ASPIRC News

PARENT COMPUTER CLASSES FOR JUNE: REGISTER NOW!

2011-05-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

ASPIRC is now registering parents who want to participate in its computer classes in June. You can now register for these classes at ASPIRC’s school-based centers in Alofau Elem, Fagaitua HS, Tafuna Elem, Pavaiai Elem as well as its Failolo Methodist Church parent center. Seats are limited and so we encourage you to visit the above-mentioned ASPIRC centers immediately for a spot on June’s class lists. The two classes offered are Computer 1, Introductory to Computers, and Computer 2, which teaches Excel, internet advance, i-movie, etc. Classes will start on June 13^th and will run through for 4 weeks, culminating with a certificate presentation and closing activity, where all participants will enjoy and have fun together with ASPIRC board & staff members as well as school & PTA officers.

WORKSHOP ON TEACHING THE YOUNGEST DEAF, HARD OF HEARING AND DEAF-BLIND CHILDREN

2011-05-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

Nancy Rushner and Helping Hands Partners during her Training

This week, Nancy Rushner, M.A., CED, an Early Childhood Education specialist on Deaf & Hard of Hearing program from the University of Hawaii is on island to conduct workshops for American Samoa’s service providers, as part of the Early Hearing Detection & Intervention project. Moe Masoe and Nometa Sene-Moleni of ASPIRC were fortunate to be invited by its close partner, Helping Hands, to this important training today at Helping Hands conference room from 9am to 10:45am.

Nancy pointed out that by starting early, parents can teach their baby to communicate and have them ready for ECE. She also stressed that teaching young children who are deaf, deaf-blind, or hard of hearing infants is a family affair.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! SEEK LEARNING!

2011-04-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Alofau Elementary School Parents Computer Class Class

Fagaitua High School Parents Computer Class

Pavaiai Elementary School Parent Computer Class

PiCED - Parents Computer Class

Tafuna Elementary School Parents Computer Class

As ASPIRC closes another 4-weeks of parent computer trainings that were offered in April, participating parents were encouraged to continue to seek learning, at Certificate Presentations & Closing activities held the past three days. School administrators and ASPIRC’s program manager, Moe Masoe, stressed to parents the importance of using the knowledge they now possess to help their young children succeed in school and life. Most of these parents proudly shared their final projects with ASPIRC central office staff through email. These projects include excel spreadsheets displaying gain & loss data, powerpoint, i-movie, etc. etc. As usual, parents received their certificate of completion or participation at closing ceremonies held at each of the following locations: Alofau Elem, Fagaitua HS, Tafuna Elem, Pavaiai Elem, and its Central office at PiCED, Nuuuli.

The next parent computer training offered by ASPIRC will be in June for all locations. Registration starts on Monday, May 16th, with classes scheduled to start June 13th.

Visit of Assistant Secretary of OIA at Department of Interior to PiCED

2011-04-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

PiCED Staff, PiCED Executive Director Sandra King-Young, Tony Babauta, & Nick Pula.

Today, Tuesday, April 19th, Assistant Secretary of Insular Affairs at U.S Department of Interior, Tony Babauta, and Director, Nick Pula, visited PiCED before returning to the States after participating in American Samoa's 111th Flag Day celebrations. It was an honor for PiCED's Founder and Executive Director, Mrs. Sandra King-Young & her staff to have Mr. Babauta visit PiCED before he returns to D.C. on Thursday. It was also a wonderful opportunity for the Assistant Secretary to see and learn about what services & programs PiCED offers the people of American Samoa.

We appreciate the great assistance of Mrs. Lydia Faleafine Nomura in arranging Mr. Babauta's visit to our office.

April Computer Classes

2011-04-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

Parents Computer classes for April started on Monday, April 4th, and will end on Thursday, April 28th. Close to 100 parents enrolled at 6 ASPIRC locations, namely; Alofau Elem, Fagaitua HS, Tafuna Elem, Pavaiai Elem, Manu'a HS, and Fa'ilolo Methodist.

As it is required, newly enrolled parents went through ASPIRC's 21st Century Parenting for the Pacific Island Child (21st CPPIC) parent training, before participation in ASPIRC's computer classes. These trainings were held on Friday, April 1st, at PiCED's main office in Nu'uuli, and Tuesday, April 5th, over at Manu'a HS Parent Center.

Please, note that the next computer classes will be offered in June, with registrations starting on May 16th. We invite all interested parents to come and join the fun, and learn a new skill to enhance your capabilities and improve your parenting job. We support you as the first and most influential teacher of your child.

ASPIRC Closes 3rd Annual Parent Involvement in Education Month - 2011

2011-03-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

Kanana Fou Pre-School & Elementary

ASPIRC spent the month of February honoring the relationships between schools and families in the interest of increasing student achievement. Throughout the month, ASPIRC and its partners in the school system and community administered a series of activities geared towards promoting parent involvement in education.

Leone Midkiff Elementary

On Friday, March 4th, ASPIRC concluded its 3rd Annual Parent Involvement in Education Month with award presentations at the follwing schools, which won this year's PTA project & Family-friendly school competitions: Pavaiai Elem, Leone Midkiff, Iakina Academy, and Kanana Fou Pre-School & Elementary.

