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Parent Institute for
Quality Education (PIQE)
Mission Statement:
To bring schools, parents, and community together as equal partners in the education of every child to provide all students with the option and access of a postsecondary education.
Vision Statement:
PIQE is working to create a community in which parents and teachers collaborate to transform each child's educational environment, both at home and at school, so that all children can achieve their greatest academic potential. During the past 19 years, PIQE has graduated more than 375,000 parents from the basic nine-week parent involvement program and impacted more than 1,000,000 students.
Philosophy:
PIQE’s philosophy is based on the simple premise that all parents love their children and want a better future for them. Every child can learn and deserves the opportunity to attend and complete a college education, and parents and teachers must work together to ensure the educational success of every child. For children, learning is a natural process that parents and teachers can facilitate.
Objectives:
To encourage and support low-income ethnically-diverse parents of elementary, middle and high school children to take a participatory role in assisting their children to:
· Create a home learning environment
· Navigate the school system
· Collaborate with teachers, counselors and principals
· Encourage college attendance
· Support a child's emotional and social development
PIQE’s Nine-Week Parent Involvement Education Program & Pre-K Curriculums:
The courses are offered in morning sessions and repeated in the evening. Parents choose to when they can attend (see attached parent’s testimony and a copy of the certificates parents receive upon graduation). PIQE classes have been taught in sixteen different languages. Classes are taught by credential teachers and professionals trained by PIQE. The initial planning session asks parents what they would like to include in the course. Topics include:
Pre-K: ( 3-5 Years)
& Brain Development Ages and Stages
& Your Child’s Well-Being, Health, Nutrition and Active Living
& Positive Discipline
& Language Development
& Pre-Conventional Reading
& Your Child and Math Community Services
Elementary:
& Home/School collaboration
& The Home, Motivation and Self-esteem
& Communication and Discipline
& Academic Standards
& How the School System Functions
& The Road to the University
Middle:
& Adolescence: A time of Change and Growth
& Positive Communication Enhances Self-esteem
& How to Motivate Teenagers to Read
& Obstacles that Get in the Way of Success in School
& How the School System Functions
& The Road to the University
High:
& Understanding the High School System
& Identifying the Classes that Form Part of the 4-Year Plan
& Recognizing the Importance of the Grade Point Average (GPA)
& Reviewing other Important Requirements and Programs
& Discussing Higher Education Options
& Identifying the Different Financial Aid Options
Organization Overview:
Dr. Vahac Mardirosian and Dr. Alberto Ochoa (current Board Chair) founded the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) in October 1987 in San Diego, CA. In 1999, David Valladolid was promoted from VP of Operations to President & CEO. PIQE has regional offices in El Monte, Fresno, Los Angeles, Modesto, Oakland, Riverside, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Ana and Bakersfield that serve 20 counties in California.
PIQE Program Results and Outcomes:
- In 2003-04, Dr. Janet Chrispeels from the University of California, Santa Barbara conducted a control group evaluation of PIQE at a Middle school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The results were consistent across grade levels (6-8) and are important since parent engagement is generally considered minimal at middle and high schools. The PIQE curriculum was effective in informing parents about the education system, helping them to support their children’s schoolwork and motivating them to encourage their children to pursue a university level education in the future.
- In 2004, San Diego State University (SDSU), School of Business Administration conducted the first longitudinal study on PIQE. They contacted and surveyed 241 Latino parents who live in San Diego who had graduated from PIQE in 1997-98-99. These parents represented 351 students 18 years and older. The findings indicate that 93% of these PIQE students graduated from high school versus the current Latino graduation rate of 59% and 79.2% of the PIQE high school graduates enrolled in college versus the Latino College bound rate of 52% in San Diego County.
- Since 2000, in collaboration with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), PIQE has begun its expansion outside of California. PIQE’s program is being incubated in Texas at the Dallas Concilio and in Phoenix, Arizona at Arizona State University (ASU). In addition, PIQE best practices have been implemented in parent programs in Montana, Minnesota, Florida, Kansas and Missouri. In Montana, the PIQE program has been implemented on six Indian Reservations (Crow & Cheyenne).
- On February 7, 2006, PIQE signed a historic agreement with the California State University (CSU) system. CSU Chancellor Charles Reed pledged $575,000 for three consecutive years to implement the PIQE nine-week classes in fifteen schools in each of the twenty-three campus regions. In addition, each child of a PIQE graduate will receive a “college identification card” reserving them a spot at the university once they graduate from high school and meet the admission requirements.
Key Accomplishments:
- PIQE has worked in more than 1,500 schools in 155 different school districts in California.
- PIQE has served 200 GEAR-UP middle schools in California over the past six years and has received six annual awards of excellence.
- In 2003, PIQE implemented a Birth to Five parent curriculum in Santa Clara County for families with children whose ages are between 0-5. In 2004, PIQE contracted with San Diego Unified School District to serve 3,000 Pre-K parents in 30 low-performing schools, over 3 years.
- PIQE has designed and implemented in collaboration with Stanford Research Institute (SRI), a six-hour teacher workshop on parental involvement. It has been successfully piloted in more than 50 schools throughout California and graduated more than 1,000 teachers.
- In 2004-05, through funding from the Washington Mutual Foundation and Citigroup, PIQE implemented a pilot “Family Financial Literacy Education Program” to provide parents attending its nine week classes with basic money management skills. It has been piloted in eleven schools throughout Southern California and to date more than 500 parents have graduated from the program.
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