Trainings

Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network (PLAN) provides parent leaders and organization staff with leadership development and capacity-building tools to organize and engage parents for educational equity.

PLAN to LEAD Training of Trainers (TOT)
Launched in 2005, TOT builds the capacity of grassroots parent organizations, school based parent engagement programs, and family support programs to develop parent leaders and engage them in school reform efforts.  Approximately 10 groups are selected each fall to participate in the 8-month-long TOT program. Participants receive training and support to develop and implement customized PLAN to LEAD training to energize and focus their parent leadership and action on education issues. In addition, participating organizations develop training skills and capacity of key staff and leaders through 30 hours of hands-on instruction and practice and 10 hours of one-on-one coaching.

“The program gave me new tools to work with parents, and I also developed relationships with others doing the same work, and I’ve developed confidence in myself.”

Parents in Action (PIA)
PLAN developed and piloted PIA in 2007-08 to provide on-site technical assistance to help select TOT graduates build their parent organizing capacity. Each PIA site receives up to 40 hours of technical assistance to build a core team of 10-20 parent leaders to identify goals and develop an action plan, and to engage 100-200 parents in campaign activities to achieve the goal.

“The most important result [of our PIA project] was the change in climate and tone of the parent meetings, between parents, administrators, and teachers, and amongst the parents. There is more of a sense of working together towards a common goal, and this is beginning to attract other, more distant parents.”

Parents Ready for School (PR4S)
Parents Ready for School (PR4S) is a new curriculum which builds the skills and leadership of low-income and immigrant parents of pre-school age children so that they can successfully navigate public school systems to advocate for their children’s success.  The PR4S program is a dynamic, hands-on adult education program delivered in six 2-hour sessions designed to:

• Increase the skills, knowledge and confidence of low-income and immigrant parents
• Increase parents’ ability to effectively navigate education systems and support their children’s success in school
• Equip parents to take advantage of – and create – opportunities for parental engagement in public schools.

“I did not know that I could seek help from the school.  Now I know I can approach them for anything. For example, when I looked at the report cards I asked the teacher why it is like this and I get the answer I needed.”

Leadership in Education (LE)
LE is a two-day leadership intensive offered once per year in Oakland to give parents the necessary skills and information to become effective leaders in their children’s schools.  Additionally, PLAN offers parent trainings on a contract basis to individual school sites, school districts, and parent organizations.