRA's model is not an individualistic one; rather, it works to help parents as a group support each other and the school.
38:22 Bradley encourages listeners to visit the IDRA web site to learn more about the organization and its projects.
38:38 Bradley asks listeners for their feedback one last time.
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(November 10, 2006) Few people question the value of parents being involved in schools. But many school leaders struggle with traditional strategies that have little meaning or success. IDRA’s goal is bigger than parent involvement in education, rather it is parent leadership. This model is a vision of all parents as advocates of excellent neighborhood public schools. 
