With their children now securely back in school, groups of parents will soon begin attending free seven-week programs offered by Literacy Services of Indian River County that are designed to help them become more engaged and involved in their children’s education, while also learning how interact more comfortably within the school system. Literacy Services launched the PEN project – Parents Engaged Now for the love of their child – last fall with funding from an Indian River Impact 100 grant.
The program was introduced last year at Fellsmere Elementary School, with 62 out of 70 parents following it through to graduation. The goal this year is to introduce PEN at Treasure Coast, Sebastian, Pelican Island and Vero Beach elementary schools and increase the number to 100 parents.
“We started this project because I heard from teachers, school officials and community leaders that parents don’t really care, they’re not engaged,” says Mary Silva, Literacy Services executive director.
For more than 45 years, Literacy Services has assisted adults struggling with literacy and they realized that many parents felt uncomfortable dealing within the school system.
“Either they didn’t have an education themselves, or they did poorly in school, or they had a bad experience in school,” says Silva. “It’s intimidating, and because school policies change every year, even those with college degrees find it difficult to keep up with the demands.”
The PEN approach is not to teach parents, but rather to encourage the realization that they are their child’s first and foremost teacher. Parents meet once a week for 90 minutes and follow a simple discussion curriculum on a variety of subjects.
“The first one is letting them know that they are the experts. It’s not the school, it’s not us, it’s them,” Silva stresses. “They need to be engaged or their child will not graduate or succeed in life. We show them a scenario and ask, ‘Do you want your child to fail or succeed?’ And of course they want them to succeed. We tell them, ‘You’re the director of the movie’ and we show them how to be engaged.”
“We show them how to take their children to a better future and a happy ending,” says Elida Gomez, North County coordinator. “As the director of the movie you can change the ending, direct the whole process.”
Noting that education begins at home, Silva adds, “If a parent is not engaged, then they’re telling their child that education is not important and the child feels that they’re not loved.”
They tell about a PEN parent who had rarely interacted with his son, but even the neighbors are noticing that he now relates to and plays with the boy.
“The father is now saying when the child comes home, ‘Is your homework done? If not let’s work on it together.’ So the child now knows that he has to do homework before he can play. It’s ingrained in him; education is first,” Silva says. “And so their family now is tighter. The father says he can see the difference in how the son behaves toward him. There’s that bond now that never existed before, simply because the father is engaged.”
Rather than instruct the class, a facilitator will raise questions for the parents to discuss amongst themselves, in classes limited to 10 or 12 people to encourage dialogue.
“We truly want to see, are they getting it or not getting it,” says Silva. “If not, maybe we should ask a different question.”
A question might be: If your child has poor self-esteem, do you think it might impact his grades in school? Why or why not. The answers come from the parents themselves, demonstrating that they in fact are the experts. They learn from the perspectives of other parents that they may need to think about problems differently.
“It’s hands on. The parents talk amongst themselves and make it meaningful,” says Gomez. “After they sit and hear what other parents struggle with, they help each other and mentor each other.”
Gomez remembers, “We had one mother who told the class, ‘My child is the problem.’ By the third class she said, ‘You know what; I figured it out. It’s not the child that’s the problem, it’s me.’ She started putting things in place and realized it was making a difference.”
The free program is offered in English or Spanish and is administered wherever it is most convenient for the parents. “We don’t want any stumbling blocks,” says Silva.
As an added bonus, she says many of the parents in the Spanish class now understand how valuable it is to learn English and have enrolled in Literacy Services’ English as a Second Language tutoring.
“It was funny because before the class they didn’t see it as important,” says Gomez. “But at the sixth class they want to be put on the list to enroll for a Literacy Services class.”
“I really believe that the more education you receive, the more success you will have in life. We help them to create a supportive home learning environment and assist them to raise high expectations and build self-esteem for themselves and for their children,” says Pauline Eury, PEN coordinator. “Also, we can teach them how they can monitor their children’s progress at school and educate them how to navigate in their school system. We give them the confidence to talk with the teachers and administrators at school. And I think the most important of all is to encourage them to have a loving environment at home to help the children.”
“We cannot fail in this project; it’s too important,” says Silva. “If we lose these parents, we lose another generation.”
PEN was adopted from the Parents Advocating for Student Excellence (PASE) program offered through The Concilio in Dallas. Silva said what sold her was that the majority of parents who had graduated from the program had little education themselves. And yet, more than 90 percent of their children graduated from high school; 70 percent went on to college. The general high school graduation rate for the area was roughly 70 percent.
“What a difference; they beat the odds. They’re beating the community standards and they have changed the direction of education in their families,” says Silva. “It’s the most simplistic program but so substantive.”
