PASS Goals and Objectives

The goal of Parent Allies for Student Success (PASS), is to engage parents and students in the early years of schooling to advocate more effectively for their young children’ education and learning. The PASS project proposes to recruit and train Parent Allies volunteers who can enter into one-on-one relationships/alliances with parents to support and assist their efforts toward helping their young children attain success in school; during the critical early years of schooling, Pre K-12.

The objective is to focus on working with parents on a communal setting, and family service providers to the realm of public schooling. Volunteer Parent Allies will be prepared to assist parents by providing awareness of community resources, enhance their knowledge of school policies and procedures, understanding of children’s developmental expectations, and offer insights about collaboration with school and community agencies. Training materials will be developed on a continuous basis to prepare the Parent Allies to work with parents with young children on Pre K- 12.

The early years of schooling are a particularly stressful time for young children and their families. For many parents without knowledge of the ways schools function, it is a time of confusion. Many families do not have equal access to knowledge needed to understand the resources available within the educational systems.

While some parents, often in school leadership roles, have learned how to get what they need their children, access to that information is not distributed equitably nor is it evenly distributed across cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic groups. For parents with inadequate information about school norms and ways to gain access to information, their involvement and advocacy on behalf of their children is limited.

It has been proven that parent involvement positively impacts children’s performance in school. Many parents, however, are isolated by demographics and logistical barriers. In addition, access to information is not equally and evenly distributed across all cultural and economic groups. Based on negative past experiences, many families lack trust in today’s education.

Recognizing the reality of these circumstances, PASS developed its model based on the belief that if early in the schooling process, parents of young children learn more about how to scaffold or support the learning opportunities and experiences for their children, then parents will be better able to support their children’s immediate, as well as long-term education needs, making it possible for them to experience success in school.