Using Resource Materials from the Parent Involvement Institute
The importance of creating an environment that welcomes every parent to participate in Head Start was emphasized over and over at the Parent Involvement Institute. We encourage incorporating the following materials from the Institute in your local program to assist you in this essential ongoing task. It is hoped that they will be used in their entirety for discussions, for in-service with staff and parents, as a springboard for ways to recreate your own local version of an event, and in other ways that you define:
1) The Head Start Parent Involvement Vision, Opportunities, and Strategies document provides a framework to look at the experiences for parents in Head Start from the first time they are introduced to the program until they transition out into the larger community. It also provides the context for all of the other materials.
2) The video, "Head Start's Vision for Parent Involvement," features Donna E. Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Len Cabral, Storyteller. Three Head Start parents also share their experiences.
3) The video, "Beginning a Successful Head Start Experience for Parents," features Billie Nave Masters, Director of the Advanced Education Research Center in California and a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Two Head Start parents share their experiences.
4) The video, "Engaging Every Head Start Parent in Meaningful Program Experiences," features Douglas R. Powell, Professor and Head of the Department of Child Development and Family Studies at Purdue University, West Lafayette Indiana. Two Head Start parents share their experiences.
5) The video, "Enhancing Parents' Advocacy Skills Beyond Head Start," features Leonard Olguin, Hispanic Educator and Professor in the Department of Teacher Education Graduate School, California State University, Long Beach. Three Head Start parents share their experiences.
6) The video, "Town Hall Event," features 10 Head Start parents and 10 Head Start staff, who make statements to members of Secretary Shalala's Advisory Committee on Quality and Expansion. Most of the Institute attendees were in the audience.
7) The video, "Carrying the Head Start Parent involvement Vision Forward," features Delores Ann Holmes, former Head Start parent who is currently the Director of Family Focus, Inc., Evanston, Illinois. Three Head Start parents share their experiences.
8) The Head Start Parenting Education Resource Directory includes summaries of publications and audio visual materials on parenting topics, parent training programs, curricula, and workshops, as well as a listing of information sources. A title and topic index are included.
The costs for the above items are:
1) Single copy: NO CHARGETo order the above items, send your check with a written request on Head Start letterhead to:
2) through 7): $10 per video
8) Single copy: NO CHARGEResearch Assessment Management, Inc.
Attention: Barbara White 1300 Spring Street, Suite 210
Silver Spring, MD 20910Other Head Start-produced videos that were shown at the institute
A) "A Partnership with Parents": This video and user's guide is available to all programs offering the home-based option.
B) "Mental Health in Head Start-It's Everybody's Business": There area a limited number of copies still available to programs. (Watch for the new mental health video which will be mailed to all grantees and delegate agencies soon.)
C) "The Library/Head Start Partnership Project": This video was recently mailed to all frantees and delegate agencies.
If your program does not have a copy of any of these videos and is eligible and interested in obtaining one, write to:
Head Start Publications Center
P.O. Box 26417
Alexandria, VA 22313-0417
Fax: 703/683-5769