Parent Power in Indiana
From John Harris Loflin, a leader of PAA Indianapolis affiliate Parent Power:
Like PAA members and supporters, the B&LPI and Parent Power in Indianapolis know the importance of viable and authentic parent-teacher relationships to school success. This is why we are working with the IUPUI School of Education to bring in Dr. Edward Olivos. He has a unique way of looking at teacher-parent relationships and participation the community must consider.
The Black & Latino Policy Institute (www.bl-pi.org) will present a conversation around “Parents and teachers and their public schools” with Dr. Edward M. Olivos. The event will be held at 37 Place Community Center (2605 East 25th Street Indianapolis 46218) on Thursday November 19 from 6:00-7:30 with registration, networking, and pizza from 5:00-6:00.
Former elementary teacher Edward M. Olivos is associate professor at the School of Education at the University of Oregon. Professor Olivos specializes in parent involvement as well as English as a Second Language education. See https://education.uoregon.edu/users/olivos. Although his research focuses on the relationship between bicultural (linguistically and/or culturally diverse) parents and schools, and the development of bilingual educators, his ideas apply to any and all school-parent relationships. He is the author of The Power of Parents: A Critical Perspective of Bicultural Parent Involvement in Public Schools and Bicultural Parent Engagement: Advocacy and Empowerment.
One of the major reasons why Olivos is speaking is due to the fact that his book, Bicultural Parent Engagement, was chosen as the textbook for an IUPUI professional development course (T-524), “Diverse Perspectives on Families.” This unprecedented graduate semester is structured around having current teachers study what they can do to enhance teacher–parent relationships. In the end, teachers have to demonstrate their ability to use the newly gained knowledge, skills and dispositions about parent participation to inform their: a) teaching practices; b) efforts to collaborate; and, c) advocacy for best practices or policies.
IUPUI School of Education is our major sponsor and Purdue is the minor sponsor. So far these local and national organizations support the event: Parent Power, the Education-Community Action Team, the Latino Youth Collective, Indiana Moral Monday, the Links, the Indianapolis NAACP, the Southeast Indianapolis Education Task Force, and Parents Across America.
John Harris Loflin
Director of Education and Youth Issues
Black & Latino Policy Institute
Indianapolis, Indiana USA
- See more at: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/parent-power-indiana/#sthash.XOPSr0QG.dpuf
