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A special summer program has just wrapped up at a New Haven elementary school. But in this class the students are parents.
It’s the final day of his year’s parent training program at Lincoln-Bassett School in New Haven. Brenda Whitfield is telling the class of about 20 parents, what she’s learned. "I found out a lot of stuff about the math I can tell my granddaughter and my grandson. And I learned a lot about the science. I just learned so much while I was here at the training."
The two week federally funded program teaches low income parents how to better support their child’s academics. Parris Lee, New Haven’s Title One Parent Liaison, says education changes from year to year. "...books they may use. The formulas in math and science and what have you. So we bring people in to teach them the most recent skills that they need to have to help their kids."
Parents also learn how to navigate school bureaucracies, so youngsters get the help they’re entitled to. Yvonne Adams is the mother of five children. "I'm here because now that I have small children I have to start over in being an advocate for her in the education system..and be a parent that can sit at that homework table at home and know what you’re doing with that child."
Program leaders say the most important overall message is that parents must need to be active partners in their child’s education.
