The Early Childhood and Training Department at The Teaching Research Institute, Western Oregon University, has received a $170,563.00 grant award from the Ford Family Foundation Enhancing the Skills of Parents Program beginning in January 2006.   The four year project, Parents and Educators Together, is a collaborative venture among The Teaching Research Institute, the Falls City and Dallas School Districts, Community Action Head Start of Marion and Polk Counties, Child Care Information Services of Polk, Marion and Yamhill Counties, and the Polk County Commission for Children and Families. The project, directed by Gary Glasenapp, will provide parent education classes and instructional sessions for children using the nationally recognized, research-based Second Step Violence Prevention Curriculum.  The project will provide parent education sessions to a minimum of 80 parents in each of the four years of the project for a total of 320 parents across the lifetime of the project. An equal number of children (80/320) will attend social skills instruction at the same time as the parent sessions.  The project will also train approximately 20 educators from the participating schools and Head Start programs each year to use the Second Step curriculum in their classrooms (80 total during the entire project). The project will equip parents to support their child’s social and emotional development by applying the same skills and information used by their children’s teachers.

For more information contact Gary Glasenapp at 503-838-8771.