ERIC ED374916: Building Bridges: Supporting Families across Service Systems.

53 Pages·1994·1.9 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
PS 022 781
ED 374 916
Goetz, Kathy, Ed.
AUTHOR
Building Bridges: Supporting Families across Service
TITLE
Systems.
Family Resource Coalition, Chicago, IL.
INSTITUTION
94
PUB DATE
53p.
NOTE
Reports
Serials (022)
Collected Works
PUB TYPE
Descriptive (141)
Family Resource Coalition Report; v13 n1-2 Spr/Sum
JOURNAL CIT
1994
MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Agency Cooperation; Blacks; Child Welfare;
DESCRIPTORS
*Community Involvement; Disabilities; Family
Involvement; *Family Programs; Foster Care; *Health
Services; Home Programs; Mental Health; Program
Descriptions; Social Services; Welfare Services;
*Youth Programs
Accelerated Schools; African Americans; Family
IDENTIFIERS
Resource and Support Programs; Family Resource
Coalition IL; *Family Support; Goals 2000;
Networking; School Based Health Clinics; Schools
Reaching Out Project; Yale Child Study Center CT
ABSTRACT
This double issue of the journal "Report" focuses on
the collaboration among seven social service systems that support and
discusses one of
serve children and families. Each of the sections
the seven systems, presents an overview essay, and profiles prcgrams
that execute the service. The first section, on education, emphasizes
linkages between schools, communities, and famiLies to ensure
educational success. Section 2 is concerned with the child welfare
system and its support for foster families providing physical and
emotional safety for children. the focus of Section 3 is the health
traditional clinical care. Youth
care system and its scope beyond
development is discussed in Section 4, as a parallel movement to
family support, The program profiles deal specifically with
low-income and minority families in African-American neighborhoods.
Section 5 focuses on supporting people with disabilities through
centers and home visiting programs. Section 6 is concerned with the
welfare system and using a new approach of combining employment
services with family services. The last section focuses on the child
mental health system, which is concerned with services for children
and adolescents with emotional and mental disturbances. (BAC)
***********************************************************************
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
***********************************************************************
del MM, itlyikaillfeiWaIil-/ijalY".2,4
411...Mal
.-
6..;,Pl NYMIL, I
allaaaaf
,+
try:*.,.1111Afrtref.k.'g.7,..s...
T-7-1119r!"14r, '35,1141717-Ct
1141rT6WrIPPM."1;
'
."
7
,:r.
44
:J
=
,
td;;;',,"
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION
Wks of Educational Researcti
a
and Improvement
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION
CENTER (ERICI
1.,This
CD
document has been
reproduced as
.eceived from the person
or organization
originating it.
ID Minor changes
have been made to
Volume 13. Numbers I & II
SPRING/SUMMER 1994
improve reproduction quality.
DOUBLE ISSUE
Points of view or
opinions stated in this
document do not necessarily
represent
offisial OERI position
or policy.
LLI
BUILDING BRIDGES:
Supporting Families Across
Service Systems
TO REPRODUCE THIS
"PERMISSION
HAS BEEN
MATERIAL
GRANTED BY
FAMILY
RESOURCE
TC THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
CoALITI01.4
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."
copy
BEST
AVAILABLE
REPORT
Editor, KATHY k..,,IETZ
Art Director, LYNN PEARSON
Reporter, JACQUELINE LALLEY
Copy Editor, JACQUELINE LALLEY
Cover Illustration, CHRISTOPHER PALMER
Printer, BOOKLET PUBLISHING. INC.
The FRC Report is published quarterly in the public interest by the Family Resource
Coalition, a tax-exempt, non profit organization. Membership in the Coalition includes a
subscription to the FRC Report. Readers are encouraged to copy and share its content;
we ask you to credit the Family Resource Coalition as the original source of information.
