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CT PIRC Professional Development and Parent Education Opportunities

Raising Readers Parent Club Facilitator Training

Session A
September 21, 2009 and
September 22, 2009
Location: CREC, Coltsville
or
Session B
December 7, 2009 and
December 8, 2009
Location: CREC, Coltsville

The Raising Readers Parent Club is a nationally recognized family literacy program. The program,
comprised of eight sessions, provides opportunities for families to practice storytelling, reading aloud,
and writing in a safe, nurturing environment. Parents take home quality children’s books after each
session to continue family learning.
This Facilitator Training provides the background and practice Parent Club Facilitators need to help
parents establish literacy partnerships at home with their children. Specifically, participants will learn
how to get an eight-session Parent Club started, develop ground rules with Club members, and
encourage discussion and interaction focused on children’s books, reading, and learning at each Club
session.
Participants in this two-day professional development activity will explore components of the Raising
Readers Parent Club Program; understand the role of a Parent Club Facilitator; participate in a mock
Raising Readers Parent Club session; examine program tools; develop a plan to get started with
implementing their own Parent Clubs; and be certified to conduct a Raising Readers Parent Club that
supports children’s literacy learning.

Faith Families & Schools Conference

September 25, 2009
Location: Crowne Plaza, Cromwell

Research has demonstrated again and again that family engagement is one of the major indicators of
student success. Schools across the country are discovering that faith-based leaders and other
community groups are often very effective in enhancing family involvement and are key allies in
improving educational outcomes for all students.
The Faith, Families & Schools Conference is an opportunity for faith and worship leaders, educators,
and families to come together. Participants will share ideas about the practices that help families
support learning and hear about new activities that can be incorporated into the rich fabric of the faith
and worship community.
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Schools and Families: Better Together

Location: SERC Community Room, Middletown
October 2, 2009 - Rescheduled
Rescheduled Date: November 20, 2009

     Parents and other adult family members often are not aware of the opportunities that Title I of the
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation affords them, so they cannot make informed educational
decisions on behalf of their children. This full-day training is designed to build the capacity of
community organization and agency leaders, faith community leaders, and public school personnel to
conduct informational workshops for family members whose children attend schools receiving Title I
funds.
The session focuses on four essential components of NCLB: Parent Involvement, School Choice,
Supplemental Educational Services (SES), and School and District Report Cards. A team of presenters
from the CT Parent Information and Resource Center (CT PIRC), CT Parent Teacher Association (CT
PTA), and the CT State Department of Education (CSDE) will provide and review relevant NCLB
information, a wide variety of valuable resources, and the logistical background for conducting a
meaningful workshop for families.
Participants in this professional development activity will become familiar with the relevant
provisions of NCLB; be expected to hold an informational workshop for parents within three months of
this training and receive a stipend for this work; be able to conduct a meaningful two-hour
informational workshop for families on NCLB, focusing on four essential components; and be able to
provide families with a wide variety of resources on NCLB.

SFCP Overview
Session A
Location: SERC Community Room, Middletown
October 16, 2009
or
Session B
January 27, 2010
Location: SERC Community Room, Middletown

The evidence has been clear and compelling for many years – comprehensive programs of School-
Family-Community Partnerships (SFCP) bolster student achievement and healthy development, two
goals that schools, families, and communities greatly value. But how are these programs designed?
What resources are available to support them? How are partnerships created and sustained? What
does it take to gain administrative buy-in for this effective approach to family and community
engagement on behalf of student achievement?
The answers to these and other questions about schools, families, and communities acting together
to improve student learning will be addressed during this half-day session. This informational
opportunity is designed for individuals to learn about effective partnerships, bring this content to their
school communities, and then form teams that will attend the one-day intensive SFCP Action Team
Training. Time will be devoted to Joyce Epstein’s nationally recognized six-part typology of family
involvement developed at Johns Hopkins University. This framework coordinates action planning that
partnerships undertake to develop comprehensive programs in support of school improvement plans.
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How Welcoming is Your School?

Session A
Location: CREC, CREC Central
October 30, 2009
or
Session B
Location: ACES
November 5, 2009
or
Session C
Location: SERC Community Room, Middletown
January 12, 2010

When schools create a welcoming environment, they become inviting places where students want to
learn, school employees want to work, and families want to be involved. This half-day training will
incorporate hands-on activities and small group discussions to conduct a mock Walk Through
Assessment of a school. The Welcoming Walk Through Assessment is designed to examine four specific
areas: the physical environment, school-wide practices and policies, welcoming staff, and written
materials. By using the Welcoming Walk Through Tool Kit, participants will learn how to assess the
climate of their school and develop a plan to create a welcoming environment to engage families and
the community.
 

Lee y serás
Location: SERC Community Room, Middletown
December 11, 2009

Lee y serás ® (Read and You Will Be) is a national Latino early literacy initiative that engages
families and community members as active participants in the literacy development of their children.
It provides research-based, in-culture, bilingual curricula and materials for families and childcare
providers and leaders with the goal of creating long-term attitudinal and behavioral changes in efforts
to close the education achievement gap.
This one-day workshop will prepare participants to conduct a six-session series that empowers
families and community members to foster the early literacy skills essential to children’s literacy
development.
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SFCP Action Team Training

Location: SERC Community Room, Middletown
December 18, 2009

All Connecticut schools are working to engage families in the educational lives of students, but many
are not reaping the full benefit of their efforts. School-Family-Community Action Team Training
provides the coordinating framework that allows schools to maximize improvement plans and fully
implement federal, state, and local parent involvement requirements.
During this one-day activity, teams will engage in interactive hands-on, research-based training to
plan and implement activities around six key types of involvement developed by Joyce Epstein,
Director of the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University. Trained
Action Teams can also receive technical assistance for the implementation of their action plans. At the
conclusion of this session, teams will be entered into the Connecticut School Family Community
Partnership (SFCP) database to receive announcements of a wide variety of future trainings and
conference offerings.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Program questions should be directed to Barbara Slone at (860) 632-1485, ext.340, slone@ctserc.org, or Veronica
Marion at (860) 632-1485, ext. 391, marion@ctserc.org, co-coordinators of CT PIRC.
Registration questions should be directed to Bianca Irizarry at (860) 632-1485, ext.216, irizarry@ctserc.org.
 
 
 
 
 
 
             CT PIRC 
(CT Parent Information and Resource Center) 
25 Industrial Park Road 
Middletown, CT 06457­1516 
Parent Information Line: 
1­800­842­8678 
www.ctpirc.org