State PIRC Board:

Julie M. Shaw, President
Sharon Rousey, Vice President
Walter Schoenig, Treasurer
Jadene Ransdell, Secretary
Belkis Almeida
Patricia Lynn Fry
Rosaly Guzman
India Kudla
Sarah Lopez
Vitalina Lopez
Dorothy Sumlin

Special Advisory Committees:

The State PIRC Advisory committee is made up to have the majority of members to be parents in the low socio-economic areas, including State representatives.

Purposes and Goals

1. To provide leadership, technical assistance, and financial support to nonprofit organizations (including statewide nonprofit organizations) and local educational agencies to help the organizations and agencies implement successful and effective parental involvement policies, programs, and activities that lead to improvements in student academic achievement;
2. To strengthen partnerships among parents (including parents of children from birth through age 5), teachers, principals, administrators and other school personnel in meeting the educational needs of children;
3. To develop and strengthen the relationship between parents and their children's school;
4. To further the developmental progress of children from the targeted populations;
5. To coordinate activities funded with parental involvement initiatives funded under Title 1 and other provisions of the NCLB; and
6. To provide a comprehensive approach to improving student learning through coordination and integration of Federal, State, and Local services and programs.

Parental Engagement Model

• Objective 2.1 Conduct 80 workshops for parents and educational personnel utilizing FND’s menu of workshops which includes: Understanding NCLB; FCAT Connections; Supplemental Aids and Services; A+ Education Plan and School Choice. Additional workshops will be developed as needed.
• Objective 2.2 Conduct ten (10) bi-lingual Mini-Conferences, two per Partnership Center Region. The topics will be based on the need of the region.
• Objective 2.3 Conduct five (5) Regional Conferences, one per Partnership region, annually.
• Objective 2.4 Collaborate with the faith-based community to implement “Six Sundays for Success” statewide, beginning with 20% of the districts in Florida in year one, progressing to implement in all 67 districts by the final year of the grant.
• Objective 2.5 Develop three (3) separate Tip Sheets on Florida’s A+ Education Plan, opportunities for public school choice, and supplemental aids and services, and disseminate, in print and electronically, to 10,000 individuals statewide.
• Objective 2.6 Provide individual assistance by telephone, e-mail or in person to more than 20,000 parents and educational personnel.
• Objective 2.7 Disseminate information from the Lending Library, FND Resources Databases, Clearinghouse, Florida Department of Education, and other stakeholders by mail, e-mail, Partnership Centers Listserv, CD Rom, and at conferences and workshops to parents and educational personnel, (100,000 in year one to 250,000 by year five).
• Objective 2.8 Disseminate both in print and electronically, the Press Newsletter to parents and educators, quarterly. (disseminate 3,000 in year one increasing to 15,000 by year five).
• Objective 2.9 Maintain website that meets industry-recognized standards for accessibility, such as “Bobby” protocols, and that provides, at a minimum, the following: A listing of program resources; calendar of upcoming events at the state, regional, and national levels and a list of links to state,
• Objective 2.10 Expand existing online tutorials, utilizing existing menu of workshops in Objective 2:1, for a total of ten (10), five (5) in English and five (5) in Spanish by year five.
• Objective2.11 Expand existing distance learning module in English and Spanish, utilizing existing menu of workshops in Objective 2:1, for a total of six (6), three (3) English and (3) Spanish by year five.

The PIRC Center’s Faith-based Coordinator will also develop applicable information packets for our faith-based partners to share verbally and in their weekly bulletin. The Faith-based Coordinator will also work closely with our partners, Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Clewiston, and Life Church in Tallahassee, in holding workshops at each church. Lastly, the Partnership Press will also have relevant articles and resources for parents and professional.

