Parent Engagement Program

Positive Parenting Strategies 

The Parent Engagement Program (PEP) is a new concept in parent involvement. While most behavioral health programs focus on teacher-student relationships at school, PEP is unique in helping parents and caregivers provide their children with a sense of emotional well-being at home. It is a research-based, online program that provides parenting strategies to parents and caregivers. Children raised in an emotionally healthy home will have a more positive experience at school.

PEP was developed by the Children’s Center for Self-Esteem, Inc. (dba The ARKGroup) a 501(c)(3) non-profit agency.

Help for Families in Crisis

Our school parents need help as never before! The COVID-19 crisis has ravaged our families with economic and social difficulties not previously experienced. A common scenario is a single mom working two jobs to protect four kids from hunger and homelessness and averaging only a few hours sleep each night as she obsesses over how to keep the wheels on. Many two-parent families are stressing over job loss and the emotional drain of being around their children 24/7. Children are confused and bewildered by the merry-go-round of school openings and closings. American families are dealing with unprecedented stress.

The Texas Campus Improvement Plan requires every Texas public school to “provide for a program to encourage parental involvement on the campus.”  In today’s family environment, that requirement is more than just a mandate––it’s an obligation for schools to find a program that helps parents to weather the perils of the coronavirus pandemic and to create a sense of emotional stability and joy at home. The Parent Engagement Program (PEP) provides an answer!

An Easy, Two-Step Process for the District

PEP provides an inexpensive way of offering every family in a School District the opportunity to participate in a research-based, award-winning parenting program. A successful implementation is an easy two-step process:

1. The ARKGroup will provide the District with publicity materials, information sheets, and an access code for each school to share with its parents.
2. Parents proceed through the seven award-winning, online lessons at their convenience and at their own pace.

Each lesson has an accompanying quiz, message board, and journal––as well as a state-certified certificate of completion at the end of the course. Parents will have at their fingertips the tools they need in fostering the social and emotional health of their child and ensuring their child’s successful school experience.

Reinforcing Emotional Health at Home

Tragically, many kids who feel emotionally safe at school have those feelings reversed when they return home. COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem, adding unprecedented stress to family relationships. That stress has far-reaching consequences. Emotionally distressed kids do not do well at school.  Nationwide, children are not showing up for classes and are failing their courses. Today, as never before, parents need assistance in helping their children feel emotionally safe and secure. A Harvard study reveals that a child’s best source of resilience when confronting adversity is a relationship with a caring, supportive adult. PEP creates those relationships at home. It produces:

• Positive changes in parenting behaviors,
• Improves parent-child relationships, and
• Encourages parents in promoting their child’s success at school.

Elevated Behavior at School

As parents promote their child’s emotional health at home, the result will be a dramatic improvement in that child’s behavior in the classroom. When parents send emotionally healthy kids to school, the results are:

• better classroom behavior,
• higher test scores,
• less bullying, and
• a lower truancy rate.

One study shows that children with improved social-emotional attitudes recorded an 11 percentile improvement in test scores. Employed as a district-level program, PEP will elevate academic and behavioral success at all campuses.

PEP Success Starts at the Top

It is essential to PEP’s success that summit leadership provide strong “PEP Talks.” Parents will enroll in a school’s parenting program only if the top people at the district and campus level enthusiastically promote the program. When the Parent Engagement Program receives the whole-hearted, on-going support of the District will promote student success.

Remember, strong PEP Talks must start with leadership at the top!