In this GLR Learning Tuesdays webinar, we explored why parent power is so important for changing education systems and achieving equitable learning recovery for students. Expert panelists from national and local parent-facing organizations shared strategies to build strong and functional relationships between teachers, school staff and parents that create space for parents to exercise their innate power and leverage their deep knowledge of what makes their children successful.  

Moderator John Gomperts with CGLR began by engaging in a deep discussion with Alex Cortez of Bellwether. Cortez shared the concept of creating “actionable demand” for great schools, which requires informing and organizing parents so they can exercise their power through intentional partnerships with educators and focused actions that influence change and support for their children. He emphasized why it is important to focus on parent POWER and building agency among parents:

“All parents care about the education and future of their children. But caring isn’t the same as power. If a parent’s child is in a failing school system and they lack the economic power to move or the political power to drive change, they are stuck. So for me, changing education systems is unapologetically about power, and how we support efforts that inform and organize parents so they can exercise their innate power — individually and collectively — to drive and sustain change.”

Cortez also reviewed Bellwether’s recent report featuring a series of case studies on local parent power organizations and their key strategies that can be replicated by local communities. Gomperts then engaged two leaders of national parent advocacy organizations: Shana McIver of Learning Heroes and Joann Mickens of Parents for Public Schools who offered their perspectives about the concepts shared by Cortez and the lessons captured in the report and how these connect to their own research and approaches.

After speaking with the national leaders, Gomperts engaged in a robust discussion with leaders from two of the local organizations profiled in the report: Daniel Anello of Kids First Chicago and Duanecia Evans Clark of FaithActs for Education in Connecticut, along with Get Georgia Reading Campaign partner Bridget Ratajczak of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. From this panel of parent advocates, we had the chance to learn what works to leverage the power of parents in their communities to make a real impact on a day-to-day basis and the ways they have been able to mobilize parents to partner in strategic and productive ways with educators and schools. Anello captured how important it is to give parents the space to set the agenda and follow their lead:

“The reason we exist, Kids First Chicago, is to give parents the microphone and to get out of the way. Our job is to help them be successful in achieving whatever they tell us they want to pursue. So they have the agenda and their agenda is not blind to the expertise that is out there. We want them to have the information they need to make informed decisions. But at the end of the day, they’re telling us where to go. And that is our model. We work very closely with the district. We work with whoever — frankly, the city, whoever the issue lies with, that’s who we’re helping parents get in front of.”

Thank you for joining this week’s learning and engagement opportunity. We hope it was productive for you and that you will plan to join us again for future opportunities. In particular, on November 21, we will again be joined by Learning Heroes to explore brand new research from Gallup revealing more about the disconnect between parents’ perception of their child’s achievement and the reality, along with workable solutions to this issue.