5835 Callaghan, Suite 350 San Antonio, TX 78228 Web site: http://www.idra.org Hours: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm weekdays

Director: Mr. Aurelio Montemayor Phone: 210-444-1710 Fax: 210-444-1714 Evaluator: Dr. Felix Montes

State PIRC Board:

Ms. Darlene Bruce, Program Manager, Parental Involvement/Learning Disabilities, ESC-Region 19, El Paso, Texas
Dr. Nabor Cortez, Executive Director of Secondary Division, Edgewood School District, San Antonio, Texas
Ms. Carolyn Glaspie, National Board Director, National Coalition of ESEA Title I, Dallas, Texas
Ms. Michelle Humphreys, President, Texas PTA, Austin, Texas
Dr. Elena Izquierdo, Associate Professor, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas
Dr. Jesse McNeil, President, McNeil Educational Leadership Foundation, Dallas, Texas
Ms. Kris Olson, President, Parents for Public Schools of Waco, Waco, Texas
Mr. Terri Stafford, Title I Statewide School Support/Parent Coordinator, ESC-Region 16, Amarillo, Texas
Ms. Anita Villarreal, Director of Title I School Improvement, Texas Education Agency, Austin, Texas

Special Advisory Committees:

Parent Advisory Committee – Lower Rio Grande Valley
Parent and Student Advisory Committee – El Paso
Parent Advisory Committee – Houston

Purposes and Goals of the Texas State PIRC:
Goal 1: Provide parents and schools in the 1,229 school districts in Texas assistance and resources by using broad statewide parent involvement strategies that primarily address campuses not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress or ranked as low performing according to state’s accountability system.

Goal 2: Provide direct assistance and resources to parents and school districts, in helping education customers develop an understanding of state and local report cards and opportunities for local school choice and supplemental educational experiences.

Goal 3: Provide parent training and technical assistance to school districts in with the highest concentration of students in most need, in the implementation of parent involvement policies and activities as required by the No Child Left Behind Act and Title I.

Goal 4: Provide assistance and resources to early childhood parent training programs that will support instruction to effectively prepare children for a successful school experience when they enter kindergarten.

Goal 5: Provide focused, intensive, long-term assistance that will lead to increased parent involvement, student achievement and school success to 10 low performing or not meeting AYP schools and communities in Priority 1 service area.

Parental Engagement Model
Valued Parent Leadership. All families are valuable; none is expendable. Valuing is used deliberately and pragmatically. The IDRA Valued Parent Leadership model champions and models a central inclusive/nondiscriminatory idea: all families (particularly those economically disadvantaged, minority or who are English-language learners) are inherently worthy of being treated with respect and dignity. IDRA's goal is parent leadership in education - a vision of all parents as advocates for excellent neighborhood public schools. Leadership is: inclusive, expanding across race, ethnicity and class, based on peer support, an ongoing invitation of new leadership, focusing on collective action for the good of all children, and building trusting relationships. Key characteristics are:

• Establish strong communication and relationships among parents.
• Support/nurture networks with schools and community.
• Recruit peers and support emerging leaders to train others.
• Listen to peers through interviews.
• Reflect on activities, debrief, acknowledge successes, analyze actions, and integrate lessons learned into future plans.
• Working in groups, including conducting meetings, listening to all ideas, resolving conflicts, making decisions, carrying out plans of action, and evaluating results.
• Support long-term relationships among participating families.
• Act on issues of current interest.

• Developing HIPPY online parent educator training, web-based evaluation and project management tools, and Pilot a “developmental” report card online for all Texas HIPPY sites.
• Providing HIPPY, READ and PAT information to underachieving elementary schools. Providing libraries with bilingual parent involvement resource information.
• Providing training and regional academies to ECE project schools on informing parents about children’s readiness for kindergarten.
• Assisting underperforming Title I schools with comprehensive parent involvement programs. Conducting focused educational assistance to one priority underperforming Title I school.

How the Work Plan Meets the Needs of Parents
The plan has both breadth and depth in outreaching parents through statewide mailings, intense information dissemination through conferences and other convenings as well through the online resources. The depth will be delivered through on-site planning, training, modeling, technical assistance and training of trainers.

Alignment of Work to Statewide PIRC Efforts
Statewide Efforts: Outreach and information dissemination, technology and Internet connections, online information dissemination and courses, and podcasts.

Regional Efforts for high priority schools: Institutes, conferences, workshops, online services, and technical assistance.

Unique Characteristics

• The statewide, regional and local efforts, connecting to various networks that include public schools, community organizations and statewide parent organizations.
• Bilingual training and training of trainers for parents, parent educators, educators and community representatives.
• Convenings on specific accountability issues such as school holding power (dropout prevention) and preparation for and access to higher education for all students.
• Bilingual online resources for parents and parent educators.