Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice - Parental Involvement Education and Advocacy

Parental Involvement Education and Advocacy

Chicago Appleseed's ongoing work to empower parents to become more involved in their child's education, as mandated by the NCLB Act, continues to reach schools, parents and educators across Illinois. By partnering with the Governor's Parent Leadership Council and Columbia College, the Chicago Appleseed model of parent/school/community partnership is making a positive difference for students and their parents.

Research and Advocacy

Few people would argue with the notion that parental involvement improves student success in school. Until now, however, little effort has been made to come up with systematic solutions for increasing the role parents play in their children's education. In the January 2007 report,

Improving Parental Involvement in Illinois Under the No Child Left Behind Act: An Illinois Action Plan, Chicago Appleseed offers a model for creating organizational structures that foster parental involvement even in the most disadvantaged school districts. Improving Parental Involvement in Illinois Under the No Child Left Behind Act contains specific and achievable recommendations for improvement in Illinois school districts based on impact research and expert testimony. This is the follow-up report to the Appleseed publication It Takes a Parent: Transforming Education in the Wake of the No Child Left Behind Act. The work involved 18 school districts in eight states and was done as a collaborative effort by Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and Appleseed public interest centers in Connecticut, Georgia, Texas, and Washington. Since the publication of our model for parental involvement, Chicago Appleseed has provided technical assistance to the Illinois Governor's Parent Leadership Council and collaborated with the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Parent Information Resource Council (PIRC) at Columbia College, as well as with selected schools and school districts to coordinate efforts to improve parental involvement in Chicago and throughout Illinois.

In August, 2010, Chicago Appleseed completed two additional reports to further the aim of parental involvement in Illinois schools. The first, "A Proposal to Strengthen Family and Community Engagement within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act" is a set of recommended changes to the ESEA, the authorization of which is currently under review by Congress. These recommendations promote stronger parental and community engagement in schools, and they are informed and supported by secondary research. The second report is a guide for schools interested in creating partnerships with families and community organizations, based upon a wide range of research pertaining to the community schools movement. The "A Proposal to Strengthen Family and Community Engagement within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: An Implementation Guide" provides proven strategies and practices for engaging parents and community organizations with schools. Both reports are provided below.