Table of Contents
Section IV: Youth Development
Introduction to the Issue
Overview Essay
Family Supportive Approaches and Collaboration
Family Support and Youth Development: Parallel Movements
Across Service Systems
28
5
Pittman
Karen
Charles Bruner
Profiles
Section I: Education
Mental Health Services Plus Prevention in a Milwaukee
Overview Essay
Program for Children, Youth, and Families
29
Educational Success through Supporting Families
and Communities
Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families: Total Community
7
Involvement in New York City
Bill Shepardson
31
Section V: Supporting People with Disabilities
Profiles
Overview Essay
IRE's International League of Schools Reaches Out to
Hard-to-Reach Parents
Towards a Comprehensive Family Support System for
9
Families of People with Disabilities
Don Davies
35
John A gosta
Two Models for Education Reform: The School Development
Profiles
Program and Accelerated Schools
I I
Hood Center at Dartmouth Medical School: Services and
Carolyn Ash
Resources for Families Facing Long-Term Special Care
36
A School-based Health Clinic in Los Angeles Promotes
S. Singer
George
Health and Prevents Violence
12
Seneca Mental Health/Mental Retardation Council:
Bobby E. Sheffield
A Rural Center Helps Families Stay Together
38
Starting from Scratch in Peoria: Designing and Building a
Mary Arm Shires
New Early Childhood Education Center
13
Bette Wilson
Portage Project Publishes Growing: Birth to Three: A Widely
Replicated Home Visiting Program Shares Its Secrets
40
Section II: Child Welfare
Section VI: The Welfare System
Overview Essay
Overview Essay
Reforming Child Welfare Systems through the Family
Family Support and Welfare Reform:
Preservation and Support Services Act
15
The Two-Generation Approach
Carol Williams
41
Susan Blank
Profiles
Profiles
A Foster Care Program in Brooklyn Keeps Children in
the Neighborhood
First Person: One Iowa Practitioner Tells Congress
16
How Families Become Economically Self-Sufficient
Jacqueline [alley
42
Family Preservation and the Homebuilders Program
Denver Family Opportunity Council: Making Welfare
18
Work for Families
Jill Kinney and David Haapalo
45
Susan Loyd
Kaleidoscope: Chicago's Pioneer in Wrap-Around Services
20
Kathy Goetz
Section VII: Child Mental Health
Overview Essay
Section III: Health Care
Child Mental Health and Family Support
47
Overview Essay
Ira S. Loune and Gary De Carobs
Integrating Family Support and Health Care
22
Profiles
Chnstopher Shearer
A San Francisco Program Helps Children
Profiles
and Youth (and Their Families) Cope with Serious
Mother Net: Training and Supporting Paraprofessional
Emotional Problems
48
Horne Visitors
Joanna Unbe de Mena
23
Vermont's Visiting Nurse Association: Providing What
Schools Partnership Training Institute: Family Support
Families Need Since 1906
Training for Professionals Working in Schools
24
50
Amy G. Rossen
Swope Parkway Health Center: Comprehensive Health Care
and Community Development in Kansas City
26
E. Frank Ellis
4
4
ACKNIOWLEIDGEMENIT:
Special thanks to Charles Bruner, Ph.D., Director of the Child and Family Policy Center,
former Iowa legislator, and board member of the Family Resource Coalition, for serving as
mentor for this issue of the FRC Report. Dr. Bruner worked closely with us at every stage of
the editorial process, helping to frame the fields and topic areas to be covered, identifying
authors, clarifying content, and reviewing and making editorial recommendations on
manuscripts. The scope of his knowledge and experience thinking and writing about family
support, services integration, and cross-systems collaboration made him an invaluable guide.
The Coalition is extremely grateful for his expertise and willing involvement.
INTRobt..1110,11 TO
'THE' ISSUE'
.
.
BUILDING BRIDGES:
Supporting Families Across Service Systems
by Charles Bruner
family support programs: these centers
Collaboration. in this case. assures
There is growing recognition
and programs bridge for families the
cross-system referral and follow-up.
that different systems serving
public and the private, the therapeutic
There is someone providing "case
children and families need to
and the normative, the specialized and
work with one anotherto collaborate in
manaeement" or "care coordination" so
the general. the professional and the
that families experience a more "seam-
meeting the needs of families.
voluntary, even the church and the state.
less" system of services and supports
The reasons are reflected in what
The second way that family resource
that are coherent and integrated rather
front-line workers see on a daily basis.
centers and family support programs
Teachers see that children bring more
enter into collaborative strategies is
than educational needs into the class-
philosophic. As well as being
room. Health practitioners know that
programs and providing services.
pregnant women bring more than
family resource centers and family
medical needs Lao the health clinic.
support programs represent a
Professionals in job training see that
service philosophy based upon
families bring more than employ-
specific values: building upon
ment needs into the welfare office.
