Grasp the vision: this effort to connect parents and community members with their schools shows children benefit through higher achievement, and volunteers become supporters of our schools.

Trustees of Central School District in San Bernardino County have long held the belief that every parent should be connected to their children's education through volunteering. In 1995-96, as California emerged from a recession, the board allocated $ 1,100 for each school site as seed money to stimulate a focused and comprehensive effort to recruit, train, retain and recognize school volunteers. A year later, trustees budgeted for a part-time volunteer coordinator at each site and adopted the following guidelines:

* Encourage every parent to volunteer each school year.

* Develop a strong partnership between teachers and volunteers.

* Increase the number of committed, reliable volunteers.

* Tailor volunteer efforts to each school's strengths, characteristics and needs.

* Provide early literacy training for volunteer reading mentors.

* Achieve the goal of having parents more involved in our middle schools.

* Collaborate with administration and other parent organizations to achieve best results for students.

* Develop and maintain a district handbook for training and support of volunteers and legal compliance issues.

In the fall of 1997, a board study session was held to provide the opportunity for volunteer coordinators, administrators, trustees and other stakeholders to discuss the importance of parent involvement and challenges and potential solutions. In a moment of impassioned explication, the phrase, "Grasp the vision!" was coined. In the six years that have followed, the district's parent and community involvement efforts have blossomed and matured.

The focus of parental involvement is closely tied to mastery of California's Academic Content Standards. Technology allows each parent/community involvement coordinator to readily monitor personal contacts made to invite each and every family to volunteer, to record those who do volunteer, and to report results at a board meeting every spring.

Reading mentors who receive training from district Reading Specialists continue to be a keystone of volunteerism to support learning. Math Fact Mentors have been added to ensure that no pupil responds too slowly to do well on SAT-9 or CAT/6 testing. Mentors for Gifted and Talented Education were added three years ago. Parents who volunteer in this capacity work with small groups of GATE-identified students to provide extra enrichment opportunities.

Paralleling the maturation of the Parent/Community Involvement program, the district's Business Partners in Education organization has become more and more viable. It began in 1992 out of financial needs stemming from California's recession. In 2002-03,227 different businesses partnered with schools and classrooms in the district. Many times, businesses release selected employees who come to school to volunteer as mentors or as classroom volunteers.

PCI: An invaluable part of the school culture and ethos 

There are many components to the success of the district's Parent/Community Involvement program. This year as an Ad Hoc Budget Advisory Committee wrestled with cuts to be made, their consensus was to leave the program in place because of its value in achieving the priorities of the district.

Patent/Community Involvement coordinators make themselves an invaluable part of the culture and ethos at each school. They greet and welcome new parents, informing them of the district's priority focus on parent involvement; explain the dozens of opportunities for parents to become involved as volunteers; serve as liaisons between teachers and parents, identifying specific tasks needed in each classroom; meet regularly (weekly or biweekly) with the school's principal to ensure that parents are available to support all school activities and efforts; arrange training for mentors and monitor the needs that mentors have for supplies or support; keep real-time track of the status of volunteerism at each site; hold orientation sessions for parents who will move from elementary to middle school volunteering; and plan and execute meaningful volunteer recognition activities throughout the year.

In recent years, more effort and attention has been given to communication and collaboration between leaders of each school's parent-teacher organization and the Parent/Community Involvement coordinator. Working together, more volunteers find satisfaction in the time they spend as volunteers because the right service niche has been identified.

It has become the norm to provide volunteers with a dedicated workspace at each school, and each Parent/Community Involvement coordinator has access to a telephone, a computer and a printer for taking care of the clerical responsibilities of this position. One of the Parent/Community Involvement coordinators serves as a lead. This person facilitates monthly meetings where goals, norms and challenges are discussed. These meetings are the "glue" that keeps a uniform focus on the annual refinements that are made to keep the program viable and valuable.

Developing bonds

Teachers generally give very high marks to the Parent/Community Involvement program. Since the inception of this formal effort to connect parents and community members with their schools, teachers have grown immensely in their ability and desire to welcome and effectively use volunteers, and to select and prepare appropriate and rewarding work for the volunteers.

Research on parent volunteerism is persuasive. Children whose parents volunteer at school benefit through documented higher achievement. Volunteers typically become staunch fans and supporters of our schools. They see the carefully planned, disciplined instruction that takes place in our classrooms day after day, and they develop a loyalty to their school.

As one of the PCI coordinators reported this June, "A three-way bond develops between teachers, students and parents. Friendships are formed and nourished, and parents help to reinforce school expectations. Parent and community volunteers serve as role models, and they encourage students to do well and become role models themselves."

Volunteers do a make a difference--a very positive difference in the academic achievement of students and in the tone of total school caring that grows in a school where volunteers are welcomed and effectively trained for service.

Sonja L. Yates is superintendent for Central School District in San Bernardino County, where Ruth Campbell is Parent/Community Involvement coordinator.