info@teachingforchange.org PO Box 73038, Washington, D.C. 20056

América Calderón, ¡Presente!

América Libertad Calderón, Teaching for Change senior parent organizer and lifelong fighter for justice, passed away on April 17, 2014 in Guatemala after a year long battle with cancer. América joined the Teaching for Change staff in February, 2008 as senior parent organizer for D.C. area schools and national training. Here is the profile she wrote …

Teaching for Change Featured at NCPIE

On Wednesday, April 24th, Teaching for Change will present our approach to turning the tables on parent-school relations at the monthly National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE) meeting. América Calderón, bilingual parent organizer, and Allyson Criner Brown, associate director, of Teaching for Change, will present recent research about Teaching for Change’s approach to parent-school …

The Secrets to Great Parent Meetings

The cornerstone of an effective parent engagement strategy is building relationships between parents, teachers, and administrators—but schools are becoming increasingly aware that traditional conferences and meetings with parents are not exactly engaging. “How to Have Better Parent Meetings,” Teaching for Change’s third Cross-City Parent Coordinator Training of the school year, detailed the essentials for a …

Two Chances to Learn About Award Winning Latino Children’s Literature

Teaching for Change is pleased to co-sponsor two events with the Américas Book Award in early October in Washington, DC. One of our staff members, America Calderon, served on the 2012 Americas Award selection committee. If you’ve not read the award winning titles, we encourage you to add them to your reading list today.  

Teaching for Change Pioneers Latino Parent Leadership Training in D.C.

In Washington, D.C. and in cities across the country, cultural and language barriers present some of the biggest challenges  to building effective home-school partnerships. Teaching for Change’s parent empowerment initiative has a few methods for overcoming this stumbling block: providing translation services for parent meetings, recruiting multilingual parent leaders, and promoting cultural understanding through community …

Working Together: Parents and Principal Start the Year with a Critical Dialogue

In a promising start to the 2012-2013 school year, parents at Strong John Thomson Elementary (D.C. Public Schools) convened for the first of many discussions with Principal Carmen Shepherd. Just after the start of the school day on September 7, about 30 parents—a few with toddlers or infants in tow—gathered in the large meeting room …