strengths. partnering with
Moreover, unless these other
families, individually tailoring
needs are addressed. teachers
supports. being holistic, valuing
know that it will be difficult for
diversity, focusing upon indi-
children to learn well. Health
vidual growth and development
practitioners know that the
in the context of the family. and
prenatal care they provide will
viewing the family in the context
not necessarily result in a
of the neighborhood and commu-
healthy birth. Job trainers
nity. Those collaborating with
realize that many of their
family resource centers and family
graduates will experience diffi-
support programs must articulate the
culty in establishing stable. long-
role that family support principles
term attachment to the workforce.
should play in working with families
than conflicting and fragmented. When
The calls for collaboration, school-
professionals in different service systems within, as well as across, service sys-
linked services, and service integration
tems. Collaboration between family
collaborate, all are better informed of
reflect this growing recognition. Further.
each others' involvement with families resource centers and family support
reformers increasingly are turning to
programs and other service systems
and are more capable of integrating their
family resource centers and family
cannot truly exist unless these other
workplans. They have greater familiarity
support programs, which, in two ways.
with other services for families available systems reflect the same undergirding
can be a critical connecting link, or
values.
in their community and are more
bridge, for collaborations that lead to
Moreover, the ".drk that family
successful in making referrals for
family success.
resource centers and support programs
The first way that family resource
additional supports.
do to empower families can easily be
Programmatically, family resource
centers and family support programs
centers and family support programs are undermined when families experience
enter into discussions of collaboration is
other service systems that are deficit-
also seen as bridges between the profes-
programmatic. Most literature on
(,riented, dominating, impersonal.
sional service systems and voluntary
collaboration and service integration
support networksfamily, friends,
fragmented. arbitrary, and individual-
views family resource centers and family
based rather than family-focused. While
churches, community associations.
support programs as filling a missing
the mission statements from most public
Public institutions and agencies refer
service niche at the prevention and early
service systems do not embrace such
families to family resource centers and
intervention end of the service con-
tinuum.
6
_....SPRING/SUMMER.A99A..
support programs. They are needed as
characteristics, too many families see
under the professional service disciplines
partners in the process of defining the
these systems in this light.
of education. child welfare, health care.
appropriate role of their programs in
Unless the education. child welfare.
youth services, disability, public
mental health, public welfare, disability,
changing the way public systems
welfare, and mental health. The pro-
respond to families and neighbor-
youth services, and health care systems
grams described within these disciplines
better incorporate family support
are truly innovative, cutting-edge efforts.
hoods.
principles into their professional prac-
They represent the potential for these
4. If public policies. practices. and
tices, family resource centers and family
mainstream service systems to change;
support programs will be fighting an
programs are to succeed with children
trey do not reflect common practice
and families with whom they currently
uphill battle. At best, they will serve as
within these fields. Each section's
fail, mainstream public institutions
temporary oases from the mainstream
overview essay offers some of the most
institutional services and supports with schools, child welfare agencies, public
advanced thinking on transforming the
which families (particularly socially
welfare departments. mental health
professional system to better meet family
isolated and vulnerable families)
needs. Program profiles illustrate
must contend.
family supportive approaches in
This issue of FRC Report
action.
provides evidence that new
Taken together, these articles
programs and service strategies
represent a first effort to describe
incorporating family support values
the connection between family
are emerging within public service
support values and larger reform
The first step in the process
systems. As family resource centers
agendas within and across other
and family support programs have
service systems.
of building these alliances is
grown over the last two decades
As these articles show, the
reforms also have been underway
changes that are needed are
understanding the reforms in
to reshape service philosophies
profound. If larger reforms are to
within each of these systems.
succeed, there must be changes in
It is important that family
the manner in which teachers teach,
practices already underway
support practitioners and advocates
child welfare services protect
build bridges to these reform efforts
children from harm, and mental
within public service systems.
because:
health professionals work with
families. Welfare reform efforts
1. Public service systems are
must not only help parents enter the
developing effective practices
workforce, but must also ensure
that deserve to be applied within
that their children live in safe home
family resource centers and
environments and start school
family support programs. including:
services. health care systems. and
ready to learn. Parents of children with
disability servicesmust be trans-
effective outreach strategies. assess-
disabilities must be recognized as experts
formed. It is within these systems
ment techniques, evaluation tools, and
on their children's needs by the profes-
financing mechanisms.
and not within family resource centers
sionals who serve them.
