About the “I Care” Parent Engagement Curriculum
“I Care” Products & Services is the sole supplier of the “I Care” Positive Parenting Character Curriculum and the On-Line “I Care” Parental Involvement Data Collection and Evaluation Service. The “I Care” Curriculum goals are the same today as they were in 1996 (16 years ago) when the first “I Care” Curriculum was developed and implemented. And that is to provide educators with engaging and meaningful ways to:
Increase positive parent-child interactions at home.
The “I Care” Curriculum continues to evolve. New components are added based on feedback from parents, teachers, and community partners. The good news is that “I Care” has grown to new levels. Today, over 100,000 classrooms have successfully implemented the “I Care” Curriculum from grades Pre-K through 12.
Elbert Solomon, the developer of “I Care,” started out as a high school math teacher before transitioning to Chemical Engineering and corporate business. There he first used Total Quality Management (TQM) principles originated by William Deming, who literally revolutionized the Japanese economy by applying the principles of TQM. During his years as a teacher, Mr. Solomon encountered many children who were not meeting their potential. As he dialogued about this with his wife—a former elementary school teacher and administrator—as well as with other friends and colleagues, one issue emerged: lack of parental involvement. Try as he might, he could find no one to define parental involvement in measurable terms. Instead, it was always “good” or “not good enough.”
After extensive research and input from parents, educators, and community partners, the “I Care” Positive Parenting Character Curriculum came into being—enabling families, schools, and communities to simultaneously teach, reinforce, and model good character. The “I Care” Curriculum allows you to:
- Get busy parents involved with their children at home.
- Simplify the teaching of character at school.
- Involve the community in the teaching of character.
- Measure and document outcomes.
The “I Care” Positive Parenting Character Curriculum defines parental involvement as being “the frequency of positive interactions between a parent (or caring adult) and the child at home.” The training of teachers and parents supports a classroom-to-home-and-back process to increase and document the frequency of positive interactions. “I Care’s” unique On-Line Data Collection & Evaluation System tracks the positive parent-child interactions at home. Explore our Web site and contact us to learn how your school can now teach character as you increase and report parental involvement results for your school.
