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“I have really enjoyed PPS's training and what I have learned I can apply to my job. It helps me understand how to work effectively with parents. ”
-PPS PEP Graduate
Joann Mickens
In Joann's notes

Parent Involvement vs. Parent Engagement: Is there a Difference?

When it comes to a child’s education, there is often talk of the importance of parental involvement or engagement. While the terms may seem interchangeable, there are actually important differences between the two concepts. Parent Involvement Parental involvement refers to actions or activities that parents do to support their child's learning, such as attending parent-teacher conferences or volunteering at school events. It is often seen as a more passive role, where parents are involved in their child's education but may not be actively seeking to improve it beyond these traditional activities. Parent Engagement Parental engagement, on the other hand, goes...
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In Joann's notes

Culturally Responsive Teaching Can Improve Student Academic Outcomes

It can be said with assurance that COVID-19 and the resulting removal of students from school buildings, has changed the way classrooms work and has left schools, districts, and teachers searching for ways to motivate and engage students now that they are back at school. Because of the learning loss students experienced as a result of the pandemic, schools and parents are finding it challenging to figure out ways to best manage both student resilience and learning. Many school districts have been able to access funds and resources to help address the issue while parents have become more concerned about...
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In Public School Proud

Why We Chose the Public School Path: A Family’s Experience

This blog was written by Becky Glover, PPS Policy Analyst. Recently, we’ve seen state legislators, congressional officials, and others celebrating and promoting the privatization of public schools, which they call ‘school choice.’ Well, I’m here to tell folks some of the many reasons why our family chooses public schools. I support public schools because I grew up in a community with a strong, high-quality public school district that not only provided me with a great education but also learning opportunities not offered anywhere else. For instance, my public high school in Mississippi offered an elective class called Medical Careers. Taking...
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In Press Release

Amerigroup Provides Additional Sponsorship to PPS

Share Tweet Share (JACKSON, MS, February 3, 2023) Parents for Public Schools® was recently awarded a sponsorship from Amerigroup, a trusted health insurance provider that offers Medicare and Medicaid coverage. The $25,000 sponsorship will allow PPS to partner with public schools throughout Mississippi to improve health outcomes for students.  Due to this funding, PPS will develop a workshop focusing on the connection between healthy students and academic outcomes. Of this sponsorship, PPS National Executive Director, Joann Mickens, stated, “We are truly appreciative of the support we continue to receive from Amerigroup, a valued partner that has sponsored our work in...
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In Publications

Impact Report 2021 – 22

A message to our supporters The 2022-23 PPS Impact Report celebrates PPS’s continued commitment to advancing the role of families and communities in securing a high-quality public education for every child.  PPS chapters have done amazing work over the past year to support our mission. Through their hard work and dedication,  PPS continues  to have a powerful impact on our public schools and the communities where they are located. We look forward to the next thirty years of working to ensure that equitable and excellent public schools are available to every child.
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In Press Release

PPS Acquires New Director of Chapter Services

Share Tweet Share (JACKSON, MS, January 25, 2022) Parents for Public Schools® (PPS) has officially announced Kylene Dibble as its new Director of Chapter Services. Having served as the Executive Director of Parents for Public Schools of Pitt County for more than 7 years, Kylene’s knowledge of public schools and connection to PPS will serve her greatly as a member of the National Office Staff. As the Director of Chapter Services, Kylene will be responsible for providing support and assistance to PPS chapters. She will also assist in managing the process of chapter creation and development. Additionally, she will work...
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In Joann's notes

School Board Elections – The Epicenter for Political Control 

School board meetings and school board elections are becoming frontline battlefields for the nation’s political division. School board decisions directly impact three of our most precious resources – our children, our public schools, and our money. School boards not only determine policy, they are also the community’s educational watchdog and, in rural districts, they may be overseers of the largest employer in the area. To a considerable extent, school boards also determine the level of difficulty for parents and citizens to navigate their local public school system and find a seat at the decision-making table, itself. This is where politicization...
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In Press Release

Hearing Update: Judge Rules Use of Public Funds for Private Schools is Unconstitutional

Share Tweet Share (JACKSON, MS October 13, 2022) On Thursday, Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin ruled that a recent law which would allocate $10 million of federal pandemic relief money to infrastructure grants for private schools is unconstitutional. This ruling by Judge Martin is a major victory for Parents for Public Schools, a national organization based in Mississippi with chapters in several states. Parents for Public Schools (PPS), represented by The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)-Mississippi, Democracy Forward, and the Mississippi Center for Justice, filed a complaint in June petitioning the court to prevent the State from...
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In Joann's notes

When Schools Are Underfunded, Children Suffer

A lack of equitably funded public schools is creating huge barriers for many of our nation’s students. Inequitable funding is creating huge barriers for many of our nation’s public school students. According to The Century Foundation, we are underfunding our, “K-12 public schools by nearly $150 billion annually, robbing more than 30 million school children of the resources they need to succeed in the classroom.”  The schools that are being robbed of much needed funding are most often those where Black and Latinx students make up most of the student body. Funding formulas directly impact the support for public schools. For...
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In National Statement

Supreme Court of the United States’ decision, Carson v. Makin

Parents for Public Schools, Inc. (PPS) believes that the recent Supreme Court decision in Carson v. Makin to give public funds to private religious schools doesn’t just crack the constitutional wall separating church and state, it punches a hole through which untold amounts of public tax dollars may flow drastically changing public education in America as we know it.   In addition to being unconstitutional, the Supreme Court’s decision rewards poor state leadership and fails to hold the state accountable for its constitutional duty to provide public education to all school-age children in the state.   If Chief Justice John Roberts could make recommendations...
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