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| Nov. 18, 2007 | miamiherald.com |
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At LIFE, parents are the students
A program geared to helping parents provides them with skills to help their children and education to improve themselves. |
At some elementary schools, children aren't the only ones headed to class in the morning; class is also in session for their parents.
These parents participate in the Lindsey Integrates Family Education -- LIFE -- Family Literacy Project headed by Lindsey Hopkins Technical Education Center.
The grant-funded program offers help with Adult Basic Education, ESOL and GED preparation. Parenting workshops, intergenerational literacy activities, field trips and individual tutoring for families are also available.
Lindsey Hopkins formed partnerships with schools to provide LIFE outreach programs at convenient locations for parents. The satellite sites include Allapattah Head Start, Lenora B. Smith, Phillis Wheatley, Riverside and Gertrude K. Edelman Sabal Palm elementary schools.
A recent morning at Phillis Wheatley, 1801 NW First Place in Overtown, the class opened with a discussion about parental involvement in schools as a prelude to a PTA meeting later in the day. After the discussions, some parents used skill-building programs on the computer, while a few others took English lessons from the instructor, Carol Jacque.
Jacque is hoping the outreach program will provide a support system for parents and help them express their educational needs. The program has materials on subjects such as teenage issues, child literacy and discipline, she said.
''If parents aren't headed off to work in the morning,'' Jacque said, ``then they really owe it to themselves and their kids to come give it a try and see if this is a way they could take care of something they haven't had a chance to take care of with their own education, or to keep up with their kids.''
Elisabetha Small decided to give the program a try and found it has improved her reading and math comprehension, along with her parenting skills. Small has three goddaughters, two of whom attend Phillis Wheatley.
''It's not about me only; it's about my children, too,'' Small said. ``I like to help my godchildren with their homework and, when they come to me, I want to be able to sit down and help them.''
Small said she happily assumes the role of a student when attending her adult education classes.
''I don't consider myself just a parent. I'm coming here for my GED, too,'' she said. ``I feel like I'm a student just like they are. They're excited to wear a book bag; I'm going to be a proud parent and wear mine, too.''
Across town at Lenora B. Smith, 4700 NW 12th Ave. in Allapattah, parents are also taking on the role of students. Litrisha Ariah-Paschal, whose son is in the first grade, joined the LIFE classes in September. She enjoys working with Internet programs because she can later access them from home.
''I wish a lot more [parents] would come,'' Ariah-Paschal said. ``They would be able to teach their kids more of what they learned.''
Educating the parents can help improve the entire family, said Loretta Tepedino, director of the LIFE Family Literacy Project.
''They have to be involved in their children's education,'' Tepedino said. ``Parents are the first and primary teacher of the child. They can't just leave it up to the school. The parent is the role model, so when the kid sees the parent learning and reading books, they want to do it, too.''
Tepedino and two other Lindsey Hopkins reading teachers started the LIFE program, wrote a grant application and received federal funding in 2002. More funding has been received since then, along with a school district proposal for Lindsey Hopkins to offer family literacy services in collaboration with four elementary schools.
In 2006, 150 parents enrolled in classes at Allapattah Child Care Center, 1836 NW 22nd Place; Phillis Wheatley; and Lenore B. Smith. Another 50 enrolled in morning and evening classes at Riverside Elementary, 1190 SW Second St. in Little Havana, and 20 attended evening classes at Sabal Palm Elementary, 17101 NE Seventh Ave., North Miami Beach.
Tepedino, who reported a dropout rate of about 15 percent, said classes will soon start at Miami Park Elementary, 2235 NW 103rd St. in North Central Dade, since pre-testing has already been conducted.
All parents in the program get their Adult Basic Education books free and each family gets a free dictionary and a thesaurus, Tepedino said. A parent who graduates from a class gets a book voucher to buy the next textbook.
The program also provides free books for children and materials to do craft work at home. Educational family field trips to museums and zoos also are available.
Tepedino would like parents to know that everything the program offers is free and no questions asked.
''Some people are afraid to let us know they didn't finish high school. It's OK; that's what we do for a living,'' Tepedino said. ``If they don't speak English, we teach them English. If they need GED preparation, we do that. If they need vocational training, we help them identify their skills and we place them.''
BY ASHLEY CALLOWAY
Special to The Miami Herald
Source: Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/494/story/309981.html
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