Victoria Elementary School program helps parents push past language obstacles to stay involved

Victoria Elementary School is working to keep more than just students engaged in the classroom. It’s also pushing to keep parents involved.

Starting March 9, the Costa Mesa school will provide a Parent Institute for Quality Education program, a free nine-week course intended to help parents whose first language is not English understand what classes their children need to take to be eligible for four-year universities, how to create a learning environment at home and how to navigate other educational obstacles.

“We do have parents whose main obstacle is language and level of education,” said Ari Lopez, a staff member of PIQE’s Orange County office in Santa Ana. “We want parents to gain a better understanding of their school community, from knowing how to make an appointment with a counselor to monitoring TV time at home for their children.”

PIQE has delivered parent programs at different school sites for 29 years.

The National City-based organization’s first course operated at Sherman Elementary School in San Diego.

PIQE now serves more than 300 schools in California each year.

According to Victoria Elementary Principal Aaron Peralta, about 40% of the school’s families did not learn English as their first language.

Parent Antonio Gonzalez said he supports the program coming to the school.

“My son falls into the category of an English-language learner [at Victoria],” he said. “I think the program will help families acquire this knowledge, which will help students get into the college culture. Everyone wins.”

At Victoria, PIQE classes will take place every Wednesday evening. The program will accept up to 60 parents.

If Victoria parents do not fill all the seats, the school will open spots to parents of students at TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa, according to Peralta.

“This [program] is one means to get parents involved … specifically parents, who for a number of reasons, have not been active participants in their child’s education,” Peralta said. “The most productivity happens when students, parents and teachers are working to achieve the same goal.”

By the end of the course, parents will attain a certificate from the California State University system, one of the organization’s partners, showing that they completed the program. Their children may include the certificate in their college applications when they are eligible to apply for a four-year university, Lopez said.

A parent certificated from a program at an elementary school may continue to a PIQE program at his or her child’s middle and/or high school.

“In the Anaheim area, I’ve seen parents who graduated two or three years ago when their children were in fifth grade come back to the program when their child went to middle school,” Lopez said. “We want to target those specific times, because each one will present different events in a student’s life.”

Sign-ups for PIQE may be completed at Victoria Elementary School’s front office, 1025 Victoria St.