Location
Lincoln Elementary School
1132 NE 10th Street
Grants Pass, OR 97526

Contact
Dave Currie, Principal
Phone: 541/474-5770
Fax: 541/474-5718

Description
At Lincoln Elementary, parent involvement means more than putting parents in charge of "busy work" teachers don't have time to do. It means reaching out to parents, providing them with information and skills they may not already have; it means depending on them to mentor some of the school's troubled students; and it means using them as tutors to coach readers through the literacy process. At Lincoln, the parents are partners-they give to the school and they receive from the school.

Three times a year, parents are invited to Parent Night at Lincoln. Each Parent Night has a theme. When families arrive, they are served a dinner that is provided by a community business partner. Afterward, child care is provided while the parents have the opportunity to learn more about specific issues related to parenting skills or to discover new strategies for helping their children academically. They get to choose two of three half-hour sessions that are offered by different speakers.

Parents can volunteer to be part of a tutoring program called Mentor Match, which pairs them with an identified child to specifically target reading. Lincoln has approximately 40 volunteers involved in the Mentor Match program, 50 percent of which are parents. The volunteers work 30 minutes each week and generally volunteer for the entire year, though some serve for a semester only. The Title I Coordinator oversees the program by arranging with classroom teachers the best time for a volunteer to work with a particular student. In addition, the Title I Coordinator provides the mentor with a notebook of activities designed to meet students' individual reading needs. This notebook is updated as students' skills progress.

Parents can also become involved in the Special Friends Program. This effort matches a parent volunteer with a student who is hav-ing difficulty succeeding in the classroom. (It is not for students having severe behavior or personal problems.) For a half-hour each week, the volunteer and student spend time together. They play games, talk, and have fun. The volunteer's role is simply that of supportive friend-an adult who cares. The school provides a meeting room for the special friends.

Observed Outcomes

• Student behavior has improved; referrals to the office have been reduced
• Teachers have noticed a positive change in those students in-volved in Special Friends
• Overall test scores have improved, especially reading at the third-grade level
• The number of volunteers and parents in the school continues to grow each year
• Parents are able to provide assistance to their students using the same terminology and procedures as the staff

Keys to Success

• Find a program that fits your school and stick with it
• A team approach to developing your program is important
• Send staff to visit other schools and see what works in those schools-the larger the visitation team, the better

Location
Richmond Elementary School
466 Richmond Avenue, SE
Salem, OR 97301

Contact
Kathy Bebe, Principal
Phone: 503/399-3180
Fax: 503/316-3535

Description
Realizing that different parents have different levels of comfort when it comes to school involvement, and recognizing that its parent population has a variety of special needs, staff at Richmond Elementary School set out nine years ago to create a parent-involvement program capable of accommodating all parents' de-sires to participate in the education of their children. Factors such as having one of the highest poverty rates in the state, a high mobil-ity rate, and a large percentage of English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) students all contribute to a unique set of challenges at Richmond. To make parent involvement a priority to the entire Richmond education community, the school had to first start by build-ing a strong parent network. They needed a core group of parents that could assume some leadership responsibility. Then it was necessary to create an awareness in the general parent population of the needs present in the school and how parents could contri-bute. The school also worked to provide parents with knowledge about the kinds of services and resources available to them through the school community.

Initial Efforts. Because they achieved their initial purpose, or because the school lost funding, the following programs are no longer active at Richmond. However, all were key in the initial development of the school's strong parent support network.

