Grooming Parents to Take the Lead

A program in Kentucky recruits and trains parents committed to leading projects in their schools and communities, equipping them with the tools they'll need to help boost student achievement. The Governor's Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership wrapped up the last of its six-day training camps in November, in Louisville. The training program is modeled after the successful parent-leadership institute created by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a Kentucky nonprofit dedicated to improving education. The next step is for the fired-up trainees to take their newly minted skills back to their home schools—and, in the words of one local official, "go viral" with what they've learned.