HELPING CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES SUCCEED IN SCHOOL AND IN LIFE Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families 2012 Annual Conference 400 South Zang Blvd. Suite 300 Dallas, TX

Who is The Concilio? Mission: To build stronger communities by empowering parents to improve the education and health of their families

How are Children Struggling to Succeed? “Every American pays a cost when a young person leaves school without a diploma” - Marc Morial (Former New Orleans Mayor and current President of the National Urban League)  32% of Dallas County students drop out of high school  Dropouts are prone to unemployment, use of government assistance, incarceration

What is the Missing Link?

Importance of Parent Involvement Research shows:  Higher grades and test scores  Better attendance  Higher graduation rates  Greater enrollment in post-secondary education Student achievement is greater regardless of parent educational level, ethnicity or socio-economic status.

Why is Parent Involvement Lacking?  Cultural Barriers  Language Barriers  Educational Level Barriers

Parents Advocating for Student Excellence (PASE) The program teaches parents how to: □ Navigate the school system □ Provide a supportive home-learning environment □ Reinforce positive self-esteem and individual learning styles □ Collaborate with the school: teachers, counselors, principals □ Set expectations for higher education

PASE □ Pre-Kindergarten (32 weeks) □ Elementary (9 weeks) □ Middle (9 weeks) □ High School (9 weeks) □ Life After High School (9 weeks)

PASE’s Impact Dallas ISD data for program year :  Students of Concilio participants were less likely to repeat a grade than their non-participating peers  Students of Concilio participants were more likely to meet the state standard on Reading TAKS  Students of Concilio participants had better Math TAKS scores than those of the district as a whole  Average attendance rates were higher for students of Concilio participants when compared to the district across all grade levels

PASE’s Impact Data: 400 parents read to their children for the first time 660 parents read to their children five times or more 910 parents met with their student’s teacher during the semester that they took our program Data: 99% of Concilio students promoted to the next grade level (828 students)

Changing Their Condition Survey of 2,100 parents who completed the PASE program since it began:  90.2% of their students graduated from high school  78.0% entered post-secondary education

PASE Growth K-12 60,0009,68015,111105,714345,702590,618618,676698,765692,717551,763 LAHS 40,000110,00080,000126,252141,519148,510337,260 PAL 65,000147,565256,500 Total 60,0009,68015,111145,714455,702670,618744,928905,284988,7921,145,523

How Did Growth Occur? 1. Best Practices:  Free of charge  Presented in the audience’s language  Culturally sensitive  Children are welcome  Active collaboration with school staff where program is being delivered  Accessibility  Welcoming environment 2. Partnerships with the Funding Community

Funding Community Partnerships  School Districts  United Way  Annual Fundraiser  Corporations  Foundations  Zero to Five Funders’ Collaborative

Zero to Five Funders’ Collaborative 27 Funders 5 Years 4 Nonprofit Agencies 1 Neighborhood 1 Purpose

Zero to Five Funders’ Collaborative: The Concilio’s Part  32-week Pre-K program funded by the Zero to Five Funders’ Collaborative  Several curricula combined; includes NCLR curriculum  Coaching sessions  Fieldtrips  Speech/language pathology sessions  Graduation

Impact of the Collaborative  92% of parents graduated from The Concilio’s Pre-K program: 214 out of 233 enrolled  Former children participants scored significantly higher than non- participants on the following: Vocabulary Word analysis Word reading Total reading profile Total reading readiness profile - Southern Methodist University evaluation of entire Collaborative on a specific test taken by all Kindergarten students in the schools in which we work

Looking to the Future Zero to Five Funders’ Collaborative:  Sustainability  Replicability  Bridging the Gap The Concilio:  Our own curriculum  Expanding to more schools, districts  Evaluation

Impact on All of Us One less high school dropout changes our community! Irais and Julio

Thank you!