• Parent Staff Together (PST): Groups of about 15 parents and at least three staff members met monthly at a parent's home for the purpose of strengthening leadership and parenting skills. These groups of parents were identified as leaders and made a two-year commitment to the program. Because PST was re-ceived so well by parents, eventually the home groups grew to be too large. When enough parent interest and commitment to the school was fostered, the groups were discontinued
• Richmond Parent Club: The Parent Club planned general parent meetings quarterly throughout the school year. These meetings focused on community concerns, school-related programs/reports and fund raising. While many of these activities still occur, they are now sponsored by Richmond's Local School Advisory Committee (LSAC). The LSAC evolved from the efforts of the Parent Club. LSACs are required com-ponents for every school in Richmond's district. Their prim-ary role is to link parents and the school community to the school board
• Parents As Teachers (PAT): This program was modeled after the Missouri Model, which received national recognition for its innovative work with parents of young children. PAT taught parenting skills through an established curriculum. It targeted parents beginning in their third trimester of pregnancy and continued services until the child was three years old. Because specialized and expensive training was required for PAT, the school was forced to put it on hold temporarily
• Parent Field Trips: To increase awareness of local resources and attractions, parents were invited to ride a school bus to local destinations to experience opportunities that were free to them and their families. Examples include the public lib-rary, the state capitol building, and local universities. Field trips no longer take place because of budget constraints

Supports. The following are measures the school has taken to ensure adequate supports for its parent-involvement efforts.

• Community School Outreach Coordinator: This position, which was new in the 1995-96 school year, coordinates the community-outreach and parent-involvement programs by assessing school, parent, and community needs. Funding for the position comes from district money set aside for high-needs schools
• Parent Compacts: A 21st Century Council subcommittee devel-oped a parent compact form that was included in Richmond's 1996-97 Title I Schoolwide Program. Parent compacts serve as guides for student learning and work to make parents, stu-dents, and teachers accountable for their role in the learning process. Each party (parent, child, and teacher) signs the com-pact, which details how they will support one another to fur-ther the student's successful learning experiences throughout the school year
• Parent Lending Library: Parent resource materials and chil-dren's educational materials are available to parents on a check-out basis from this roving collection-on-wheels. The library is available during specific hours that complement the student's day and whenever the school holds parent-involvement activities

Activities. The following activities are currently being offered to Richmond families on an ongoing basis.

• Volunteer Work Parties: One afternoon each month, Rich-mond parents receive an invitation to come to school and spend time preparing materials for their child's teacher. Volunteers sit together in a comfortable atmosphere, working and get-ting to know one another while child care is provided in the music room for their preschool-age children. This is a very non-threatening way for parents who may be unfamiliar with the school and its routines, or for parents with limited English, to get involved in their child's education
• Kindergarten Packet Meetings: Once a month, the Title I child-development counselor meets at school with interested kinder-garten parents to go over a packet of materials and suggest ways to enhance children's academic and social growth. The meetings are an opportunity for a small group of parents to focus on con-cerns pertinent to the kindergarten age group
• Love, Lunch, and Learn: This parent-support program gives all parents the opportunity to make a date to eat lunch with their children, followed by a session on parenting skills and topics pertinent to raising children. This program is offered on a monthly basis and is very well attended, sometimes with over 500 lunches being served (this includes children and parents)
• Parent Popover Breakfast: This activity happens about once a month and is a way for new families to become acquainted with Richmond's programs and staff. The principal, counselor, and a parent greeter meet with guest parents after they have breakfast with their youngsters. Parents are then given a tour of the building after the meeting. The breakfasts are by invita-tion only
• Math Family Nights: Four times a year, families are invited to come to school in the evening to learn about the existing math program and how to use manipulatives with their children. Sta-tions are set up in the cafeteria for families to rotate through and experience some of the teaching techniques used with students in the classrooms
• 1 Plus 1 = Success Math Program: Five times a year, parents are hosted in their child's classroom for a one-hour inservice pro-vided by the Title 1 math resource teacher. Each classroom has this opportunity six times during the school year

Observed Outcomes

• Parents' level of comfort and trust in school settings has height-ened over the years
• Hispanic parents and families are more aware of the role they can play in schools
• Staff morale is strong, and teamwork transverses many programs and activities
• Community response and interest in Richmond's programs has increased and brought in countless numbers of donations and volunteers in support of the school's efforts

Keys to Success

• Look for extremely dedicated and committed staff who do not allow ego to get in the way of promoting and implementing programs
• Give every staff member equal status and expect that they all have unconditional respect of one another-everyone should be willing to help out in whatever needs to be done
• Welcome parents with openness and a genuine desire to support them in their efforts to parent their children and be the best parents they can be, regardless of their educational level, socioeconomic status, or family background