100 Alpine Drive P.O. Box 1249 Shelbyville, KY 40066 Web site: http://www.kypirc.org Hours: Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 4:00 pm Eastern time

Director: Mrs. Kelly Couch Phone: 502-647-3533 x210 or 1-800-251-4676 x210 Fax: 502-647-3581 Evaluator: Dr. Robert J. Popp Evaluator affiliation: Partnership for Family Education and Support

State PIRC Board:

Patty Young, State PTA President
Pauline Carr, State Title I Director
Paulette Logsdon, State PTI Director
Dr. Kim Townley, Statewide Early Childhood Representative
Shelda Hale, State Title III Director
Bev Raimando, Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership
Cindy Reed, National Center for Family Literacy

Special Advisory Committees:

North Central Kentucky Regional Advisory Committee
Eastern Kentucky Regional Advisory Committee
Western Kentucky Regional Advisory Committee

The Ohio Valley Educational Foundation (OVEF), in partnership with a consortium of three Kentucky school districts, has established the Kentucky Parent Information and Resource Center (KYPIRC), with the goal of providing local, regional, and statewide support to parents to enhance their involvement in their children’s education and thereby improve student academic achievement. Key partners include the Kentucky Department of Education Title 1 Office, Kentucky Family Resource and Youth Services Centers, Kentucky PTA, Kentucky Rural Development Center, and Kentucky Commission for Children with Special Health Care Needs.

KYPIRC is a statewide effort to train parents in understanding their State and local accountability systems, rights and opportunities for public school choice and supplemental services, district and school parental involvement policies, and strategies to support the academic and school success of their children. The project focuses on urban and rural areas with high concentrations of economically disadvantaged children and with low student achievement.

Parental Engagement Model
The model includes 3 strategically-located regional KYPIRC centers that annually provides intensive direct services to 138 parents in the quasi-experimental evaluation. It also includes 14 training sites across Kentucky that will provide training of trainers for local education and involvement providers who will in turn train parents, thus creating a statewide impact.

Early Childhood Model
The project includes an Early Childhood Parent Education Component, a Parents of School-Age Children Component, and a Training of Trainers Component. KYPIRC’s “NCLB Parent University” provides training and resources in the areas of the No Child Left Behind Act, state and local report cards, opportunities for public school choice and supplemental educational services, parent/school communication, district and school parental involvement policy, early childhood parent education, supporting children’s learning, violence prevention, nutrition, and other topics.

Major Activities
KYPIRC utilizes technology to enhance training capabilities. Some training will be held through CenterNET2, the state’s videoconferencing network. The KYPIRC web site features extensive information and support for parents and for parent education providers, including online “NCLB Parent University” courses, downloadable training presentation videos, online discussion forums for parents and providers, and provider listservs.

How the Work Plan Meets the Needs of Parents
Over the course of the five-year project, KYPIRC expects to train 1,200 providers and 18,000 parents statewide, while providing intensive direct services to 700 parents. Through the KYPIRC web site and various forms of print and other media, KYPIRC anticipates providing parent involvement information to over 600,000 parents.

Alignment of Work to Statewide PIRC Efforts
Expected outcomes include improved home/school communication, increased parent involvement in children’s education, and increased student academic achievement. The results of the quasi-experimental evaluation will add to the knowledge base of research on the impact of increased parental involvement on student achievement.

Unique Characteristics
The unique characteristic of the Kentucky Parent Information & Resource Center is development of the NCLB Parent University. The NCLB Parent University has many strengths and supports for Kentucky’s parents. The content delivered will address information that all parents need in order to provide the best support for the academic growth and development of their children. The participants that attend training opportunities through the University will obtain scaffold, sequential instruction in an easy to follow format. Content includes instruction in: A parents Guide to NCLB, A parents Guide to Improving Student Achievement, State and Local Accountability Systems and Right and Responsibilities and Kentucky Academic Content Standards.