Our Voices, our Schools - December 2009
Eduardo Angulo is the Executive Director for the Salem-Keizer Coalition for Equality and served on a Race to the Top working groups.
You have been working with other advocates to make sure parent involvement is included in Oregon's Race to the Top application. In your experience, why is parent involvement so important?
Parents are the main stakeholders in the success of their children and public education. They are the most influential people in the lives of their children. Teachers and parents must work together in a collaborative way. If teachers can give parents clear expectations, information on how to track their student's progress, and the knowledge of what their student should be learning, parents can take control of the outcome. If they have this knowledge, parents can commit to the progress, development, and success of their students.
When parents are outsiders, as has traditionally been the case in communities of color, we end up with a huge achievement gap and horrendous results. Parents have to be welcomed, appreciated, and taken into consideration so we can get a different outcome for children who are English Language Learners and for children of color.
If Oregon were to win some of the federal Race to the Top dollars, what kind of impact do you think that money would have on education in our state?
Winning the Race to the Top dollars would put a spotlight on the issue and make sure all Oregonians are aware that we are attempting to transform the worse schools. The public would be following the process and they would see the worst schools being transformed into the best schools. This process would create a blueprint for all of the mediocre or failing schools to follow. This is an incredible challenge, but it will give us the opportunity to try a new approach and think outside of a system that is broken.
The Salem-Keizer Coalition for Equality has a new home. What kinds of opportunities will the new space provide?
This space is fulfilling an incredible dream and vision of having a parent education center in Oregon. We are creating a space for low-income parents, parents of color, and immigrant parents to come in and get help, knowledge, and have private conversations with the other low-income or immigrant parents. Together the parents can come up with ideas and strategies for dealing with children's challenges- behavioral, emotional, and academic. It is their space.
We have twelve parent facilitators working with the Spanish-speaking parents to talk about their common dreams for their children. There is no parent on earth that doesn't want their kids ready to graduate from high and enter college. We see this community center as a tool and are hoping that others around Oregon will start creating their own parent information centers in their communities as well.
