| PIQE ANNUAL REPORT 2002 |
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President's message
The education of our youth remains the single most important challenge facing our nation and we cannot afford to fail. The very future of our democracy, our economic survival and the social well being of our communities depends on how we nurture, develop and educate our young. Here at the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE), we are addressing how to best nurture and educate our children now, so that we don't have to invest in punitive programs later. The research and evidence overwhelmingly points to the fact that without actively involved parents, very few children are able to actualize their educational and professional potential. PIQE uses that knowledge. Since 1987, PIQE has demonstrated significant impact on involving low-income and immigrant parents in their children's education and forging partnerships between parents and teachers throughout California, Texas and Arizona. Most importantly, to all of PIQE's donors and contributors, thank you for your generous support! I urge individuals, communities, businesses, foundations and governments who want to see every child received a quality education and every opportunity to a post-secondary education to collaborate like never before. There are many ways to do this, including personally sponsoring a parent in the PIQE program, which you can easily do on our website, wwww.piqe.org SI SE PUEDE! Mission and Philosophy Founded in 1987, by Reverend Vahac Mardirosian and Dr. Alberto Ochoa, and headquartered in San Diego, California, the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) is a statewide, 501-(c)(3) community-based nonprofit organization. PIQE is aimed at educational reform by motivating parents, especially low-income immigrant parents, to become more involved in their children's education. PIQE defines its mission as bringing schools, parents and community together as partners in the education of every child. The guiding principles that drive PIQE's work are:
The Need for Parent Ivolvement & PIQE is Vital
What are the possible interventions? Research leaves no doubt that when parents become involved, students do better. Henderson and Berla (1996) found in a review of 66 studies that:
During PIQE's nine-week course at a neighborhood school site, parents learn the importance of visiting their child's classroom. Through the PIQE curriculum, parents learn how to ask teachers how their child is doing relative to other students in the class and to State grade level expectations. They learn how to enhance their child's reading skills, how to better communicate with their child - offering positive discipline techniques that enhance self-esteem, and how to help their child avoid drugs, violence, and gang involvement. In FY 2002, the Parent Institute for Quality education (PIQE) graduated 30,641 parents from its nine-week parental involvement classes and more than 5,000 from the follow-up coaching program. In addition, 96 teachers attended a three-unit Masters Degree level (CSU Extension) course and 45 teachers participated in a six-hour workshop on the importance of parental involvement in every child's education. Both were designed and facilitated by PIQE staff. The chart below outlines the number of PIQE graduates from the nine-week classes since its inception in 1987:
*Above is the total number of parent graduates from the PIQE program since 1987. 2002 highlights Nine-Week Core ProgramThe Nine-Week Core Program celebrates over 278,000 graduates and has impacted the social and educational development of over 1 million children. The core program is offered in fourteen languages, ranging from English to Spanish, to Kenyan, to Russian, and to Vietnamese. It is offered at no charge to parents and is taught by professional facilitators that have been trained by PIQE. Parents choose to participate in either morning or evening sessions depending on their individual schedules. The program's intent is to empower parents with information, knowledge, skills, behaviors and personal commitment to improve the conditions surrounding the educational and personal development of their children. The core program is held over a nine-week period, in which the initial planning session delineates the mission of the program, stresses the importance of taking the first step toward not only self-improvement but also how to improve the educational situation of the child. It is also at this session that parents are encouraged to provide input on issues they would like to have included in the course. Parent graduates return to their communities as a powerful collective force of change, committed to improving the well being of their children. They become aware that in supporting their children, they are creating a pathway for success that is free of violence and drugs; and in turn, the community grows positively as it gains new leaders with clear and directed visions. As more parents graduate from PIQE, more children are put on the path to educational success, schools become more responsive to the needs of immigrant and low-income families, and communities become more supportive environments for children and their families. Follow-On Parent Coaching ComponentBuilding upon the successful follow-on pilot Parent Coaching Program in Los Angeles in 1999, the Parent Institute continued to fine-tune and expand the four-month program in Modesto, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Ana, and San Jose with the goal of sustaining meaningful ongoing parental involvement beyond the nine-week period of the course. Coaches focused on five-pronged strategy to help parents prepare a student for college. In monthly calls, coaches encourage parents to pursue activities critical to enhancing their children's academic achievement. In 2002, over 200 parents participated in coaching activities. Every school Principal received a monthly compilation of the parents'self reports from PIQE so that they could see both areas of improvement, as well as where they could help parents become more engaged. On the following page is a chart outlining how many parents of the 200 engaged in specific strategies:
