Following 20 years working in education, John Adams Middle School (JAMS) Assistant Principal Joseph Eure is now channeling the insight he has gained throughout his career into a book series for parents to help them better support their children’s learning.
The series, titled Courage to Change, is an initiative of Sudden Impact, a non-profit organization founded by Eure along with partners Melvyn Miller and Leo Posada, with the goal of giving parents the tools and knowledge they need to be effective advocates for their kids.
"What we offer through the series are specific things that parents can ask for, specific wording, specific strategies that they can ask teachers and school administrators to implement to help support their children’s education," he said. "One of our mottos is, an informed parent is an empowered parent."
Eure said the books are just one avenue through which he and his partners hope to achieve their goal. The group has also been conducting workshops for parents at local schools.
"It’s not just about the book…" he said. "The information in the book is powerful, but through the workshops we want to show parents how to use the book," he said.
One such workshop took place last week in the JAMS library during a meeting of English Language Advisory Committee parents. Eure and Posada presented an overview of the books’ contents, ran the parents through various scenarios they may encounter with their children and discussed how to best handle them.
"Some areas that we specifically address are students struggling with reading, struggling with attention and focusing issues, concentration, work completion, low test scores, low grades, confidence, motivation and attendance – those are all issues that come up frequently," Eure said.
Eure is thrilled that the response to the organization’s work and the series so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
"They truly, truly appreciate the information and what the information can do to help support their children to be successful in school," he said.
Sudden Impact has plans to publish several more books in coming months including one specifically focused on college preparation and another on social emotional learning. There are two already out, The Parents’ Playbook and The Parents’ Road Map, which are directed at student athletes and English language learners. The books are all available in Spanish as well as English.
Eure said they are working on raising money to continue adding to the series and to be able to share their work at professional conventions and conferences. This past week, Eure and Posada had an exhibition table for Sudden Impact at the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) conference and he said they hope to be able to attend the California State PTA Convention in Sacramento this April.
In his experience, Eure said he has never met a parent who did not want to support their child, however he has encountered many who are unsure how. He hopes the books and the organization's other work contribute to changing this.
For more information about Sudden Impact and how to purchase the books visit: https://suddenmpact.org/
