3500 SW 10th Avenue Topeka, KS 66604 Web site: http://www.kpirc.org Hours: 7:30 am - 4:00 pm

Director: Ms. Jane Groff Phone: 866-711-6711 Fax: 785-215-8742 Evaluator: Suzanne Knorr, Ph.D.

Special Advisory Committees:

The Statewide Advisory Board consists of representatives from each of the Kansas Parent Information Resource
Center's partners and collaborators as well as parents.

Laura Kaiser President, KS state PTA (parent)
Jan Long President-Elect, Kansas PTA (parent)
Lesli Girard, Parent consultant/trainer with Families Together, Inc. (parent)
Connie Zienkewicz, Executive Director of Families Together, Inc. (parent)
Mary Baskett, Executive Director of the KS Head Start Association (parent)
Judi Miller, Assistant Director of State and Federal Programs with the KS State Department of Education
Chris Bradley, Consultant, State and Federal Programs, KS State Dept of Education
Jennifer Spencer, Consultant with Parents As Teachers, Satae and Federal Programs, KS State Dept of Ed (parent)
Nancy Keel, Kansas Parents as Teachers Association (parent)
June Rempel, President Elect, Kansas Parents as Teachers Association
Carolyn Weinhold, Coordinator, Head Start-State Collaboration Office
Leticia Suastegui, Coordinator, Kansas Migrant Parent Advisory Council
Peg Dunlap Kansas, National Education Association
Sherri Yourdon, Kansas National Education Association/Kansas Learning First Alliance
Vikki Jo Stewart, Special Projects Director, State Library of Kansas
Zoe Thompson, Coordinator, Kansas Families and Schools Together, Inc
Dallas Lyons, Title I Parent
Ebony Reddick, Title I Parent
Peg McCarthy, Title I parent and Topeka School Board Member

Kansas Parent Information Resource Center goals are to: 1) provide a seamless systems of
support, resources, and training to families with children from birth through high school; 2) build
capacity of parents, particularly those who are educationally and/or economically disadvantaged,
to become an integral part of their children’s educational success; and 3) develop parent
advocacy/leadership skills.

Parental Engagement Model
Parents are engaged through the ten partners comprising the KPIRC and will receive information,
resources, and training about parent leadership, advocacy, involvement and how to assist their
children’s success in school. Through the following KPIRC partners, we provide direct services
to parents – KS PTA, KS Families and Schools Together, Inc., KS Head Start Association, KS
Migrant Parent Advisory Council, and the KS Head Start Collaboration Office. Through other
partners – KS Parents as Teachers Association, KS National Teachers Association, KS Learning
First Alliance, State Library of KS, and the KS State Department of Education we provide
indirect services to Kansas parents.

Early Childhood Model
Early childhood models promoted through KPIRC are Parent As Teachers (birth through age
three) and Early Head Start and Head Start (birth through pre-K).

Major Activities
Major activities are: 1) establish a statewide network of organizations to work with, and support
families and their children; 2) provide families with NCLB, choice, and SES information; 3)
work with the SEA to provide technical assistance to LEAs and schools to implement Title I
parent involvement requirements and policies; 4) promote school readiness through PAT and
Head Start programs; 5) increase educators’ understanding of diversity, effective communication,
and parent involvement in children’s learning; and 6) ensure parent access to literacy training and
resources to more effectively enable their children’s academic growth and achievement.

How the Work Plan Meets the Needs of Parents
Grounding our work in the National Standards for Parent Involvement: 1) parenting; 2)
communication; 3) volunteering; 4) learning at home; 5) advocacy and decision-making; and 6)
connecting with community resources, strengthens the relationship between schools and families.
To better meet parent needs, we have designed a survey to assess their current understanding of
NCLB and parent involvement and identify areas where we can focus resource development and
technical assistance.

The work plan provides a seamless system of support, resources, and training to families with
children from birth through high school. Through supporting and coordinating our partners’
work, we meet the needs of parents, especially low-income families and enable them to be
integrally involved in their children’s educational success. Four KPIRC objectives exclusively
target direct and indirect work with families: 2) providing families with NCLB, choice, and SES
information, 3) ensuring that schools are implementing Title I parent involvement requirements
and policies, 4) working with families to promote school readiness; and 6) ensuring parent access
to literacy training and resources. Parents are given stipends to attend workshops and training
opportunities and an annual KPIRC parent involvement conference. We also host regional parent
summits, develop resources focusing on concerns and requirements for Title I parents, and do a
series of mailings about NCLB legislation and parent involvement to parents and organizations
interfacing with families.

Alignment of Work to Statewide PIRC Efforts
Work is closely aligned through coordination, collaboration, and continuous communication with
KPIRC partners, and formal memorandums of agreement that specify how KPIRC purposes and
goals will be implemented.

Unique Characteristics
We are unique in comprising a consortium of ten parent/family advocacy and educational
organizations that foster and promote more effective parent involvement throughout Kansas.
Another unique characteristic is the comprehensive nature of the work we do – working with
higher education to promote parent involvement in teacher training, adult literacy centers to
promote parent and family literacy, and with business and service-industries to provide resources
to parent employees about NCLB and parent involvement, in addition to more traditional parent
involvement work with parent organizations and schools.