and family support programsthat the
While these changes are profound,
2. At the local level, the individual
bulk of public resources will be spent
they also are based upon sound underly-
on, for, to. or with families. If family
programs and practitioners that
ing principles of effective practice. They
incorporate family support principles
support practitioners and advocates.
ultimately will enable families to
into their work are natural collabora-
recognize the need for these larger
succeed, regardless of the service
tive partners with family resource
reforms. the family support movement
systems they use. While the first phase
centers and family support programs.
can be a catalytic force and ally in
of the family support movement may
Identifying other services in their
such transformation.
have been to build a new, and necessary.
communities that adhere to family
programmatic base, the next phase is to
support principles helps family
The first step in the process of
assure that all systems serving children
resource centers and family support building these alliances is understanding
and families reflect the values respon-
programs operate most effectively.
the reforms in practices already under-
sible for family support's success.
way within public service systems. The
3. The people behind these reform efforts
articles that follow highlight some of the
Charles Bruner, Ph.D., is director of
the Child and Family Policy Center, a
represent potential allies for promoting
best examples of family support values
former Iowa legislator. and a member
policy reforms and undertaking public
being operationalized within different
of the board of directors of the Family
education efforts to broaden support
professional practices. They are arranged
Resource Coalition.
for family resource centers and family
CAMII V accru traisc
r-eveilTIA161
monossigamasit
OVERVIEW
Assuring Success in
Education through
Supporting Communities
Section I:
and Families
Education
by Bill Shepardson
Assuring Success in
Education through
Supporting Communities
and Families
by Bill Shepardson
Page 7.
The League of Schools
Reaching Out Challenges
an Old Assumption about
Hard-to-Reach Parents
by Don Davies
I
Page 9.
Changing the Way
Schools Do Business:
"The Corner Model" and
Accelerated Schools
by Carolyn Ash
Page 11.
Watts/Jordan School-
contributing citizens, form strong
Educators are coming to realize
based Health Clinic:
families, and fulfill adult responsibilities.
that if all children and youth are
Against this backdrop, educators are
Promoting Health and
to develop the skills, competen-
beginning to think more systemically
cies, and dispositions they need to
Preventing Violence
about how schools can effectively
succeed in life, our investment in their
by Bobby E. Sheffield
contribute to achieving these challenging
education must transcend the school's
Page 12.
goals. This systemic approach to
traditional focus on cognitive develop-
education reform requires that education
ment. Notions of "student success- are
Building a New School
policies and practices share a clear vision
being broadened to encompass young
from the Ground Up:
of what students should know and should
people's continuing intellectual, physi-
Valeska Hinton Early
be able to do as a result of education.
cal, emotional, and social development.
Families, students, and other segments
Childhood Education
In response. educators are working with
of the community must be involved in
families and communities to build
Center
developing visions and standards for the
supportive and respectful environments
by Bette Wilson
education system and in the ec: ication
that nurture young people and bolster the
Page 13.
process itself. The services students and
development of healthy attitudes and
their families need must be reliably and
actions. The overall goal is to make sure
effectively provided, so that students are
that all children and youth are healthy,
able to learn. In short, a restructured
safe, well educated, and happy: and that
education system must help to create the
over time they are prepared to engage in
supportive environments young people
productive employment, lead healthful
need through collaborative efforts among
lifestyles, be knowledgeable and
families. schools, and other community
examining the extent to which schools services and developmental opportunities
agencies.
can be a point of contact for children and that are easily available to families and
families in need of support and services
children. Family support programs and
The Challenge for Schools and
that can be provided by other agencies
social service agencies possess the talent
Communities
and organizations. Playing a role in
and resources to give assistance that
The eight National Education Goals
ensuring the availability of family schools are not equipped to provide.
that were recently codified in the Goals
support programs. parenting education.
