Hood River County School District hosts a parent meeting, in Spanish, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 14 at Hood River Middle School.

The event starts in the auditorium and moves to other locations on the campus.

On the agenda is a welcome by Principal Bob Dais and a student-produced video, “Yes, We Can!” — “Si se Puede!”

Also on the agenda is a Bond Levy PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Pat Evenson-Brady, translated by Patricia Cooper.

Parents will proceed to interest sessions to be held in different classrooms and the library:

• Transition to the high school, Lorena Manzo, HRVHS English Language Learners (ELL) educational assistant

• Transition to the middle school, Alison McDonald, HRMS counselor; Susan Henness and Dan Patton, elementary school principals

• Keep your child reading, Paula Lindquist, charter school teacher

• Internet safety, Salvador Rivera, Hood River Police Department

• Health and school achievement, Lorena Sprager, La Clinica del Carino, and Maria Castro, Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital outreach programs manager

• Understanding suspension and expulsion, Bob Dais and Catherine Dalbey, middle school principals

• Talking to the school board, school board members

Also featured will be information tables, refreshments, and door prizes in the school cafeteria.

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Spanish teacher Patricia Cooper passed along the following selected research about parental involvement in schools:

• School age children spend 70 percent of their waking hours (including weekends and holidays) outside of school.

• The earlier in a child’s educational process parent involvement begins, the more powerful the effects.

• The most effective forms of parent involvement are those which engage parents in working directly with their children on learning activities at home.

• Decades of research show that when parents are involved students have higher grades, test scores and graduation rates.

• Family participation in education was twice as predictive of students’ academic success as family socioeconomic status. The more intensely parents are involved, the more beneficial the achievement effects.

• The more parents participate in schooling, in a sustained way, at every level — in advocacy, decision-making and oversight roles, as fund-raisers and boosters, as volunteers and para-professionals, and as home teachers — the better for student achievement.

• When schools encourage children to practice reading at home with parents, the children make significant gains in reading achievement compared to those who only practice at school.

• Parents who read to their children, have books available, take trips, guide TV watching, and provide stimulating experiences contribute to student achievement.

• When parents come to school regularly, it reinforces the view in the child’s mind that school and home are connected and that school is an integral part of the whole family’s life.

• School-initiated activities to help parents change the home environment can have a strong influence on children’s school performance.

• Parents need specific information on how to help and what to do.