The Parent and Community Training, Support, and Outreach Component...

focuses on increasing the involvement of all parents, but especially the involvement of the parents of at-risk, underachieving, and students with disabilities.  Parental involvement in the school and educational process often occurs less in the homes of these latter students, and it often discriminates achieving from underachieving students.  Relative to community involvement, many schools do not use, much less know, the expertise and resources available to them that can help their mission and the progress of their students.  For students with significant academic or behavioral challenges, the coordination and integration of community-based professionals and services often results in stronger and more pervasive progress and outcomes.

Project ACHIEVE Outcomes for this Component:

• Needs Assessments for Parents, Home, Community, and other Stakeholders
• Resource and Asset Mapping for Parents, Home, Community, and Other Stakeholders
• Increasing Parent Involvement- Both at School Events, and At Home in Supporting the Schooling Process
• Parent Training and Involvement in Academic Supports and Positive Home Discipline
• Involving and Aligning Community Social Service, Mental Health, and Related Agencies--especially for Challenging and Needy Students

Parent/Community Outreach Tools and Resources

    Project ACHIEVE activities focus on increasing the involvement of all parents, but especially the involvement of parents of at-risk, underachieving, and chronically non-performing students.  In addition, for students with significant, 24/7 academic or behavioral/mental health challenges, Project ACHIEVE is committed to helping school and community-based professionals work with parents to coordinate and integrate all of the services, supports, and intervention programs being provided.

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Examples of Project ACHIEVE Family-Focused Activities
Among the activities that many Project ACHIEVE schools engage in relative to Family Outreach are the following:

• Conducting needs assessments to look at the current and desired state of parent involvement and home-school-community collaboration
• Organizing building staff around collaboration and family involvement/outreach through the school improvement process and plan
• Teaching parents about the school?s academic program and how to support students at home relative to study skills, homework, and literacy
• Directly training parents to transfer critical school academic and behavioral interventions into the home
• Creating Parent Drop-In Centers to encourage parent participation in school activities and parent access to training and learning materials

Examples of Project ACHIEVE Community-Focused Activities

Among the activities that many Project ACHIEVE schools engage in relative to Family Outreach are the following:

• Conducting needs assessments to look at the current and desired state of community involvement and home-school-community collaboration
• Organizing building staff around collaboration and community involvement/outreach through the school improvement process and plan
• Completing community audits and resource directories to identify important organization, agency, and professional programs, skills, and expertise in areas relevant to the school, staff, and students
• Reaching out to these community resources, formally and informally, to establish communication, collaboration, and coordination, especially relative to services for at-risk, underachieving, and challenging students
• Organizing community forums where community leaders come to the school to learn more about its processes and activities
• Establishing formal Business Partnerships with community businesses.  These Partnerships bring in financial and material resources to the school, as well as business expertise in areas related to leadership, management, and effective business applications