If buying a car, understanding your child’s text speak, or identifying predatory lending practices are not your strong points, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system has some news for you: Class is in session.
In its second semester, Parent University is CMS’s effort to educate parents about kid- and grownup issues alike. The classes concentrate on four aspects of parenting: parenting awareness, helping children learn, health and wellness, and personal growth and development.
Parent University grew out of CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman’s strategic plan for 2010. Gorman wanted to increase parent involvement in their kids’ lives, and so began CMS expansion of providing relevant and useful lectures to some decidedly nontraditional students.
Jerri Haigler, executive director for Parent University and family and community services at CMS, explained that the administrators searched the country for an analogous experiment. The closest they found in scope and structure was in Miami-Dade County, Fla., where Parent Academy has been in existence for nearly five years.
A cabal of administrators and community members worked on getting Parent University off the ground, taking the ground work from the Parent Academy and applying it to the needs and interested of CMS principals, teachers, and parents.
“Part of the success of this program has been the collaborative effort,” Haigler said. There are advisory, curriculum-review and community relations committees, and various community groups, such as the library, local hospitals, and police department, have jumped in to offer instructors, money, or classrooms.
Funded by grants from the Wachovia Foundation ($200,000) and The Belk Foundation ($100,000), Parent University’s first run kicked off in September and ran through November. A whopping 12,000 parents signed up for the free classes last semester.
“We are very, very excited about the momentum that’s gaining,” Haigler said. PU doubled the number of classes it offered this semester. The 64 options range from child-focused classes such as “Transitioning from elementary to middle school,” “Preparing for the end-of-course tests” and “Teen driving safety,” to cultural awareness courses, such as “Hip hop/pop culture — a bridge for connecting with urban youth, to personal development classes, such as “Car buying for busy people,” “Identity theft and Internet safety” and even “Careers in the healthcare field.”
Pam Dollaher is a parent of a kindergartner, third- and fifth-grader. She attended PU last semester. Dollaher and also works at Wachovia in community affairs, which is one of PU’s partners in education. With about 19,000 employees centered in Uptown Charlotte and in the university area, Wachovia has an interest in hosting some of these PU courses at its campuses.
“Some of the courses that we’ll offer here will be things like building study skills, surviving adolescence, managing behavior through positive discipline,” she said. “From more of a personal growth and development (standpoint), higher education for working adults and resume writing…will really be helpful for our employees here.” Wachovia plans to offer the courses at lunchtime.
Despite PU’s first semester success, there are still areas in need of improvement, Haigler said. “We know that there’s a tremendous need at middle and high school levels,” she said, noting that the majority of parents in the first semester had kids at the elementary level. Making sure there are enough topics of interest for the older demographic was a point of consideration in picking out courses.
Another group that had relatively low attendance was parents from “underserved populations,” including low-income parents and non-native speakers. To combat the uneven distribution, PU is getting flexible.
“One of the lessons learned from last semester (was to look at) where parents already are and (when) to do classes,” Haigler said. In addition to early-evening and lunch classes, PU will offer classes at night and on Sunday mornings and 15 classes in Spanish.
“We also are trying to reach out to specific neighborhoods (and) families that are in transitional housing such as our YWCA,” she said. PU also hopes to reach out to the Salvation Army as well.
Dollaher said that reactions among parents have been very positive. “I don’t think there’s a parent out there who could honesty say it’s not a helpful tool. I think every parent could gain something from Parent University,” she said.
After taking a class on useful tools for parent-teacher conferences last semester, for example, Dollaher said that “she came away from that having a better understanding of the conference itself. … I came away (from the class) with questions I never thought of asking.”
Shedding some light on how CMS works was one goal of PU, and some of the most-popular classes reflected parents’ need for more information. This semester PU will offer classes such as “CMS’ data dashboard — quick access to test scores and data in the district,” “Understanding the testing system in North Carolina and CMS” and overviews of the CMS Web site. Other popular classes taught parents teaching skills for helping kids with homework and about gang awareness.
The curriculum review committee, made up of CMS staff and other agencies in the PU partnership, decides what courses to pursue. “We sit down and look at the curriculum and rate it: Is it research-based? Is this a topic that’s of interest to parents?” Haigler said.
Reviewing suggested topics from parents, the committee also looks at whether the topic is inclusive and can fit into an hour or hour-and-a-half time slot. Some ideas gleaned from parent feedback included courses on attention deficit disorder and medications, gifted programs, and student career placement.
CMS teachers often teach the courses, but businesses and public institutions, such as library staff, also contribute instructors. PU will continue expanding through programs like Knowledge on the Go, which brings certain PU classes to business and organizations such as churches or neighborhood coalitions. After the success of its inaugural Family Fun Day last semester, PU will host the event again in April. About 9,000 people attended last year.
“They’ve done a great job making sure that these classes are spread throughout our county, and that’s not an easy task when you have something like 60 classes,” Dollaher said. “I think it’s really going to have a wonderful impact on our community.”
For a comprehensive list of courses, go to www.cms.k12.nc.us.
Colleen Calvani is a contributor to Carolina Journal.