The purpose of the Idaho Parents Unlimted “Parent and School Success (PASS)” electronic learning community is two-fold:

1. To provide parents of children with disabilities with access to trainings, resources, and discussion forums for asking questions and receiving answers from a family-friendly expert; and
2. To provide school personnel with access to resources on increasing parent involvement and discussion forums for sharing of ideas and stories about successful parent involvement strategies.

“Decades of research strongly suggest that families have a major influence on their children’s achievement in school and through life. When schools support families to be involved at home and at school, students of all backgrounds achieve at higher levels.” (Anne Henderson & Karen Mapp, 2002, A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement, Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory)

• New Resource link: National Center for Learning Disabilities’ Parent Center - The goal of the Parent Center is to empower, educate and equip parents with the information and tools they need to become effective advocates for their children, both at home and at school.
• New Resource link: Reading Rockets; A Chance to Read - "A chance to Read" highlights new strategies that special education teachers are using to help students find success. This video helps by teaching the tools used in education so parents can ask for more specific goals and assessments when working on their child's IEP.

An Electronic Learning Community (ELC) is an online "space" where groups of professionals and parents can come together to communicate, collaborate, and support each other in the development of shared knowledge and skills.