President George W. Bush's blueprint for education, No Child Left Behind, expands on the importance of parents to their child's education. Title IV of the blueprint is specifically designed to support efforts to provide parents with more information, data, and options to assure that their children will get the best education possible. The long-term goal is that parents become more empowered not only to be involved in their child's growth and development, but also to make meaningful choices about their child's education, teachers, and schools.

One step to help states and individual school districts meet local needs is the availability of more flexible funding that reduces bureaucracy. Increased flexibility of supplementary instruction and other services provided to certain schools, commonly referred to as Title I programs, is intended to encourage program development that will be helpful with academic and parent support programs. This flexibility will allow local organizations to adjust their efforts in order to provide more effective service to their school community and parents.

Working toward these goals, the U.S. Department of Education announced a new funding program called the Parental Assistance Program, aimed at encouraging nonprofit organizations to provide resources to parents. The grant program will provide financial assistance to nonprofit organizations for the purpose of establishing parental information and resource centers. Although the first round of funding is limited to certain states, eventually there will be an award given to all states, and some states may have two centers. The goals of the Parental Assistance Program are to:

* increase parents' knowledge of and confidence in their ability to teach, nurture, and raise children;
* establish and strengthen connections and working partnerships between parents, schools, and professionals who work with children ages birth to 5 years; and
* support the development of the children assisted under the program.

The funding allows for the development of projects that support parental information and resources that are designed for the unique needs of parents within the community. Parents with children up to age 5, elementary school-age, and secondary school-age will be included. However, there is an emphasis on working with parents who are economically or educationally disadvantaged. Funding centers will serve both urban and rural areas. Two of the early childhood curricula that have been specifically identified in the funding are the Parents as Teachers Programs and Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY).

For more information

Parental Assistance Program http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2001-2/050701d.html

No Child Left Behind http://www.ed.gov/inits/nclb/part1.html [NPIN Editor's note (04-25-02): this URL has changed: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/esea/nclb/part1.html]

Publications for Parents http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/

What Should Parents Know about Schools as Community Learning Centers? http://npin.org/library/2000/n00486/n00486.html

Parenting Support and Education Classes http://npin.org/pnews/2001/pnew301/spot301.html

Parent Information Centers: A Resource for Parents http://npin.org/pnews/1997/pnewo97/pnewo97c.html