About PIRC
The overall design of the Nebraska Parental Information and Resource Center (PIRC) project includes four components. The first step would be to affect policy change addressing parental information and involvement, beginning with the Nebraska Department of Education. Second would be to establish 65 School-Based PIRC Centers in high-need school buildings across Nebraska with 21st Century Community Learning Center programs. Each School-Based PIRC will provide ongoing training and support to parents and educators. Resource materials will be available at each site. Third would be targeted, intensive supports to buildings with the greatest need to implement Model Programs which focus on systemic changes across multiple buildings within the same school district and multiple age groups (birth to at least 8th grade with preference for including high school). These model programs would utilize the Complementary Learning approach, linking families, early childhood, schools, and community partners. The Model Programs implement a home visitation component for parent of children ranging in age from birth to age five. The fourth component focuses on a Public Awareness Campaign to inform Nebraskans about essential parent engagement and information pieces (e.g. state and school report cards) as well as the importance of parental involvement in supporting students’ learning.
Implementation of these four project components will result in the accomplishment of the following Nebraska PIRC goals:
Goal 1: Parent involvement policy is developed, articulated, and disseminated to Nebraska schools through a collaborative effort of the Nebraska Department of Education, the staff at NDE associated with 21st Century Community Learning Centers and Positive Behavior Supports, the family involvement planning team, community partners, project staff, and the project advisory board.
Goal 2: Nebraska School-Based PIRCs are established and supported by a network of school building and district educators, community agencies, and family representatives.
Goal 3: Model Programs/Enhanced PIRCs (demonstration projects) are established in targeted communities which enhance family and school partnerships and have a positive impact on student learning by implementing home visitation programs for parents of young children.
Goal 4: Statewide family awareness of the importance of their role in partnering with schools to support their children’s learning is enhanced through a statewide public awareness campaign.
A comprehensive evaluation using a combination of formative and outcome approaches will be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the project.
