Key Idea Parents can serve as mentors to guide other parents—to help them build capacity for the kind of ongoing parent involvement that leads to improved student achievement.

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Role of a parent mentor

• Greet other parents at school events.
• Serve as a parent buddy to help new parents become familiar with the school.
• Share unique talents and skills with others.
• Share knowledge and enthusiasm for involvement in children’s education with other parents.
• Support other parents as they increase their involvement in children’s education.

Strategies for educators

• Establish clear expectations for parent mentors.
• Plan ways for successful volunteer parents to share their knowledge and skills with other parents.
• Provide training to help parents learn the skills they need to be successful mentors.
• Provide the resources that mentors need to accomplish their tasks.

Strategies for SEAs

• Provide professional development resources to district and school leaders to help them learn the strategies and methods for training parent mentors.
• Provide forums for schools that have strong parent mentoring programs to share their ideas with other schools.
• Provide links to outside agencies that offer resources to schools on parent training.

Resources

All Your Parents - Part 6: Develop Leaders and Mentors from the National Center for Family Literacy

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