Community agencies that support youth
2000 Educate America Act set ambitious
development clu3s, recreation and
prenatal care, and health services
standards that will only be reached
increases the likelihood that children
sports organizations. and religious
through concerted work by communities.
come to school ready to learn. Joining
organizations complement schools not
schools, families, and students. It is
with employers to provide expanded
only in services and activities, but also in
increasingly clear that communities that
opportunities for work-based learning structure and function. Young people
are able to muster a broad range of
programs gives added currency to
attend voluntarily: they choose activities
supports and services in a coherent
traditional academic experiences. and progress at their own pace. Private-
manner are more likely to meet those
Schools are well-established institu- and corporate-sector involvement can
goals than those that are not. In commu-
tions with ties to local neighborhoods
bring increased resources and add greater
nities that are serious about working
and communities, municipal structures,
visibility and legitimacy to efforts to
jointly on behalf of children and fami-
and state government. However, schools
support children and their families.
lies, schools are reassessing their policies
should not necessarily govern or admin-
If care is taken in building school/
and practices to make sure they are
ister these community-based efforts. In
community relationships, school-linked
aligned with community efforts to
fact, it would be a mistake to assign
efforts will not result in schools interfer-
support families and to provide diverse
responsibility for the entire range of
ing with or duplicating the efforts of
developmental opportunities for kids.
children's and family services to school
other community groups. All community
However, this does not mean that
systems that already have their hands full
institutions and agencies serving children
ifa their basic mission.
schools are trying to become comprehen-
and their families must engage in
sive service providers. Schools can
strategic, long-term planning to ensure
School-linked or Community-
change internally in many ways and can
that no institution's agenda or organiza-
reach out to other institutions without
based: A False Dichotomy
tional needs dominate collaborative
single-handedly taking responsibility for
The notions of school-linked and
efforts. True collaboration requires
ensuring the well-being of all children
community-based support systems do not
sharing resources, authority, and leader-
and families. Schools canand in many
inherently conflict with each other.
ship to achieve goals that would be
cases already docontribute to develop-
Schools are an essential (but only one)
unattainable without collective action.
ing the skills and competencies young
ingredient in the mix of agencies,
people need for sustained success in our
organizations, and citizen groups that
Strategies for Change
society. Health classes and physical
must contribute expertise and resources
A great deal of experimentation in the
education, for instance, help students
to better support children and families.
area of school/community cc:laboration
develop the knowledge, attitudes, and
Their near universal access to students
has begun. Still, much work remains if
behavior needed for healthy lifestyles.
and families is one advantage of their
collaboration among schools, families,
Civics classes and opportunities to serve
substantial involvement in such efforts.
and communities is to enhance our
the community encourage active citizen-
Where school facilities have been
investment in children's sustained
ship. Cooperative learning and other
underused, they can be employed to meet
development and success. Schools and
group activities foster interpersonal skills
other community needs. Providing
communities that are committed to
and hone students' abilities to develop
certain services to all students and their
improving the lives and opportunities of
friendships. to work collegially, to
families at or near the school siteday
children should consider embracing the
communicate, and to negotiate. Many
care for teen parents. for examplecan
following strategies.
schools are preparing students for the
help keep young people in school. It also
world of work by providing an early and
Changes in the Nature
can lessen the stigma associated with
ongoing orientation to vocational options
of Schooling
seeking assistance, thereby increasing
that includes discussions on how to
access to and use of prevention and
Schools should reevaluate their
prepare for specific careers. And in some
support services. Perhaps most impor-
policies and programs and should change
communities, these opportunities are no
tantly, linking schools with family
them where appropriate to reinforce the
longer considered secondary to the
support and other family-centered
goals of supporting families and increas-
school's primary goal of fostering
programs can positively affect the ways
ing developmental opportunities for
academic achievement. Instead they are
in which school personnel interact with
children. For instance, the availability of
seen as the school's contribution to a
families.
health services should be accompanied
community-wide effort to foster the
By joining the resources of the school
by a comprehensive K-12 health curricu-
overall development of children.
with those of other groups at or near the
lum that provides students with the
In addition to taking a critical look at
school site, the community expands both
knowledge and skills they need to
the nature of schooling, educators are
the number and the nature of supportive
develop health-enhancing behaviors.
FAMILY DE:CY-AI 11:11,7C,P,1- A [-rtt-t
PROFiLE
"But These Parents Just Aren't Interested":
The League of Schools Reaching Out
an
Old Assumption
Challenges
by Don Davies
the school. Many urban schools today are
original pilot was a home visiting program.
