Chalkboard Launches Initiatives to Help Parents Help Students
Contact:
Chalkboard Project
(503) 542-4325
info@chalkboardproject.org
PORTLAND, Ore. (Sept. 28, 2005) – According to a recent Chalkboard statewide survey, a clear majority of Oregon parents (more than 60%) want more involvement in their children’s public school education. But they need help from their employers and their schools to knock down barriers to the classroom and beyond. In response, the Chalkboard Project today announced four initiatives designed to help parents help students.
“We all lead increasingly busy and complicated lives,” said Chalkboard Chair Charlie Walker. “That requires flexibility from our schools and our employers. Oregonians have told us they need help. Chalkboard is going to fund and facilitate four important initiatives that will help bridge the gap between parents, schools and communities. This is about helping schools connect to parents, and helping parents connect to schools.”
In a previous statewide survey conducted by Chalkboard last year among ALL Oregonians, 83% identified lack of parent involvement as the #1 obstacle to student achievement. When Chalkboard unveiled its comprehensive 15-point Action Plan last June to make Oregon’s K-12 schools among the nation’s best, the foundation-led group highlighted the need for dramatic improvement in the area of parental involvement and promised to roll out a series of initiatives aimed at addressing Oregonians’ leading concern. Chalkboard has also convened working groups around school finance and teacher quality issues. Both are expected to report back in January, 2006.
These first initiatives (download fact sheet PDF) will be funded and/or facilitated by Chalkboard throughout the 2005-06 school year and will focus on four distinct areas: Technology Tools, Parent Tools, Employer Incentives, and School Policies. The tactics will include everything from innovative technology challenge grants that allow parents to use the Internet to access attendance, homework assignments and grades on a real-time basis, to identifying Oregon-based corporate champions who encourage and incent employees with children to spend greater time in the classroom.
“These are common-sense solutions to improve parental involvement,” said Chalkboard President Sue Hildick. “These tools are grounded in research, and combine informed public will with proven practices. We know that getting parents, grandparents, neighbors or other adults involved in schools is essential. If we do that right, the evidence shows that students are more likely to reach higher levels of achievement, develop positive social skills, and avoid risky behavior.”
Among parents who have not volunteered time to work in public schools in the last year, work schedule conflicts were identified as the number one barrier. But nearly all of the survey respondents said they would be very or somewhat likely to volunteer time if encouraged by their employer.
“The Standard understands that being part of a community and supporting your community drives your success,” said Jodi Jordan, Director of Public Affairs, The Standard. “We firmly believe in education, which is why roughly 25% of our community involvement budget is dedicated to learning. But financial support is only part of the answer. We also encourage our employees to volunteer in schools at least once a month by providing them with paid time-off. Many of them enjoy the experience so much that they donate their lunch hours, too.”
Chalkboard also learned that parents – especially those of high-schoolers – readily admit they need to be educated on how to become better involved in their own child’s education. In fact, most parents said they did not know if their school had a parental involvement policy. A majority of parents at ALL grade levels agreed that local public schools and teachers should make better use of computers and the Internet to involve them.
Chalkboard’s four new initiatives build on community efforts such as "Take the Time," an Oregon-based public engagement campaign that encourages adults to get involved in the lives of youth. ”Schools can’t do it alone,” stated Mickey Lansing, Executive Director of the Oregon Commission on Children and Families. “It takes partnership with families and the support of the entire community to create the kind of learning environment where students excel. When moms and dads are involved in their child’s learning on a daily basis – when they talk with them about their school work and work closely with their teacher – children feel valued, and in turn, are more likely to value school, earn their diploma, and go on to college or meaningful employment.”
Chalkboard’s next round of parental involvement initiatives will focus on closing the achievement gap, and are expected to be unveiled in early November. Over the course of the next four weeks, Chalkboard will work closely with minority groups and organizations to ensure parents from all walks of life – including those for whom English is their second language – have the opportunity to weigh-in on their experiences with their public schools. Oregonians are encouraged to visit www.chalkboardproject.org to participate in the survey and help shape the November recommendations.
About Chalkboard Project
Launched in early 2004, Chalkboard Project exists to inspire Oregonians to do what it takes to make the state’s K-12 public schools among the nation’s best, while strengthening our school system’s financial accountability to taxpayers. Chalkboard aims to help create a more informed and engaged public who understand and address the tough choices and trade-offs required to build strong schools, and to enable statewide programs that can be applied at the local level to improve school quality, accountability, and funding. To date, Chalkboard has connected with about 100,000 Oregonians, asking for their best ideas to strengthen the state’s K-12 public schools. It also has partnered with other education organizations to create the Open Book$ Web site www.openbooksproject.org to track school district spending.
Chalkboard – an initiative of Foundations For A Better Oregon – is sponsored by a growing list of independent foundations. The founding five foundations are: The Collins Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, Jeld-Wen Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and The Oregon Community Foundation. For more information about Chalkboard and to learn how to get involved, call (877) YOUR-K12 or visit www.chalkboardproject.org.
