Harold J. Ballard Parent Center :: San Diego Unified School District

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Parent, Community and Student Engagement
Harold J. Ballard Parent Center
Home of San Diego Parent University


•	Overview
•	Programs and Services
•	Related Resources
•	Contact Information

Overview
The Ballard Parent Center provides a variety of services and resources to parents of students from Title I eligible schools, to district staff and to community members and organizations. The Ballard Parent Center is a program of the Parent, Community and Student Engagement division and is funded by Title I dollars.

The Center provides programs that:

•	Help parents become involved in their children's education as academic coaches.
•	Improve child-parent relationships.
•	Provide study aids to help children's learning at home.
•	Offer a variety of resources and classes for parents to increase their ability to support their children's learning.
•	Building staff capacity to work with parents as partners.
•	Provide technical assistance to Title I schools to increase parent involvement at school and at home.

Programs and Services

San Diego Parent University
This program allows parents to select academic classes to help support their children with homework, reading, writing, study skills and math. Classes are also offered in parenting skills, behavioral management and child development. Classes are held Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on a quarterly basis, October through June.

Schedule and Application Form: English

| Spanish

Make-it/Take-it Lab
This program provides parents with a hands-on experience making reading and math games, as well as study aids to help them support their children's learning at home.
Parents and teachers are also invited to drop in during OPEN Lab hours held on Thursday and Friday mornings to make self-directed activities. Free childcare is available from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. during Open Lab. No pre-registration needed.

Title I schools can schedule a tour to the Ballard Parent Center and Open Lab. Parent University will provide free transportation and childcare to schools who recruit a minimum of 20 parent participants. Contact Elneda Shannon to schedule a tour.

Families & Children Learning Together
This program has daily classes where parents and their children (2 to 5 years of age) learn together in a pre-school setting. This program is sponsored by the San Diego Community College District, Centers for Education and Technology and State Prop. 10 grants. Call (619) 388-4950 to enroll. The classes from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays are English only. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are for English learners.

READ/San Diego
This is a free literacy, English as a Second Language and family literacy instruction service provided by the San Diego Public Library for adults 18 years of age and older. It involves one-on-one adult English tutoring, and morning sessions that vary.

The Parent Center Library
The Center has an extensive parent lending library with parenting books, children's books, and videos, as well as computers available so parents can access the Internet.

Training of Trainers
This program provides training classes to community assistants, administrators, teachers, parent leaders and parent volunteer coordinators so they may in turn conduct parent trainings and organize parent involvement activities. Class topics include:

•	Developing Parent Leaders - Build parent leadership and learn to run effective meetings.
•	Setting Up a Parent Center at Your School - Learn the purpose and goals of a Parent Center and how to assess needs, and learn to set up and equip a Parent Center so parents will come.
•	No Child Left Behind (NCLB) - Learn the parent involvement requirements.
•	Effective Parent Recruitment - Learn strategies that work and increase parent attendance.
•	Learn to Conduct Parent Classes at Your School - Receive materials and resources to conduct parent workshops or events at your school that support literacy and parenting skills.
•	Make the Most of Childcare - Receive a manual with preschool activities, ideas for developmental play and how to set up a room for school readiness activities.
•	Benefits of Parent Involvement - Provides an overview of the research on parent involvement, Joyce Epstein's Six Types of Parent Involvement, and the benefits to schools, parents and students.
•	Implementing Action Teams for Partnerships - Using Joyce Epstein's Six Types of Parent Involvement, schools will develop a One-Year Action Plan to increase parent involvement aligned to the goals in the School Plan for Student Achievement.
•	Engaging Parents of Kindergarten Students - Participants will receive materials to conduct homework, literacy and parenting workshops for parents of Kindergarten students.
•	Writing Family Stories - Participants receive curriculum and materials to conduct 4-6 writing workshops for as many as 25 parents.

Related Resources

•	Harold J. Ballard Parent Center Fact Sheet: English \| Spanish
•	Parent University Fact Sheet: English \| Spanish \| Somali \| Vietnamese Cambodian

Contact Information

Harold J. Ballard Parent Center
2375 Congress Street
San Diego, CA 92110

(619) 293-4431 - Phone
(619) 293-4425 - Fax

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Topic/Title	Contact
Harold J. Ballard Parent Center	Elneda Shannon, Coordinator and Supervising Administrative Assistant eshannon@sandi.net (619) 293-4431
San Diego Parent University	Bea Fernandez, Coordinator and Resource Teacher bfernandez@sandi.net (619) 293-4410

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