Giving Compass' Take:

• Five lessons emerged from the Annual New Jersey Parent Summit in which parents learned how to be advocates for their children.

• One theme that emerged was the urgency for parents to run for local political office that will have an impact on education policy. Why would it be beneficial to have parents in elected office? 

• Read about how advocate for a child that has a disability. 

Earlier this month, during the weekend of Aug. 10, more than 200 parents and advocates gathered in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, for the third annual New Jersey Parent Summit. We came from vastly different communities and life experiences, representing all types of public schools. This year, we were thrilled to include parent advocates and community leaders from New Orleans, Memphis, Florida, and Arizona. We each face unique challenges. But in spite of these differences, we share a common mission: to become better advocates for our children.

Here are five takeaways from the Parent Summit that every parent advocate should know:

  1. Meet parents where they are. Not everyone starts at the same place, and a parent advocate’s journey can start anywhere. 
  2.  You need elected allies to be successful, and you need to organize elected officials like you would organize parents. To be successful, parents need to identify issues that elected officials care about and explain to them how those issues relate to the needs of parents.
  3. As parents, we often think our problems are unique. But families all across the country are facing similar challenges. 
  4. Run for something (or join a board). There are so many elected offices that have an impact on our children’s education, and too few parents sitting in those offices.
  5. As parent advocates, we can’t forget to take care of ourselves — and have some fun.

Read the full article about parent advocates for quality education by Tafshier Kim Cosby-Thomas at The 74