Gear Up Federal GrantIn the third year of funding, PIQE's GEAR-UP Grant (September 2002-August 30, 2003) served 55 middle schools in California. In order to accommodate the increase in schools, PIQE expanded the San Jose Office to include a satellite operation for Monterey-Santa Cruz counties, and the Modesto and Sacramento office added staff to serve new counties, including Fresno, Shasta, Sonoma, and Siskiyou. During Year 2, PIQE was invited to submit a supplemental proposal for funding from the Eisenhower Fund to design and pilot a three-unit Masters level college course to prepare GEAR-UP educators and school leaders to view families as partners in fostering school success. The design, progress and outcome of this project is covered in the "Special Projects" section of this report. Gear Up Schools 2002-2003
PIQE-"Project Steps" Gear-Up EvaluationDuring Year 1, Susan Bonoff's Evaluation Project Steps GEAR-UP (Counselor-Walter Reed Middle School) conducted an evaluation of the three components implemented to stimulate academic achievement and promote a college-going culture among the first-generation 7th grade students and families in their GEAR-UP cohort. The three interventions included 1) PIQE, 2) after-school tutoring, and 3) College Making It Happen (CMIH). The evaluation reported a six-month period and the impact of the three interventions-separately and in combination-on the Stanford 9 Scores in reading, math, and language for 2001. The Bonoff evaluation found that two interventions-PIQE and CMIH-produced increases on the Stanford 9. When reported separately, the students of PIQE graduates improved an average of 4 points on their reading and language scores and 2 points on the math scores. The students who participated in the CMIH improved their scores on an average of 7 to 11 points. When these two interventions were layered, that is the parents graduated from the PIQE and the students participated in the CMIH, the increases were even more dramatic. Teacher Workshop PilotAs important as parent involvement is for student achievement, the role of teachers and schools is equally important. Studies that correlate levels of parent involvement with student achievement find that the more extensive the parental involvement, the higher the student achievement. In programs that are designed to be full family-school partnerships, educational achievement among low-income students not only improves, but it reaches levels that are standard for middle-class children, and the children who are the furthest behind make the greatest gains. In 2002, under the leadership of Shari Golan, Ph.D., Senior Policy Analyst, Stanford Research Institute (SRI) International, PIQE and SRI implemented the "Teacher Workshop" in six schools in Santa Clara County. Forty-five teachers participated in the pilots and in subsequent debriefings of the experience and materials. The evaluation of the pilots resulted in subsequent adjustments that were used as the teacher workshops were expanded to Riverside and Orange Counties. The SRI three-year demonstration program targeting schools in San Jose, California, will provide parents, practitioners, and policy-makers much-needed evidence regarding what works in forming family-school partnerships. The evaluation plan designed and implemented by SRI will attempt to answer the following questions:
PIQE Launches Its Program in Dallas, Texas and in Phoenix, ArizonaIn 2002, PIQE in collaboration with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) conducted a week-long training with participants from six national NCLR affiliates. Two of those affiliates were the Dallas Concilio and Terturlia Charter School from Phoenix Arizona. In Dallas, Texas, the program is being incubated by the Dallas Concilio; a multi-service community based non-profit organization. This effort is being led by the Dallas Concilio's Executive Director, Cecilia McKay and the Project Director is the very capable Martha Zapata who has done an extraordinary job in implementing the program. The goal is to establish PIQE in Dallas and then expand the program throughout Texas in the years to come.
In Phoenix, Arizona, the PIQE program was implemented at Tertulia Charter School. Mr. Carlos Tapia, the school Director, took the Parent Institute best practices and started the first PIQE nine-week classes for the parents of the children attending the Charter school. The first graduation took place on June 22, 2002 and 16 parents received their certificates. Since then, Tertulia Charter School has made it mandatory for all parents to attend the Parent Institute classes. The results have been outstanding---teachers report more participation from parents in their children's education, as well as a noticeable increase of understanding about their rights and responsibilities. The parent's questions at the follow-up parent-teacher conferences are more informed and sophisticated. In general, parents who attend the PIQE classes are better equipped to support their children's education. Approximately 195 (95%) of the families at Tertulia Charter School have gone through the Parent Institute parent education and empowerment classes. Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Parent Institute for Quality Education in Los Angeles Unified School District January 2002 to March 2002Dr. Janet Chrispeels and Dr. Margarita González of the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education University of California, Santa Barbara evaluated PIQE programs in 20 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District for FY 2002. Their report clearly outlines that PIQE is effective at parent engagement. Participants in this evaluation were parents who attended PIQE's first session and completed the pre-test and the matched group that also attended the last session and completed the post-test. Of the 2,245 parents who received a graduation certificate in the 20 elementary and secondary schools, 1,156 parents (51%) completed the pre- and post-test. The results show significant difference in four major areas: parent knowledge, sense of efficacy, parental behaviors to support student learning at home and parental role beliefs:
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On
December 12, 2002, PIQE Dallas graduated its first class of 124
parents from the James Bowie Elementary School. It was a tremendous
celebration with over 400 in attendance, two television stations
and several newspaper reporters. Also attending and participating
was the Area South Superintendent Dr. Steve Flores; City Council
Woman Dr. Elva Garcia; Consulate General of Mexico Consul Juan
Jose Salgado; Dallas ISD Board of Trustees Rafael Anchia; and
numerous other dignitaries.