Three organizations I chose to highlight all involve or are related to my challenge of parent involvement in children's education.
Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE): A research area of the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP)
-founded in 2000
-a national network of people who are interested in promoting strong partnerships between children's educators, their families, and their communities. They are dedicated to strengthening family-school-community partnerships by researching information on effective ways to encourage and support the involvement of the family in a child's learning and development.
-As a subgroup of the organization they have Parent University which is a nationwide group of universities that help families develop knowledge and skills that allow them to be active in their child's learning.
-There are opportunities to join the network, participate in discussions on web chat and in web conferences, and submit articles for the newsletter publication.
-Possible jobs: Family Involvement staff member consists of consultants, research analysts and research specialists, director, and assistant director. Skills needed to fulfill any of these roles would include knowledge of child development and policy, research skills, leadership and management skills, customer service skills, and an overall enjoyment of working with families and other education professionals.
National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE)
-founded in 1980
-Mission: "to advocate the involvement of parents and families in their children's education, and to foster relationships between home, school, and community to enhance the education of all our nation's young people." (www.ncpie.org)
-This organization has instituted in each state at least one Parent Training and Information Center or Community Parent Resource Center. These centers service families of children with and without disabilities from birth to age 22. They provide parents and schools with training, info, and technical assistance to know and understand how children develop and how to succeed in school.
-Possible Jobs: Look within your prospective states' Parent Training Center. Must posses the knowledge base of child development, policies (national and local) regarding education and families, local community resources
National Center for Fathering (http://fathers.com)
-non-profit educational organization that provides extensively-researched based training and resources to men who are fathers, grandfathers, and father figures so they are equipped to address the needs of their children.
-formed in response to the trend of fatherlessness in America
-provide annual seminars, small group trainings, daily radio programming, weekly newsletters, and a featured program called WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) which encourages and supports the active involvement in children's education
- Possible Jobs: no jobs except for those charged to the community to spread the word and advocate for dads everywhere to be proactive in their children's education
Lemora,
ReplyDeleteParent involvement is an important part of early childhood education in that parents can witnessed the important work of a teacher. Parent involvement helps parents understand the hard work of administrators and understand what it takes to maintained a school. When parents are involve in the school with a strong commitment, the school usually have high test scores, high enrollment and an overall good school. The community supports a school that educate their children and take pride in doing so. This is a great topic.
Yvette