Parent Workshop Focuses on Helping Children Succeed in School

A parent involvement workshop centered around teaching parents how to become better involved in their child's education and better support their children will take place Wednesday evening at Chesak Elementary School, 10910 Reed Road in Lake in the Hills. 

The workshop will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, and will feature guest speaker Lourdes Ferrer, a Hispanic academic achievement specialist in Hispanic parental involvement program development, motivational speaking, and school district academic achievement data research and analysis, according to the District 158 press release.

The workshop is free and open to the public and refreshments and child care will be provided. 

Lourdes grew up in a disadvantaged family in Puerto Rico and quickly learned that education was the way out of the poverty cycle, according to the news release. 

After completing her undergraduate degree in mathematics, she left Puerto Rico in 1979 to become involved in community development work in Guatemala. While there, she established and directed schools, an orphanage, feeding centers, and clinics.

Lourdes’ community education work included educational radio programs and parent involvement which eventually led her to choose Research, Evaluation, and Measurement as the focus of her Master’s degree.

After moving to the United States in 1990, Lourdes was faced with overcoming enormous financial, linguistic, and cultural barriers in order to pursue her dream. Today, Lourdes is an Assessment Specialist who provides consulting services, staff development opportunities, and motivational speaking.