Families matter, especially in Head Start. Since its inception, family involvement has been a cornerstone of the Head Start program. We know from the research that family involvement in schools helps to ensure children’s academic success and success later in life.
In 2010 – 2011, WHSCDA, Inc. offered an array of parent involvement and education opportunities for parents to improve their parenting skills, their literacy skills, their leadership and advocacy skills, and their ability to communicate comfortably with their children’s teachers throughout their educational experience. In addition, we offered support and psycho educational groups for parents to learn ways to overcome barriers to their own mental health. The following are the parent involvement opportunities we provided:
· Adult Education – on site daily high school equivalency preparation classes for thirty weeks.
· Parent Education Workshops – individual workshops and series on topics such as Financial Literacy; Going Green: saving the environment; Health, Safety and Nutrition; Parenting Education; Transitioning to Public School; Promoting Mental Health; and Understanding and Preventing Domestic Violence through Healthy Relationships and its Impact on Children. Over fifty (50) sessions were held from September to June.
· Ten monthly Parent Committees were held at each of our three Head Start centers to help promote two way communication and foster connections between families and staff. Attendance for the school year averaged 50%.
· Promoting Fatherhood Activities – each site offered activities to promote fathers’ involvement in the lives and education of their children. We had a 47% participation rate for these events.
· A variety of opportunities helped parents develop skills and enhance their self confidence. These included volunteering in the classroom, kitchen, office, as well as activities to do at home with children to support classroom goals.
· Decision making opportunities included serving as members of the Policy Council and various committees. The Policy Council is composed of parents and community representatives elected by parents of enrolled children to help set the direction of the Head Start program. Committees included the Health Services Advisory, Self Assessment, and Family Service Recruitment Committees.
· Two relatively new committees, a Family Engagement Committee and a Male Involvement Committee, were active this year with the goal of developing activities to increase adult participation in program opportunities.