State PIRC Board:

Sandy Bell, Vice President, Oregon PTA
Helen Maguire, Director, Oregon State Title I
Cathryn Gardner, Oregon State Title I Family Involvement Coordinator
Janice Richards, Oregon's PTI Director
Molly Day, PAT Program Director, Statewide Training Program
Carmen West, Oregon State Title III Director
Melinda Leong, Oregon Representative, Comprehensive Center
Kristin Bryant, Project Director, The Chalkboard Project
Patricia Martinez, Executive Director, Oregon Commission for Hispanic Advancement
Stephanie Carnahan, Coordinator, Oregon GEAR UP
Courtney Vanderstek, Assistant Executive Director, Oregon Education Association
Gustavo Balderas, Oregon Association of Latino Administrators
Donna Beegle, National Poverty Expert
Norrine Smokey-Smith, Indian Education (Title VII), Targeted Academic Support
Shauna Adams, Employers for Education Excellence (E3)
Mickey Lansing, Representative for Governor Ted Kulongoski, Oregon Commission on Children and Families, Exec. Dir.

Special Advisory Committees:

Families with Limited Incomes
Hispanic Families
Educators

Oregon State PIRC provides resources, information, and skills to parents and educators throughout Oregon to strengthen school-family partnerships that create success for all of Oregon's children and youth. Our goals are to:

• Further the school-readiness of young children through parent education programs
• Strengthen school-family partnerships for student success
• Assist families in understanding NCLB
• Coordinate partnership activities to ensure that families and schools are served statewide

1. Meaningful Partnerships. Schools must move from a one-way relationship where parents are invited to support the school (parent involvement) to a family partnership model characterized by attitudes and practices where the studentóand his/her successóis the shared concern and responsibility of the school and the family.
2. Cultural Responsiveness. Services and interactions need to be multi-lingual and culturally responsive.
3. Coordination. Efforts need to be directly linked and organized. By collaborating with many statewide agencies, we align the work to the needs of the state and be able to provide services to all of Oregonís educators and families.
4. Varied and Multiple Communications Over Time. Multiple and varied forms of communication will be used to meet an array of learning styles through on-going, regular contact and support over time, so that schools will move systematically towards more sophisticated partnership practices.
5. Evidence-Based Prevention. The OR PIRC assists schools to embed pro-active, evidence-based partnership practices into their school cultures.

Early Childhood Model
To further the school-readiness of young children, OR State PIRC supports PAT and HIPPY early childhood parent education programs within the state. We provide funding to train parent educators; purchase materials in other languages; and support ongoing activities. We also host a statewide parent educators’ network and provide them with training, TA, and resources.

Major Activities
OR State PIRC develops materials for educators and parents to expand their skills and abilities to form effective and meaningful partnerships which include electronic training sessions, technical assistance training packages, an electronic newsletter, and a web site containing links to research and best practices. In addition, OR State PIRC provides information about high quality family involvement programs through training workshops, email and telephone TA, targeted onsite TA to schools and districts, and an Annual Family-School Partnership Summit.

How the Work Plan Meets the Needs of Parents
Our parent engagement work focuses on reaching Hispanic families, as well as families with limited incomes and those whose first language is not English. We translate and revise resources to make them more family-friendly (in multiple languages and at various literacy levels) in order to meet the needs of families who have had limited access to meaningful information to help them meet the educational needs of their children.