Weekly Digest: June 25, 2009

Memorial Fund Releases Discovery Parent Engagement Datakit

The Memorial Fund has developed a Parent Engagement Datakit that provides information about parent engagement on Discovery collaborative tables and questions for communities to consider as they continue to build parent participation.  The information about parent participation was collected through the Discovery evaluation process in mid-2006, conducted by the Center for Assessment and Policy Development.  This Datakit shows how some key dimensions of parent engagement have unfolded across Discovery collaborative groups.

The Datakit includes data and questions on the following issues:

* Parent recruitment
* Parent supports
* Parent membership in Discovery collaboratives
* Parent input from non-members
* Parent leadership in Discovery collaboratives
* Parent participation opportunities 

Although parent participation is important across the entire community, this guide is focused only on parental engagement at the Discovery collaborative table.  Further, the data were collected in mid-2006 and likely do not reflect the most current levels of parent engagement in all communities.  The purpose of this tool is to provide communities with a set of questions about parent membership, participation, and leadership on the collaborative groups, with reference to comparative data from earlier in the initiative.

To download this Datakit, visit the Discovery website Parent Leadership and Engagement section at http://discovery.wcgmf.org/resources/sps_resource_1223.pdf

Save the Date: 2009 Stone Soup Conference

The 2009 Stone Soup Conference will be held on October 20, 2009 from 8:30-4:00 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cromwell.  Keynote Speaker Dr. Pedro Noguera, Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University will speak on “Closing the Achievement Gap: No Blame, No Excuses.”

Conference Sessions will include:

Community Planning – What Have We Learned?
Parent Leadership – Phase II: Applying the Training
Communicating Your Story: A Clinic in Do’s and Don’ts
Sustainability and Governance – Keeping the Work Going
Parent Education and Support: Connecticut Resources
Low Cost, No Cost Technology for Getting Your Message Out
Parent Leadership Alumni – Sharing Our Stories

and more...

More information about the conference will be coming over the summer.  Registration will begin in September.