PASS
Parent Action for School Success
Effective Parent Engagement

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Taking the next step in meaningful school-home engagement for student success
Strong school, family and community engagement dramatically impacts student success. Schools belong to their communities. Clearly, positive interaction between parents, communities and their schools benefits all students and society as a whole.

But teachers, administrative staff and parents need to be prepared to create meaningful partnerships to address individual student needs, increasing expectations and mandatory accountability at all levels. Schools can create a culture of positive parent engagement and meaningful partnerships in the learning process. Parents can act upon their high expectations by pro-actively partnering with schools to create centers for learning at home. Communities have much to contribute in creating a web of support for our nation’s most valuable resource into the future: our emerging youth leaders. Together, we can all support excellent public education for all children.

IDRA presents comprehensive, in-depth learning opportunities for parents, teachers, administrators and community-based organizations that value and build upon the strength and knowledge that each partner brings, while developing new and effective strategies for engagement that focus on student success. When applied effectively, these practices can create a strong web of support to help prepare students for successful transitions throughout education from preschool to college enrollment and into the world of work and civic engagement.

Benefits and Outcomes

• Creating a culture of meaningful engagement for student success
• Applying principles of parent leadership: parents as teachers, resources, trainers of other parents and advocates.
• Strengthening the belief that parents are effective parents throughout all levels, from preschool through higher education
• Maximizing effective strategies for learning and supporting partnerships between teachers and parents
• Moving toward shared accountability and excellence in education for all children

IDRA Support
IDRA’s parent and community engagement training and professional development opportunities combine best practices, state-of-the-art technology, hands-on and face-to-face training in effective parent and community engagement to help plan, create and sustain important connections between school, home and community.

IDRA parent training is highly interactive and conducted in two languages, Spanish and English, using a variety of ways to work with parents, community members and school staff, including workshops, video conferences, problem solving, hands-on planning and reflections. Participants are supported through all phases of effective engagement, from planning through implementation and assessments, coaching, training of trainers and leadership development.

• Helping Parents Understand the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
• Teachers and Parents Working Together for Student Success
• Building School-Parent Partnerships that Work
• Parent efficacy for Helping Children Succeed in School
• Understanding Academic Standards
• Helping Improve Academic Achievement
• Strategies that Help Students Outside the Regular School Day

An example of a model plan that IDRA could use with your district is in the box below.

Why Is IDRA Unique?
The Intercultural Development Research Association is an independent, private non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening public schools to work for all children.

We are committed to the IDRA valuing philosophy, respecting the knowledge and skills of the individuals we work with and build on the strengths of the students and parents in their schools.

IDRA’s professional staff members…

• Are fluent and literate in English and Spanish.
• Have many years of classroom, administrative, research and community engagement experience.
• Have graduate degrees – master’s and doctorates – from respected universities.

PASS Will Address Your Specific Needs
Cross-cutting themes that are incorporated into each session include: