V.I.P.S “Very Involved Parents” Volunteer Program

by Heather Lenard, on the NSPRA site.

Synopsis

The communications department was tasked with putting together a strategic plan to increase parent and community engagement, increase district volunteer opportunities and conduct a community‐wide campaign to expand academic privilege. The importance of a college education and influence regarding academic privilege begins in the home, which is where the strategic plan needed to target to be the most effective. HSD2 educates over 11,000 students and is one of the most socioeconomically and ethnically diverse districts in the Pikes Peak region (74% free and reduced lunch average). For maximum capacity and effectiveness, one program was developed to increase volunteer opportunities strictly targeting parents/guardians.

The Very Involved Parents (VIPs) program was created in‐house to promote and coordinate parent volunteer efforts at each school with an academic focus. In April 2011, each school had at least 3 to 6 parents who volunteered by making copies, baking goods, assisting in the cafeteria or purchasing extra supplies for the classroom. The goal of the VIPs program was to increase parent volunteers to 10 to 20 parents and to utilize volunteers for a more academic purpose to instill the district’s philosophy of academic privilege. Each school in the Harrison District has one Very Involved Parent Coordinator who receives an outcomes‐based stipend related to parent engagement and volunteer opportunities. VIPs Coordinators are communication “foot soldiers” who are aligned with the district’s mission and message. Their purpose is to recruit parent volunteers, inspire and coordinate parent engagement in their school. Their secondary purpose is to assist the District communications office with rumor control, sense making and increase parent involvement in district committees and advisory groups.

Research

The communications team first began our research with a series of comprehensive brainstorming sessions to create the program purpose, measurable goals and a timeline for program development. Once the timeline for development was created, we met individually with each principal in our school district to determine the number of parent volunteers at the school. We learned how volunteers were utilized as well as successful and unsuccessful tactics used to promote parent involvement. We also needed to determine the specific goals of each school/principal so we could incorporate them into the plan for principal buy‐in. We then hosted five informal focus group meetings with parents: two elementary, two middle, and one high school. The purpose of the focus group meetings was to discover preferred communication methods for parents and their motivation for engaging or volunteering with their child’s school.

In April 2011, a third party survey company conducted a phone survey to over 400 community members and one question was asked to help us determine words and phrases to use for our academic privilege pursuit with our parent volunteers. (When you hear the phrase “College or Career Readiness,” what does that mean to you?) Finally, we held meetings with Pikes Peak United Way and Colorado Springs School District 11 to learn about the necessary volunteer policies, procedures and processes to assist us in developing the systemic nuts and bolts of our program. Pikes Peak United Way offered their research and literature on attracting, motivating and recruiting volunteers. Based on our research findings we tailored the goal and objectives to meet the parental engagement needs of the district schools.

Planning

 

Goal: To increase parent involvement at an academic level through a coordinated parent volunteer program at each school.

Objective I: To recruit one parent from each school, selected by the principal, to attend a two‐day leadership training to become the VIPs program coordinator for their school.

Objective II: To increase the total number of parent volunteers in the district from 30 to 200 by May 2012. This would be an increase from 3 to 6 parents to 10 to 20 parent volunteers per school.

Target Audience:  Parents/guardians

Strategies

 

Objective I:

 

• Develop criteria for VIPs coordinators to assist principals with recruiting one parent from their school to attend the leadership training.
• Develop a curriculum for the two‐day leadership training in collaboration with the Center for Creative Leadership to motivate and educate VIPs coordinators with key leadership skills.
• Develop a curriculum for the afternoon consisting of communication and sense making strategies to develop our VIPs coordinators into “message foot soldiers” for the district as well as educate them on volunteerism, district initiatives and the importance of parent involvement.
• Develop a strong network with the VIPs coordinators so they can stay connected, share ideas and become advocates for the district.

Objective II:

• Develop a pay scale to pay monthly, outcomes‐based stipends to VIPs coordinators for their efforts. Ensure principal support of the VIPs coordinator with work space and resources in each school.
• Train VIPs coordinators to motivate and recruit parents, as well as train coordinators on the volunteer application process to follow district policies and guidelines.

Communication/Implementation

• Developed the logo and slogan for the VIPs program.
• Attended the Principals’ Meeting in September to present program to principals and how the program will benefit the schools.
• Coordinated the mandatory training for all 19 VIPs coordinators (one from each school) on October 15 and 22 (full-day Saturdays).
• Invited instructors from the Center for Creative Leadership to conduct leadership training each morning session.
• Provided training on effective communication strategies; sense making skills (on the difference between a Parent Teacher Organization and the VIPs Program); how to recruit and motivate parent volunteers; and how to develop academic volunteer opportunities with teachers and the principal.
• Conducted brainstorming sessions at the end of each day for VIPs coordinators to brainstorm creative ideas and specific action plans for recruiting parent volunteers.
• Assembled a tool kit consisting of business cards, a planner, an official badge, volunteer packets and materials for each coordinator.
• Scheduled mandatory follow up meetings each month for additional training, to turn in time sheets, share ideas, answer questions and address rumors and concerns.
• Assigned first project: each VIPs coordinator must recruit 20 parents (earned $10 per parent) from their school to attend the free VIPs Program Kick‐Off Luncheon where the Superintendent presented the new five‐year plan and district initiatives to parents and stakeholders in audience.
• Attended school staff meetings and provide training to principals, teachers and front desk staff on volunteer forms, handbook, tracking, opportunities/requests, application process and Parent Academy Workshop Series for parents.
• Revamped volunteer contract for 2011‐2012 school year. All district volunteers must have a background check and be fingerprinted.
• Created web site for parents to inquire about volunteer opportunities and sign up to become a volunteer as well as links on all school websites.
• Developed volunteer tracking sheet.
• Developed volunteer handbook.
• Developed the Parent University workshop series for VIPs coordinators to recruit parents to attend to increase engagement and academic privilege. Parent University is one night every month where dinner and childcare is provided for parents to attend and learn about topics such as homework help, college readiness, budgeting, mental/behavioral health issues in children, etc.
• Developed a pay scale to pay monthly outcomes‐based stipends to VIPs coordinators for their efforts. VIPs coordinators can be paid for: attending the monthly meeting $20; recruit parents/families to attend district and school functions $20; develop a monthly parent recognition program for parents who volunteer $20; host a table at school events to recruit parents $50; and write a monthly column for the school/parent newsletter about the VIPs program $10, etc. Maximum earned per month is $250.
• Instilled a sense of leadership and initiative for coordinators to develop their own recruitment methods and outcomes for a small stipend.
• Ordered t‐shirts and specialty advertising items to hand out to parents who become volunteers to promote messages.
• Recognized volunteers, VIPs Coordinators and Leadership Academy attendees at end of year event in May 2012.

Evaluation

In conclusion, the VIPs program has proven to be an effective program for increasing parent involvement and engagement. Objective I was achieved, as 19 parents completed and graduated from the training and have become successful coordinators and messengers in their buildings. The VIPs Program Kick‐Off Luncheon had 580 parents and stakeholders in attendance, the largest attendance the district has ever had for a stakeholder luncheon. For a low income at‐risk district such as Harrison, parent engagement is a major task and the district has created a strong foundation for parent involvement in the first year of the VIPs Program.

Objective II was also achieved: in January 2012, the district went from 30 parent volunteers to 200. As of February 22, there are 235 very involved parents throughout the district, which continues to increase. While some schools have more volunteers than others, the average number is 10 parent volunteers in each building. The VIPs coordinators have built the capacity for parents to volunteer at an academic level where they feel involved, valued and like they belong to something important. All parent volunteers must fill out an application and pass a background check. Volunteer hours are now being tracked at each school; and some schools have established a “parent of the month” recognition program where parents are recognized in the school/parent newsletter and at student award ceremonies. Many of the VIPs coordinators work in a location in the school dedicated for the VIPs Program with a bulletin board where volunteer opportunities are posted and parent volunteers can collaborate.

Naturally, our elementary schools have more parent involvement than middle and high schools, however the VIPs coordinators have developed small groups of effective parents at the middle and high schools. For elementary, parents are now completing these types of volunteer activities: reading groups and centers, after school tutoring, making flash cards, fundraising for new technology and college visit field trips, and recruiting more parents to volunteer. For middle and high schools, parents are volunteering in these ways: after school for tutoring, chaperoning college visit field trips, fundraising for new technology, and assisting students with applying to colleges, filling out Individual Career and Academic Plans and FAFSA forms. The communications department has called on the VIPs coordinators on many occasions to help gather parent focus groups, recruit parents to serve on committees and advisory boards. The 2011‐2012 school year was the first year of the VIPs program and we will continue to strengthen the program in the 2012‐2013 school year and possibly expand to serve in another capacity within the district.

Contact: Heather Lenard, outreach and recruitment specialist hlenear@hsd2.org