This new, combined DVD package brings you two programs, Parent Leadership and In and Out of School, to help foster family involvement and parent leadership in your school.

Parent Leadership gives you a close-up look at a series of parent leadership workshops and schoolwide family involvement projects involving Milwaukee elementary and middle school parent-teacher leadership teams. Illustrating workshops described in James Vopat's More Than Bake Sales, this program captures the essence of parent leadership training in which leadership is accomplished by doing rather than talking about doing. Featured workshops cover:

what is parent involvement?;barriers to parent involvement;keys to leadership;three complete community-building activities;taking parent involvement projects from plans to reality;celebration through publication.The video documents the dynamic interactions possible when teachers and parents work together to support children's learning in and out of the classroom. If you are looking for ways to build parent leadership in your classroom, school, or district, the videotape's numerous creative strategies for achieving this leadership will be particularly helpful. In addition, Parent Leadership: "It Doesn't Happen Just Because You Say So" will inspire you with the energy, commitment, and good humor of the parent and teacher participants and renew your sense of family involvement possibilities.

The Parent Project adventure continues in the two practical and motivational projects included in In and Out of School. The first project, 2 + 2 Is More Than 4 documents a series of workshops, celebrations,and presentations in which Milwaukee parents become better acquainted with math standards as they learn how to support their children's math literacy at home. A highlight of this project is a community-wide Math Carnival in which hundreds of families discover that solving everyday math problems can be fun. In the second project, parents take a journey Into the Wild of Chicago's urban natural world-from the muddy banks of the Chicago River to the school garden compost heap. As they observe, question, sketch, write, and share, these Chicago parents become guides and teachers, transforming traditional classroom science instruction into an inspiring community building experience. Both video projects demonstrate how much can be gained when parents become partners in their children's learning.

About the Authors
Pete Leki is coordinator of the Parent Project at the Center for City Schools, National-Louis University, in Chicago.

Jim's been teaching teachers in unusual settings for thirty years. As founding director of the Milwaukee Writing Project, he works directly with teachers and schools. Through the Parent Project, he directs parent-teacher leadership projects in Milwaukee.