PARENT MENTOR PROGRAM:
BY THE NUMBERS

In the 2022-2023 school year:

Mutual Aid

Every day, Parent Mentors participated in Mutual Aid efforts. For FY23, Parent Mentors reported a combined 6,833 hours of community assistance.

Mutual Aid Efforts largely fell under the following categories:

• Financial Assistance, i.e. Helping apply for Unemployment Assistance, Cash Assistance, SNAP, Rental Assistance, Food Pantries, etc.

• Educational Assistance, i.e. Helping Parents connect with Teachers or an E-Learning App, sharing online educational tools.

• Covid Education

• Social-Emotional Assistance

• Civic Engagement, i.e. Voting and Census

2022-2023 EVALUATION

I. Background
II. Findings from the Principal Survey
III. Findings from the Teacher Survey
IV. Findings from the Parent Mentor Survey
V. Findings from Focus Groups
VI. Findings from Mutual Aid Logs
VII. Conclusion
VIII. References

2020-2021 Evaluation

EVALUATION REPORT
I. Introduction
II. Evaluation Research Design
III. Findings
- Findings from the Teacher Survey
- Findings from the Parent Mentor Survey
- Findings from the Parent Mentor Focus Groups
- Findings from School and CBO Program Coordinator Focus Groups.
- Findings about Training Program from Parent Mentor, Program Coordinator, and Parent Engagement Institute Staff Focus Groups
- Findings from CBO Coordinator Mutual Aid Logs
IV. Discussion
V. Conclusion
VI. References

APPENDICES
I. Teacher Pre Survey
II. Teacher Post Survey
III. Parent Mentor Pre Survey
IV. Parent Mentor Post Survey
V. Parent Mentor Focus Group Interview Guide
VI. Program Coordinator Focus Group Interview Guide
VII. Parent Engagement Institute Focus Group Guide
VIII. Parent Mentor Demographic Form
IX. Parent Mentor Check-in Reports Log Form
X. Parent Mentor Program Weekly Workshop Log Form

2019-2020 Evaluation

This report provides a summary of the findings from the evaluation of the Parent Mentor Program of the Parent Engagement Institute (PEI) for the 2019-2020 academic 3 year. Due to the COVID pandemic, 2019-2020 was an extraordinary year for public education in the United States, in the state of Illinois, and for the Parent Mentor Program.

In a typical year Parent Mentors (PM) are assigned a classroom to assist teachers for two hours per day, Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, the Parent Mentors participate in trainings that support their capacity to assist in the classroom, engage other parents in the school, and provide leadership in the school and broader community. After reaching 100 volunteer hours, Parent Mentors are eligible to receive a $500 stipend, with a two-stipend maximum per school year. The Parent Mentor Program is implemented in partnering schools through a network of community based organizations that are coordinated and supported by the Parent Engagement Institute that is collaboratively operated by the Southwest Organizing Project and Logan Square Neighborhood Association.

The 2019-2020 was not a typical year. The first semester of the academic year was marked by an 11-day Chicago Public School teacher strike in October and ended with distance learning for the balance of the school year following spring break. The move from a classroom-based to distance learning educational scheme was a tremendous challenge for students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and the Parent Mentor Program. The school system literally had to remake itself in a matter of weeks. On March 27, 2020 the Illinois State Board of Education issued guidance for this process in the Remote Learning Recommendations During COVID-19 Emergency document.

The Parent Mentor Program moved to respond to this new education reality. Many of the communities where the Parent Mentor Program operates have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Chicago has a COVID-19 mortality rate that is 2.5 times the national average and African American and Latinx Chicagoans have COVID-19 mortality rates that are at least twice as high as whites (City of Chicago, 2020; Johns Hopkins University, 2020). Furthermore, students in these communities have been found to face additional barriers to remote learning due to several social and educational inequities (Issa, May 27, 2020). Consequently, many African American and Latino students were found to logon to the Chicago Public School e-learning platform at significantly lower rates than other groups during this transition period (Issa, May 27, 2020). These combined issues have raised concern that they can exacerbate long standing inequities in educational outcomes for students of color in Chicago.

Clearly, the closing of schools as a social distancing measure during the COVID19 pandemic presents additional challenges in maintaining parent and school engagement and consequently, the associated academic and socioemotional benefits for students. This evaluation documents the efforts and outcome of the Parent Mentor Program to adapt to continue parent-school/and community engagement in light of the stay-at-home order and shift to remote learning during the period of this evaluation study.

2018-2019 Evaluation

This report provides a summary of the findings from the evaluation of the Parent Mentor Program (PMP) of the Parent Engagement Institute (PEI - a partnership between the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA). This program was supported by a grant for the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

The Parent Mentor Program is designed to reach low-income parents with the goal of promoting stronger parent-school-community relationships through a context-specific and process oriented Ecological Model for Parent Engagement. The program supports low-income parents achieve the goals of: 1) developing skills and strategies that will support their students in improving academic outcomes, engagement and persistence; and 2) promote transformative forms of mutual engagement, integration, and investment between families, schools, and communities. LSNA developed the program model beginning in 1995 and SWOP replicated LSNA’s model in 2005.

The two PEI organizations partnered with 23 community-based organizations to form to implement Parent Mentor Program during the 2018-2019 academic year.

These community-based organizations partnered with schools in the city of Chicago, suburbs, and the state to provide teachers and students with classroom parental assistance for two hours, Monday through Thursday. After reaching 100 volunteer hours, parent mentors receive a $500 stipend for every additional 100 hours in the classroom, with a two stipend maximum per school year. The training, mentoring and oversight for the organizations’ programs was provided through the Parent Engagement Institute that is operated by the Southwest Organizing Project and Logan Square Neighborhood Association.