Episode 92: Anne Foster, executive director of Parents for Public Schools
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(August 9, 2011) Armed with actionable knowledge, parents are able to work with their schools to bring about positive change. As seen in IDRA’s Quality Schools Action Framework, a key element is having access to disaggregated data in ways that are meaningful and actionable. Anne Foster, executive director of Parents for Public Schools, describes how PPS is training parents to interpret data and to better understand how schools and school boards function. She gives several examples of transformations that have occurred as a result, like improving science achievement and dramatically improving graduation rates. Anne is interviewed by Aurelio Montemayor, M.Ed., director of the IDRA Texas Parent Information and Resource Center and a member of the PPS advisory board. Send comments to
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See resource links and show notes. (14.7 MB; 00:16:00 min.)
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IDRA Quality Schools Action Framework
Partners and Catalysts – How Communities Are Putting Data to Work to Improve Education
By Laurie Posner, M.P.A., IDRA Newsletter
Knowledge for Action – Organizing School-Community Partnerships Around Quality Data
By Laurie Posner, M.P.A., and Hector Bojorquez, IDRA Newsletter
Authentic Consultation – NCLB Outreach Leadership and Dialogues for Parents, Students and Teachers
By Aurelio M. Montemayor, M.Ed., IDRA Newsletter
Informing Change Bringing School Data Online
By Laurie Posner, M.P.A., IDRA Newsletter
IDRA OurSchool data portal (Texas)
IDRA OurSchool data portal – in Spanish (Texas)
Courage to Connect: A Quality Schools Action Framework
IDRA’s Family Leadership Principles
By Aurelio Montemayor, M.Ed., IDRA Newsletter
* Anne outlines the Parents for Public Schools (PPS) mission to engage parents and community members in supporting public education; she also recounts the organization's beginnings in 1989.
* Anne explains how PPS chapters across the country tailor their work and activities to the most pressing issues in their local communities.
* Anne talks about the importance of understanding education data. She outlines the work of the parent leadership institute, which teaches parents how to read and interpret data and then apply that knowledge to projects in their own school districts.
* Anne shares the success stories of two
* Anne talks about the challenges of moving parents forward on the engagement spectrum and helping them to secure funding for their PPS chapters.
Show length: 16:00
Related podcasts
The Power of Real Conversation – August 23, 2010
Tool for Building Quality Schools – December 9, 2010
Communities Using Data to Improve their Schools – June 3, 2008
Valuing Families in Children’s Education – April 20, 2007
The Power of IDRA’s Parent Leadership Model – November 10, 2006
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