About Project Appleseedtm

Top ranked resource for 'parental involvement in public schools' in Google

Our Mission

Project Appleseed provides resources for parents
who want to be engaged in their children's schools and
for schools who seek their involvement.

Our Vision

Project Appleseed is a nonprofit resource, advocate, and voice for families, in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness,
by means of a quality education in America’s public schools.

As a parent it can be a struggle sometimes to figure out how much and how exactly to be involved in a child’s school life and in the community. It is important to have a resource to turn to that is universal to parents across the United States.

Project Appleseed is an outstanding educational resource for families in public education.  Our web-based tools utilize the Six Types of Involvement from Dr. Joyce Epstein’s research to engage with families, schools, and communities for student success and achievement in K-12 education. It has many useful resources for both staff and parents including tips, the Parental Involvement Toolbox, and handouts.

Project Appleseed's Parental Involvement Pledge is a learning compact, providing an opportunity for parents to formalize their commitment to working with their child’s school through a written agreement, which they can complete and take to their parent leader, school secretary, teacher, or principal. The Pledge is based on the Six Types of Parental Involvement developed by Dr. Epstein. This resource also includes an example of a survey of parent volunteer interests. The survey identifies areas in which parents can volunteer in school, outside the classroom, and at home.

Though not yet at the scale of the national civil rights movement, organizers around the nation are currently working in communities to ensure that historically marginalized parents and students can participate in local, state, and national education debates and decisions.  We are guided by the research which has shown that the community organizing approach to school reform has led to successes such as increases in education funding, more equitable distribution of education resources, greater access to college preparatory curriculum, and more effective teacher recruitment and retention in hard-to-staff schools. (Strengths and Challenges of Community Organizing as an Education Reform Strategy: What the Research Says; Prepared by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, Renée, M., and S. McAlister. 2011)

We Engage Families and Communities

Project Appleseed was founded by Kevin Walker in 1993. He serves as the organization's president & national director.  As our first national leader, Mr. Walker worked with the Clinton White House and helped pioneer the original parental involvement provisions in Section 1118 of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1994.

(Pictured, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and  Kevin Walker at the Grantmakers for Education Conference In L.A.)

Project Appleseed has three purposes - improvement in learning, wellness, and school facilities.  We are a catalyst in the implementation of effective, research based, model parent and community involvement programs that increase social capital, improves the lives of families and revitalizes schools and communities across the United States.

Beginning in the early 1990's, our organization was one of the first nonprofits in America to utilize the Internet to build social capital. We engage parent leaders and educators to participate in the improvement of our public schools. We educate Americans on how to take advantage of the uniquely democratic nature of America's schools.

Celebrate Our Signature National Family Events!

History
During the past two decades, Project Appleseed has provided school districts throughout the country with two widely celebrated events – National Parental Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week.  These are the celebrations in which schools recruit, engage and recognize the services of America’s dedicated school volunteers who have offered their time, encouragement, and meaningful contact with students.

• In 1994 we began National Parental Involvement Day to recognize the valuable role parents play in school improvement.

• In 1997 we declared Public School Volunteer Week to thank parents and recognize their involvement.
  

• In 2008 we created National Family Fitness Week to emphasize the importance families play in health and nutrition at home and school.

We Reach:

• Over nine million family members observe our signature events - Public School Volunteer Week & National Parental Involvement Day each year.

• Our events are observed by dozens of state departments of education and at over 18,000 schools in all 50 states each school year. 

• The Parental Involvement Pledge is the most widely used leaning compact in the United States with an esitmated 500,000 in circulation each year.

• Top Rank In Google:

• Project Appleseed is a top ranked resource for 'parental involvement in public schools'.

• Our Six Slices of Parental Involvement is a top ranked image for 'parental involvement'.

• There are currently over 300,000 links to our signature events Public School Volunteer Week & National Parental Involvement Day in the Google search engine. 

• Our newsletter Appleseeed Today reaches nearly 30,000 superintendents, nonprofit leaders, legislators and teacher leadership in 42 states covering 85% of school districts in the United States.

• Over 67% of our vistors are women between the ages of 25-54.

1. Increasing student achievement by mobilizing parent, family and community volunteers inside and outside schools.  The core of Project Appleseed's national award winning work to build social capital is our learning compact called the Parental Involvement Pledge. Based on the words of President Woodrow Wilson, the Parental Involvement Pledge is the most widely distributed compact in the United States. By signing the Pledge, parents agree to "take personal responsibility" for their children's education by promising to help their children with homework fifteen minutes each school night and to volunteer at their local school at least five hours each semester. Project Appleseed recruits and organizes parent help and support in local schools and school districts by providing schools with Project Appleseed's Parental Involvement Toolbox through this web site. Schools and organizations can order a complete plan, the Parental Involvement Toolbox, for mobilizing parents to volunteer in schools. Included in the toolbox is the Parental Involvement Pledge, Parental Involvement Report Card, a ten-step recruitment plan, parent organizing software and more! 

The Six Slices of Parent Involvement were adopted by Project Appleseed in 1996 from the framework developed by Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, director of the Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children's Learning at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.  The Center's mission is research, evaluation, policy analysis and dissemination in order to produce new and useful knowledge about how families, schools, and communities influence student motivation, learning, and development.  Project Appleseed is forever grateful to Dr. Epstein and the Center, for their contribution in establishing the Six Types of Parental Involvement as national standards. 

2. Strengthening fitness & nutrition by supporting family participation in physical activities and healthy eating.  Join parents, grandparents & caring adults who have pledged to support their children's participation in physical activities and healthy eating, to be active role models, and to include healthy eating and physical activity in family events. Take the Fitness & Nutrition Parental Involvement Pledge! In the fight against childhood obesity, parental involvement has received a good deal of attention because of its potential to influence a large number of school-aged children and their families. A new federal mandate went into affect in 2007 that requires school districts throughout the United States to reach out to parents and implement local wellness policies to improve the eating and physical habits of students. This mandate represents a unique way in which parents can work closely with local school administrators, parents, students, staff, fitness & allied health professionals to create and implement wellness policies in schools.

3. Enhancing the learning environment by utilizing alumni and community giving – as universities do - to finance the rebuilding public schools as green schools. Charitable giving in the United States hit a record $306 billion even as Americans began feeling the pinch of soaring gas prices, falling stock markets and a looming mortgage crisis, they donated $306.39 billion to charity in 2008, more than ever before.  Public and private education, ranks second only to religious organizations as a recipient of grants and gifts.

As public school districts deal with more and more budget shortfalls, organized parents, community members and educators are turning to alumni philanthropy to finance school construction and staff augmentation-just as America's public universities have done for more than a century. Alumni gifts can generate billions of dollars to renovate and re-build America's schools - green. Green schools cost less to operate, freeing up resources to truly improve students’ education.

Green schools have carefully planned acoustics and abundant daylight that make it easier and more comfortable for students to learn. Their clean indoor air cuts down sick days and gives our children a head start for a healthy, prosperous future. And their innovative design provides a wealth of hands-on learning opportunities.

Primary Program Activity - www.projectappleseed.org/capitalcampaign.html