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| About The
A.P.P.L.E. Project |
 APPLE Project Brief
Strong
and effective parent-professional collaboration improves results for
children under IDEA. Yet, one of the most frequently expressed concerns
by parents and professionals focuses on the difficulty of building
these collaborative working relationships in special education
planning. Such a partnership arises out of:
- a
shared goal for the child
- mutual
trust
- cultural
competence
- effective
communication and problem-solving skills, and
- a
clear vision with high expectations for student achievement
Once
learned, these attitudes and skills must be continually improved
through practice in the context of school environments, early
intervention programs, and post-secondary or employment settings.
The Advancing
Parent-Professional Leadership in Education (A.P.P.L.E.) Project,
a partnership between the Federation for Children with
Special Needs,
the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts -
Boston, and Children's Hospital,
provides collaborative school-system teams with training that will
allow parents of children receiving special education services to learn
skills that will help them become full and effective partners with
their schools.
The Institute is designed to build a learning community that will:
- gain
knowledge about effective leadership, organizational culture, and the
unique role that parent representatives are asked to play on their PAC;
- develop
strategies for assuring a stronger and more diverse parent voice that
will have an effective impact on policy development related to services
for young children and families;
- acquire
leadership skills that may support parent leaders as they engage in the
work of the PAC;
- reflect
on individual, group, and organizational attitudes and behaviors which
are particularly conducive to effective leadership or serve as barriers;
- address
needs and begin planning for carrying out a statewide parent leadership
training event.
| Team Action
Planning Process |
Participants
were selected by the research group based on their children’s age(s),
educational setting and nature of disability.
Teams from a variety of districts attended a 3-day facilitated
brainstorming workshop:
- Blackstone-Millbury
- Braintree
- Brockton
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Teams met as a
collective group, and as individual District teams to identify
strengths and opportunities within the teams:
- Building
Intercultural Communities
- Embracing
Creative Conflicts
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- True
Colors: Interpersonal Communications
- Respectful
Conversations
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Team
Members in Attendance:
- Kathy
Beale (parent)
- Carol
Dumas (parent)
- Laura
Keeley (parent)
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- Debby
Nabstedt (parent)
- Lind
Perry (parent)
- Judith
Todd (Director of
Special Education)
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Quincy’s Vision:
- Progressive
Multicultural PAC
- District
Wide Collaborative Partnerships
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- Family
Outreach Support
- Community
Visibility
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Actions to Take
(over 6-8 months):
- Expand
APPLE Team
- Make
contact with various groups within the city
- Schedule
leaders to educate PAC on values, cultural aspects of other ethnicities
- Translations
(identifying services) and publicity
- PAC
will re-establish support group and meeting
Actions Taken to
Date:
- Welcomed
Jill Gichuhi as team member; working on educating PAC on the APPLE
methods
- Attend August Moon festival and connected with Quincy Asian Resources
executive directors, and other local educational vendors (A+ school)
- Planning to invite QARI leaders to the next Apple committee meeting
- Contacted
local parents’ papers to include our QPAC schedules.
- Found
a resource for Chinese, Arabic translations
- Parents
Empowered support group reconvenes in late October.
- Fundraiser
(Locker
Works) sponsored by QPAC
- Attended
open house at various schools and handed out QPAC literature
- 15 new
members added to email list
- Backpack
mailers for Welcome letter, QPAC flyer and Transportation brochure
- Table
at QMC
annual fundraising walk
- Seat
on the
Mayor's Drug Task Force
- QATV training for equipment use
- Invited
to make a presentation to the Quincy
School Committee
Quincy's District Action Plan
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