The League of Schools Reaching Out is a
like armed camps, so concerned with
network of schools that began in spring 1990 Students' parents visit other students'
parentsnot to offer advice on "moral
security that doors are locked to the outside
and now includes more than 90 schools in
six countriesthe United States, Australia,
improvement" like the "friendly visitors" of
world, volunteer guards patrol the hallways
19th century charitable organizations, but to
Chile. the Czech Republic, Portugal, and
and accost all unfamiliar adults, and armed
security officers sit at desks inside the front bring news and information, talk about
he aim of the League is to increase
Spain.
problems, offer instructional materials for
door. Vivian Johnson, a Boston University
the academic and social success of all
childrenespecially those who are
professor conducting research on parent
helping with homework, and become links
underservedthrough family-community-
centers for the Center on Families, Commu-
between parents and schools by taking
school collaboration.
nity, Schools, and Children's Learning, knows
parents' concerns back to teachers and
The League grew out of a question: what of one parent who was so nervous about
administrators. At the O'Hearn School in
entering her son's school that she would
makes "hard-to-reach" parents (long
Boston the program began with just four
mothers, who went through a training
meet with school personnel only outside, on
regarded as a cause of educational failure in
the street corner.
low-income communities) hard to reach?
course and then began calling on other
Many felt that these parents were indifferent
parents. Today League schools with home
to their children's education. Why else
visiting programs are supplementing their
would they fail to attend conferences with
outreach with automatic telephone calling,
teachers or to oversee their children's
phone trees, newsletters in several lan-
What makes hard-to-reach
homework? A 1988 study came up with a
guages, and broadcasting school announce-
surprising answer: it wasn't parents who
ments and special programming on cable
were hard for schools to reach, but schools
television networks and ethnic radio
parents hard to reach?
that were hard for parents to reach.
stations.
The study. carried out in Liverpool,
The third idea generated by the pilot
Lisbon, and Boston, also revealed that the
Schools Reaching Out may in the long run
U.S. had no monopoly on negative views of
have the most impact on schools. Called at
low-income people, whose presumed The parent center, which often consists
first "teacher action research," it was an
of little more than a room, a few tables and
indifference to their children's academic
effort to engage tez,thers in the process of
success is widelyperhaps Jniversally
chairs. a coffee pot, and a telephone, is a
school reform as actors rather than as
regarded as one of the reasons poor
weary recipients of ill-fitting reforms devised
simple but highly effective way of communi-
cating the idea that parents are welcome at
children fail in school. The study showed,
at remote district headquarters. A team of
however, that low-income parents were
school. At one school in Boston, the parent
teachers received small stipends to interview
every bit as interested in having their
center is one end of the library, and
other faculty members and to devise an
"intervention"a program or project aimed
operates only when classes are not meeting
children succeed in school as middle-class
parents were. Although great numbers of
there. Nevertheless, it works. Parents have a
at alleviating a certain problem. The team
place of their own, and with it both a
low-income parents stayed away from
then implemented the proposed solution
schools, the study showed it wasn't because symbolic and a real presence in their
(drawing on Chapter I or similar funding
they didn't care. It was because they saw no children's school. Parent centers have
sources), studied its progress by gathering
role for themselves. Many had fared poorly
sprung up in more than half of the League
data on its effects, and recommended
schools. Staffed by a paid or volunteer
in school themselves and felt they had little
correctives. This course of action sounds
to offer academically, were Intimidated by
parent, each center is a place to drop by and
simple, but in fact is diametrically opposed to
administrators and teachers, or found the chat, to get information about school
the normal order of business in any
activities, to meet with teachers, to get
schools simply unapproachable and hard to
bureaucracy, In which change, if it is to
involved in volunteer projects in the
happen at all, is likely to happen only from
reach.
This study resulted in a pilot project
classroom, to participate in distributing food
the top down. Teacher action research, by
or clothing to people in the. community, to
contrast, puts teachers into the role of
called "Schools Reaching Out" in which ideas
find out about employment opportunities, to
for bridging the gulf between parents and
researchers and offers them the opportunity
school were tested in one school in Boston
take GED or ESL classes, to watch a video to transform their personal experience of
and one in New York City. Three ideas
on child-rearing, to get a social service
the everyday realities of school into plans for
referral, or to gather with other parents,
succeeded so remarkably that they became
change. Today in League schools, parents
the foundation of today's expanded and
teachers, and administrators for a
have been added to the equation, and are
celebratory breakfast on the first day of
rapidly growing League of Schools Reaching
forming teams with teachers and administra-
Out.
tcrs to devise, study, evaluate, and alter
school.
Another Important idea tested in the
One Idea was to set up a parent center at
projects to answer the needs of their own
I LI
Continued on next page