What We Do
Despite the incredible promise of early childhood education, children are still not being set up to succeed in K-12. Steep education inequities persist for huge numbers of children due to poverty and structural racism.
This is, in part, because pre-K programs are not fully set up to build the authentic home-school connection and emotionally responsive environments that are key to transformative impact in early education. Educators often report these areas as key challenges, and need more support to provide a high-quality, family-centered pre-K experience.
ParentCorps is an evidence-based enhancement to pre-K designed to target this problem.
In partnership with school leaders, administrators, and educators, we work to build a more impactful education experience — one that centers race and culture, engages parents as partners, and supports children’s social-emotional well-being — to help unlock the full promise of early childhood education.
“I feel very powerful to engage
and encourage my parents.”
Teacher, Detroit
What We Offer
> ParentCorps is available in English
> ParentCorps disponible en Español
> ParentCorps 提供中文服务
“The first day I observed ParentCorps Fundamentals training, I thought, ‘I have to take this home with me.’ It forces you to look internally and recognize how your own personal experiences impact your interactions with other people. It was exactly what we needed. There has been a fundamental shift in how our staff engages parents.”
Kecia Rorie, Operations Director, Starfish Family Services
Professional Development
for pre-K educators and school staff
-
Two or four day group-based experiential training
-
Designed to support school staff to form strong, culturally responsive relationships with families and promote children’s social-emotional well-being – school staff engage in authentic dialogue examining their beliefs, reflecting on the challenges families face, and learning the science of early childhood development in order to engage with children and families in new ways.
-
Focused on self-reflection, candid sharing, and respect for teachers’ expertise
-
Departure from typical training telling teachers what to do
-
Dedicated implementation support to fit into a system’s existing professional development plans
“My favorite experience is witnessing how the parents bonded and supported each other during and after the sessions. They provided encouraging words, resources and ideas that worked for them in difficult situations. To me, this meant that they felt safe to be vulnerable and they seemed to find comfort in the fact that they were not parenting alone and had someone to listen to and share their experiences with.”
Mary Woods-Miles, Family Engagement Specialist,
Starfish Family Services, Detroit
Parenting Program
for pre-K families
-
12-session group-based program for all families as part of the pre-K experience
-
Designed to support families to promote children’s early learning and development – in a culturally affirming environment, parents connect, share experiences, and explore evidence-based parenting practices they may choose to incorporate at home, in alignment with their values.
-
Facilitators trained not only in program, but in core approach to seeing parents as partners
-
Dedicated implementation support, including high-quality materials, training and coaching for facilitators, and customizable approach to family outreach
“As a former teacher, I know what professional development and coaching is “supposed” to be like. When I came here, I was truly confused. I had no idea why we trained the way we did and coached the way we did. We lean into autonomy to support the goals that teachers have themselves rather than coming in and working on a strict list of best practices. While focusing on best practices is important, the approach really does make a difference. It was so foreign to me it literally felt like a different language. But once I started embodying the ParentCorps spirit in a way that felt authentic to me, I noticed the way school staff reacted and embraced it.”
Cindy Gray, ParentCorps Senior Program Coordinator
Friends School
for pre-K children
-
12-session social-emotional learning program for pre-K classrooms
-
Designed to support children in developing foundational social-emotional learning skills – children learn to communicate and process their feelings, develop a positive sense of self, and get along with others.
-
Supports teachers not only to build children’s social-emotional learning, but model their own SEL skills
-
Dedicated implementation support, including high-quality materials, training, and coaching for teachers to integrate programming in classrooms