DC PIRC Project Evaluation Plan

Now in its third year, the DC PIRC has made strides toward its goal of reaching 25,000 District of Columbia residents about the critical importance of parental involvement. During program year 2007-2008 alone, the DC PIRC's outreach efforts reached 4,394 parents, 900 of whom were involved in the Organization's programming and 83 of which took a nine-session Parents as Partners (PAP) class on parental involvement. A key focus on the DC PIRC is on reaching low income and immigrant families, as well as the scope of Washington, DC's diverse population. During the 2007-2008 program year, the DC PIRC reached and served 1,376 Hispanic families, 2,935 African American families and 17 Asian families. Following are some outcomes by program component:

Parents as Partners (PAP): MCS and the DC PIRC have conducted over 1000 PAP sessions in which 304 parents from Wards 1, 7 and 8 have participated.
District of Columbia Parent Education Expo (DC FEE): The DC FEE, held on September 13, 2008 featured 54 workshops, 65 exhibit hall vendors representing afterschool programs, adult education programs and health and nutrition programs. Five hundred families attended the event and during the conference 600 free books were distributed to attendees.
MCS Website (mcsdc.org): Since its launching in August 2008, the website has received over 600 unique visitors per month and over 1,000 visits.

The DC PIRC is part of a national network of 60 statewide PIRCs across the United States that are federally funded under Title V of No Child Left Behind. PIRC centers throughout the US work hand-in-hand with State and Federal programs to provide information and resources on early childhood through high school parent involvement. The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) is the national evaluation entity of the PIRC's throughout the US and has been dedicated to improving teaching and learning. SEDL's Department of Research and Evaluation uses findings to help improve education outcomes for schools, teachers, families, and children.

For SEDL's recent research on parent involvement see "Afterschool, Family, and Community: Increasing Student Success Beyond the School Day."