Grants and Programs
Illinois PIRC
The Illinois Parent Information Resource Center (Illinois PIRC) implements and supports a variety of programs and policies, and provides resources to increase parental involvement, improve student academic achievement, and strengthen partnerships among parents and schools. Illinois PIRC is an initiative of Columbia College Chicago in partnership with the Center for Community Arts Partnerships and The Harris Center for Early Childhood Education.
Illinois PIRC Core Beliefs
- Meaningful partnerships between schools and families benefit student academic achievement and the positive development of communities.
- Parents are a child’s first teacher.
- Schools can be vibrant hubs of learning when the arts are infused into their culture and curriculum.
- Community-based resources and services can help strengthen the relationship between schools and families.
How Illinois PIRC Supports Parental Involvement Strategies Statewide
Specific resources and services are available to educational administrators, school districts, regional offices of education, institutions of higher education, and other key stakeholders in implementing effective parental involvement strategies.
Illinois PIRC offers the following:
- A hotline for questions and requests for information. Illinois PIRC provides parents with information or directs them to an agency or organization that can better support their inquiry.
- Activities designed to share information about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation and parent involvement under Section 1118 and provisions of ESEA.
- Workshops and learning sessions to increase parents’ ability to support their child’s learning, including activities that demonstrate early childhood education strategies inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach.
- Models of community-centered schools, where parents are directly engaged in their child’s education, and strengthen the academic learning during and after school, and building college readiness of participating students
- Technical assistance to develop effective parental involvement policies and strategies.
- A website providing information, additional resources, and references to support parents’ involvement in their child’s learning.
- Information available for dissemination including brochures, posters, and handouts about the NCLB, Strategies for Effective Parent-School partnership, early childhood education strategies, and much more.
Statewide partnerships are critical to the development and sustainability of Illinois PIRC. For more information, to access services, or become a statewide partner, please call 1-877-586-0007 or email pirc@colum.edu.
This publication was produced in whole or in part with funds from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, Parental Information and Resource Center program, under Grant # 84.310A. The content herein does not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education, any other agency of the U.S. government, or any other source.
