Columbia Heights Educational Campus

Parental Involvement

The first step in the effort to forge strong and sustainable ties to parents as partners in the educational process is to create a school environment that is warm, caring, inviting and receptive to a diverse group of parents. Our model Parental Involvement Center strives to do just that by successfully realigning the traditional power structure of schools in order to give parents a stronger voice and a leadership stake in all decision-making at Bell and Lincoln schools. The Center is operated by a Parent Coordinator who maintains a communication pathway between the school and parents and provides a meaningful and consistent avenue for parents to pursue issues of concern. In addition to serving as a trusted liaison of parents to the school, the Coordinator through various services and activities provides parents with the means to become more deeply involved in their child's education at home.

The Coordinator routinely provides the parent community with topical workshops, home visits, family counseling, language specific newsletters and referral services that impart the knowledge and skills required to assist their children with their homework as well as providing supportive parenting skills. Not surprisingly our successes with parental participation have positively impacted school achievement, behavior, and high school completion rates.