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National PTA continues to be a powerful voice for all children by developing meaningful parent involvement programs, policies and initiatives that ensure that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and career. At the same time, the international context has changed. Once the global leader in education, the U.S. has lost its competitive edge and is slipping behind. These gaps are especially prevalent in urban communities, creating educational disparities that can span generations and have serious economic ramifications.
Parents – Part of the Solution:
In order to address this issue, and in recognizing that different modalities of parent involvement must be developed to be inclusive of all parents, the National PTA has identified ten cities, with 5 additional cities to be selected in 2010 to develop new models of parent engagement to ensure opportunity and equity for the students in each city. The cities include: Atlanta, Albuquerque, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, New York and Philadelphia. These new strategies will be locally-driven and will mobilize volunteer leaders to address needs important to each community.
In August 2009, National PTA launched a three year effort to:
• Raise awareness and increase the usage of parent involvement materials and resources.
• Serve as a catalyst for mobilizing urban parents, caregivers, community stakeholders and school administrators to discuss and alleviate the barriers and issues that prevent urban parents and caregivers from being more engaged and involved with student success.
• Train parents and caregivers to effectively communicate and collaborate with others to advance the educational achievement of all children, while mentoring other parents and caregivers to do the same.
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