Spring 2000
Need a PAL?
Every morning, at 8:00 a.m., each pre-kindergarten student at Allison Elementary marches out to the AmeriCorps resource room for forty-five minutes of singing, reading, and writing with seven AmeriCorps members and three parent volunteers. A visitor to the PALs classroom may peek behind one of the colorful partitions to spy a parent reading Goodnight Moon to a small, captivated audience of four-year-olds. Constant attempts to involve them in the presentation include questions, comment-sharing, and an art/dictation activity where the students may "write" their own responses. Or, the walls may ring with Spanish and English verses of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" as the students follow the boldly printed words across a song chart.
This is Parent Advocates for Literacy, or PALs, an innovative parent-school collaboration designed to draw on the strengths of the community in providing preschool children with a strong foundation in early literacy. Established at Allison during the 1998–1999 school year by AmeriCorps for Community Engagement and Education, this initiative is a replication of the model at Sanchez Elementary. At Sanchez, school staff and local parents—who are trained in effective, early literacy practices—have been teaming up for five years to instruct the school's youngest learners in small group settings. It represents a unique approach to teaching in which parents work as partners with school staff as they outline common goals and teaching strategies in weekly planning meetings, and share ideas and stories of their students' progress.
Based on the premise of the parent as a child's first teacher, PALs creates a nurturing environment in which the interaction with local parents eases the student's immersion into the routine of school, while helping the students develop early literacy skills which are crucial for their academic achievement.
Rosa Delgado, an AmeriCorps member and parent in the Sanchez PALs program, explained in a 1999 interview that PALs "is a place where they (the children) can come and enjoy reading . . . where they can develop their imagination, their creativity. This is a place where they have somebody to trust . . . someone to help them to grow, not only as a student, but as a child. We love these children."
Though PALs is well established and under the direction of the parents at Sanchez, the program is still in its initial stages at Allison. And while PALs at Allison has been blessed with the enrollment of three current parent volunteers, the goal of the program is to establish a strong core of parent volunteers who, rooted in the school and community, may help ensure the program's long-term survival.
In addition to creating a meaningful experience for the participating parents and students, PALs may help increase parental participation school-wide. As Bryan Murdock, director of the ACEE program, commented, "A parent-centered program like PALs can change community perceptions of the school. The parent instructors can become models for other parents, and the school is viewed as a place where parents are welcomed, respected, and valued."
Indeed, the PALs program is producing several such "model" parents. At Sanchez, parents who spend one hour a day in PALs devote many more to working in classrooms. For some, this opportunity to develop their gifts for teaching has gained them access into the AmeriCorps program, which exposes them to even more opportunities for employment and post-secondary education.
We at PALs extend a standing invitation to visit the program. We are always seeking parents to participate in a variety of ways, and encourage teachers, school staff, or parents to refer to us any parents who may be interested in joining. We appreciate the cooperation of the school and the community in making PALs a success.
—Margaret Tarpley