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STRATEGIC LEARNING INITIATIVES HONORED NATIONALLY FOR WORK WITH CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS
Local organization recognized by National Network of Partnership Schools

CHICAGO - October 10, 2005. Strategic Learning Initiatives (SLI) - a Chicago-based non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating student and adult learning - has been honored by the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) for its excellence in guiding schools to help parents assist their children's school readiness and learning at home. This work is done through SLI's partnership with the Chicago Public Schools.

SLI applies best practices from education and the private sector to reach student and adult learners, working with principals, teachers, and parents. SLI is a member of the growing NNPS, which brings together schools, districts, and states that are committed to developing and maintaining comprehensive programs of school-family-community partnerships.

SLI has been recognized by NNPS for demonstrating a program that supports school improvement goals through teamwork, leadership, plans for action, implementation, facilitation, evaluation, and network connections.

"SLI is showing that research-based approaches can be used to help families and communities become involved in children's education in ways that increase student success at schools," said Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, Director of NNPS, which is based at Johns Hopkins University.

SLI was honored by NNPS as one of four organizations across the country to win a 2005 Organization Award. Additionally, the accomplishments of SLI's work with parents in the Pilsen Education Network (PEN) - a network of three schools in Chicago's Pilsen community - were also highlighted by NNPS with two articles in the 2005 edition of the NNPS journal Promising Partnership Practices.

In the first article, the volunteer parent coordinators in the three schools (Teresa Fraga at J.C. Orozco Community Academy, Teresa Perez at Manuel Perez, Jr. Elementary, and Elaine Ratajczak at Josiah Pickard Elementary) described their collaborative project and how their schools have benefited from working with SLI. In the second, SLI's Director of Parent Engagement Cris Whitehead outlined "Understanding Science Fair Projects," SLI's workshop on how parents can help children prepare for their school science fair.

Pilsen Education Network: Engaging Parents
In the three years they have been working together in the Pilsen Education Network (PEN), SLI and each school's parent leaders have partnered in presenting an annual series of workshops on a wide range of topics to better engage parents in their children's learning.

More than 700 family members participated in the 16 parent workshops that were offered in each of the three schools last year. The workshops' goal, according to Whitehead, is to provide learning activities for parents, who can then work with their children at home to support what they are learning in school.
SLI's parent engagement team of four all started as parents who had participated in previous SLI workshops. Currently, the SLI team is working in 13 Chicago Public Schools schools in the Pilsen, Little Village and West Side neighborhoods, providing training and coaching to fellow parents.

The parent coordinators at the Pilsen schools are now in their fourth year of working with SLI to develop and conduct two workshops a month on topics geared to each school's curriculum. These workshops are selected by annually by parents from a survey listing more than 40 choices at the beginning of the school year. The program is getting kudos from participating parents.

"(Before working with SLI) We had very limited engagement with parents at our school," said one coordinator. "We wanted to strengthen the connection between parents and their children's learning and encourage parents to feel confident about their role. Having these workshops was really a godsend."
Karen Morris, Co-Director of SLI, notes that "The participation of families improves each year. For example, the parent participation rate in PEN the first year was 23%. The second year it rose to 41%, and the third year 50%! This is impressive, especially when compared to the 7% Chicago Public Schools average family participation rate."

Many families in Pilsen, a largely Latino community, have limited English skills. As a result, the workshops are conducted in both Spanish and English simultaneously.

Understanding Science Fair Projects
SLI was also recognized for "Understanding Science Fair Projects," one of more than forty workshops the organization and its parent volunteers have developed. Whitehead explains that for many families with elementary students, science fairs can be a daunting yet rewarding experience. "Science is really important for students, of course, but the experience of having your child in a science fair can be scary for parents," she says. "There's a lot of time and work involved, and sometimes not a lot of explanation for parents who want to learn about the program. Science fairs have become a popular activity, even for children in kindergarten."

The workshop, she explains, breaks science projects down into fun-to-learn pieces. It introduces parents to the definition of a hypothesis, procedures for data collection and analysis, and ideas about materials needed to complete a project. Parents also perform two sample science projects in the workshop and then share their observations and questions.

Other aspects of the workshop include details such as how students can best display their projects. Parents see examples of good and not-so-good displays from a judge's perspective. They also receive bilingual handouts explaining how they can conduct the same experiments they tried in the workshop when they get home and how they can talk about the process with their children."We take them through the whole process of a science project," Whitehead says. "That way they can understand how it works, help their child, and really be a part of their child's education."

About 130 parents attended the two-hour science-fair workshop in the three Pilsen schools last year. The successful impact of the workshop - and SLI�s overall parent engagement program - is underscored not only through recognition by the NNPS, but in parent testimonials as well: As one mother noted, "This is the first year my child has made it to the Science Fair."

The National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS)
Based at Johns Hopkins University, the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) brings together schools, districts, and states that are committed to developing and maintaining comprehensive programs of school-family-community partnerships.

"Based on more than a decade of research and the work of many educators, parents, students, and others, we know that it is possible for all elementary, middle, and high schools to develop and maintain strong programs of partnership," explains Joyce L. Epstein, Director of NNPS and the University's Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships. Dr. Epstein and the NNPS staff work with members of the Network to encourage, inform, recognize, and support efforts to improve and maintain school, family, and community connections that produce positive results for students.

2005 Partnership Award Winners
NNPS congratulates the following winners of the 2005 Partnership Awards in recognition of their excellent programs of school, family, and community partnerships:

District Awards
Anoka-Hennepin School District 11, Anoka, Minnesota
Cleveland Municipal School District, Cleveland, Ohio
Local District 4, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles, California
Naperville Community Unit School District 203, Naperville, Illinois

School Awards
Grant Elementary School, Wausau, Wisconsin
Highlands Elementary School, Naperville, Illinois
Orchard Hills School, Milford, Connecticut
Roberts Elementary School, Wayne, Pennsylvania
Roosevelt Elementary School, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Webster Stanley Elementary School, Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Organization Awards
California PARENT Center, June Burnett Institute, San Diego, California
Families in Schools, Los Angeles, California
Literacy, Inc. (LINC), New York, New York
Strategic Learning Initiatives Chicago, Illinois


For more information on the National Network of Partnership Schools, visit
www.partnershipschools.org.