PALMS News
DECEMBER 2007/JANUARY 2008
In this update, we share some exciting new initiatives of the PALMS project. We also invite you to check out our newest resources for helping you work with more Latino students and families in the pursuit of education beyond high school.
1. The new PALMS Outreach Leaders Network – In spring 2007, after a competitive application process, PALMS selected seven schools to pilot the new Outreach Leaders Network. Through the network, schools receive technical and collegial support from PALMS staff and from other network members during their implementation of Tools for Latino Family Outreach in the 2007-2008 school year. Two of the seven schools are part of the new Northwest Arkansas regional cohort; they will be mentored by leaders at Helen Tyson Middle School in Springdale where a team has been using the toolkit since 2006. The other five schools are piloting a national-level cohort, with the possibility of serving in a mentoring role to nearby schools in future years.
Applications to join the second cohort of the Outreach Leaders Network will become available in March 2008. This group will be trained on July 25, 2008 at EDC headquarters near Boston, MA. Learn more about the network.
2. Is the PALMS Toolkit Right for Your School? – Find out by viewing a 14-minute multimedia presentation on Tools for Latino Family Outreach. The presentation includes an overview of the tools, their purpose and audience, and quotes from school leaders currently using the toolkit.
3. Online Course in the Works - PALMS staff are currently developing an online course that will lay the foundation for educators to build a thriving family outreach program at their schools. Course participants will have the option to enroll and earn either CEUs or graduate credit after taking this seven-week course. Seats will be limited. Stay tuned for more details!
4. Toolkit in Action - Lean more about how two schools are helping students and parents achieve theirs dreams of higher education. Helen Tyson Middle School in Springdale, Arkansas, and Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont, New York, are part of a two-year study through which PALMS staff documents the schools’ experiences with the PALMS tools.
5. PALMS in the News - Fox TV-WBRC, the Fox affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama, featured a story on PALMS being launched at Montevallo Middle School. View the clip.
6. New Resources - PDF files of our Student and Parent Study reports are now available! The reports synthesize much of the information that PALMS has documented about how educators work with Latino students and parents. The 2006 Student Study describes activities of various college access programs and discusses the aspirations and needs of Latino students as they pursue education beyond high school. The Parent Study, completed in 2005, describes strategies that postsecondary access programs use to address the lack of college knowledge and connections to school-based resources among Latino parents. The study also offers research on Latino parents and college planning for their children.
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