• Objective 4.1: Conduct 124 workshops for parents and educational personnel utilizing FND’s current menu of workshops, which includes: Creating Family- Friendly Schools; Effective Parent (Caregiver) Teacher Conferences; Bullying Prevention; Encouraging Your Child to be a Critical Thinker; Family Literacy; Father’s Involvement in Their Child’s Education; Helping with Homework; Impact of Family Involvement on Student Achievement; Improving Your Child’s Self-Esteem; Keeping Children Media Safe; School, Family, and Community Partners; Opening Doors to Family Friendly Schools (for front office personnel); Parenting Styles; Working with Parents, How to Be a Leader; Transition to Kindergarten; Transition to Middle School; Transition to High School; Teaching Families Mind- Mapping; School Safety- What Every Parent Should Know; Reaching the “Hard-to-Reach Parent”; and Understanding Children’s Learning Styles. Of these 124 workshops, twelve (12) shall be conducted at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Clewiston and twelve (12) shall be conducted at Life Church in Tallahassee.
• Objective 4.2: Conduct one (1) Preservice Institute a year for undergraduate students pursuing a career in the field of education, rotating between five (5) different universities over the course of the PIRC Center grant.
• Objective 4.3: Include information and resources on the PIRC Center’s webpage on pertinent topics.
• Objective 4.4: Expand existing online tutorials utilizing existing menu of workshops in Objective 4.1, for a total of 24, twelve (12) in English and twelve (12) in Spanish, by year five.
• Objective 4.5: Expand existing distance learning modules in English and Spanish utilizing existing menu of workshop in Objective 4.1, for a total of eight (8), four (4) in English and four (4) in Spanish, by year five.
• Objective 4.6: Develop ten (10) separate Tip Sheets on topics related to fostering positive relationships, enhancing mutual communication, and fostering increased parental involvement in their child’s education and disseminate, in print and electronically, to 10,000 individuals statewide.
• Objective 4.8: Include information and resources on topics such as fostering positive relationships, enhancing mutual communication, and fostering increased parental involvement in their child’s education in the PIRC Press newsletters, to be disseminated both by print and electronically, to parents and education personnel statewide, quarterly (disseminate to 3,000 in year one, increasing to 15,000 by year five.)

Early Childhood Model
The Florida PIRC of FND has contracted with Redlands Christian Migrant Association to conduct the Parents as Teachers (PAT) Program in four (4) counties, those being Hendry (La Belle), Glades (Moore Haven), Desoto (Arcadia), and Gadsden (Quincy). We have allocated 30% of the total grant revenues to this program, as required.

Major Activities
Parents as Teachers (PAT) is a voluntary family education and support program that begins before birth and extends through kindergarten entry. The program is based on the beliefs that parents are their children’s first and most influential teachers and that the early years lay the foundation for children’s success in school and in life. PAT recognizes your family’s strengths and that you are the expert on your child. The program helps you become involved from the very beginning of your child’s life.

How the Work Plan Meets the Needs of Parents

• Objective 3.1: Collaborate with the Florida Department of Education’s Bureau of Family & Community Outreach and Office of Title I and Academic Intervention Services.
• Objective 3:2: Collaborate with Regional Tile I Centers, LEA School, Title I personnel.
• Objective 3:3: Conduct ten (10) Focus Groups with educationally and/ or economically disadvantaged parents across the state.
• Objective 3:4: Analyze and share focus group data with state, regional, and district-based Title I staff to improve parent involvement policies and activities.

Alignment of Work to Statewide PIRC Efforts
The PIRC will providie trainings and technical assistance to parents, state, local, and school-based education personnel, designed to foster positive relationships, enhance mutual communication, and foster increased parental involvement in their child’s education.

Unique Characteristics
The PIRC Project and FND believe that in order for families to be effective participants in their child’s education and their schools and community, trainings, resources and information must be delivered by the PIRC in a unique way. Utilizing the grassroots approach has proven to be the most effective manner in which to engage parents in the rural/remote areas. By utilizing the grassroots approach, parents get a sense of belonging and can truly take the information, trainings and resources and utilize it in their own personal everyday needs, making them effective, collaborative partners in their child’s education, schools and community.