Iakina Academy

In Friday's award presentations, Pavaiai Elementary was again recognized as the most Family-friendly school in American Samoa in the Large Schools category, while Leone Midkiff took second place. In the Small School category, Kanana Fou elementary came out as the most family-friendly school for this year's competition. These were the only schools who participated, and ASPIRC appreciates the effort made by both school administration and parents.

Pavaiai Elementary School

For the PTA Project competition, Pavaiai Elem PTA again won this year's competition while Iakina Academy's Home and School Association (HASA) came second. According to Mr. Muasau, Iakina's PTA president; "We appreciate PiCED/ASPIRC for initiating this PTA competition, which caused us to focus our efforts on making improvements to the school library to support one of our school's main objectives this year of strengthening the reading abilities of students. This year's event has been a big sucess in many ways.

Pavaiai Elementary School

Our main event for this year's PIEM was the Parent Empowerment Summit held on February 16th, at the Lee's Auditorium. The feedback from those that attended, as well as those who watched the special showing on KVZK TV later, has been very positive. ASPIRC regonizes that the success of Parent Involvement in Education Month this year would not have been possible without the support of parents, principals, teachers, PTAs, and many other community partners.

American Samoa Parent Empowerment Summit

2011-02-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

PiCED Staff and PiCED Executive Director Sandra King-Young

The second annual American Samoa Parent Empowerment Summit was held at the Lee’s Auditorium in Utulei on Wednesday, Feb 16^th, 2011. The Summit attracted parents, grandparents, teachers, and administrators, who joined together for a half-day session on the theme; “I’m a Parent, I’m the First Teacher”. Speakers included Honorable Vaamua Henry Sesepara of the American Samoa House of Representatives, who is also the territorial PTA president, Dr. Taeaoafua Meki Solomona, the public relations manager of Star Kist Samoa, and founder and executive director of PiCED, Mrs. Sandra King-Young. All those that were in attendance, left that day feeling inspired to do more to help their children be successful in school and life.

During a roundtable activity at the Summit titled “Three Great Ideas”, participants had an opportunity to discuss responses to the three given questions: 1) What can my child’s school do to help me be a more involved parent? 2) What can my child’s school PTA do to help me be more involved? 3) What am I willing to do, as a parent, to be more involved in my child’s school?, and decide on one great idea to share with the big group. ASPIRC staff is compiling the information from this group activity to present to ASDOE, as one of the outcomes from the summit, to help with future planning.

ASPIRC acknowledges the generous donation of $500 towards the venue usage fee from the Department of Youth & Women’s Affairs of government, which enabled the summit to be held at a more central location, the Lee’s Auditorium in Utulei. Also, to support the summit’s raffle were donations from the following businesses; Forsgren Laufou, Nuuuli Service Station, Star Kist Samoa, Interisland Vacations Airways, Cherries Hair Salon, Computer World, Panamex Pacific, Wallace Theater, and Tradewinds hotel.

For more information about ASPIRC, contact us at (684) 699-6074/6094/6095.

ASPIRC is a project of PiCED, a non-profit organization, and is funded by a grant from the U.S Department of Education.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN AMERICAN SAMOA - PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION MONTH

2010-12-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

"Parents are the First Teachers"

The American Samoa Parental Information & Resource Center (ASPIRC), a project of Pacific Islands Center for Educational Development (PiCED), is pleased to announce that February, 2011, is again designated as the Parent Involvement Month for American Samoa. ASPIRC plans to officially launch the Parent Involvement Month at a ceremony that will be held at Lee Auditorium, Utulei on Monday, January 31st @ 8am - 12:30pm. Parents and educators are invited to attend this wonderful event, and receive free resources to raise awareness and remind us that parents play a critical role in the lives of children and their education.

All inforamtion you need is right here to start celebrating Parent Involvement Month 2011!

SBA (Standardized Based Assessment Testing) Workshop

2010-11-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

Isadora Manaea conducted SBA for Pavaiai Parents

The standardized testing workshop is offered at ASPIRC's school-based centers. This workshop started on the second week of September 2010. The main objective of this workshop is to help parents work together with their children at home in completing homework, making sure that the child understands instructions, be familiar with the kinds of questions used in the test, and so forth. A total of 62 parents are currently participating in these workshops at our school-based centers. These workshops will end in March of 2011 as we draw near to testing dates.

Parent Computer Classes

2010-11-22T19:22:00.000-08:00

Parent computer classes started on October 25th, 2010, and were scheduled to end on November 18th, 2010. Due to unforeseeable circumstances to the parent centers in Tafuna Elementary School and Matafao Elementary School, and two holidays this month, they have been extended for another two weeks. Certificate presentations and closing activities for clases held at our school-based parent centers will be on December 2nd, while the Central office classes will have theirs on December 3rd. It is always encouraging to see the excitement and joy in parents' faces, as they receive their certificates of completion or participation, during these closing events. A total of 100 parents participated in this month's classes at the following locations: Pavaia'i Elementary, Tafuna Elementary, Fagaitua HS, and PiCED's main office in Nu'uuli. Parents who registered for Computer 1 & 2 classes at Matafao Elementary now attend a morning class at PiCED's main office. Our next parent computer classes will start in late January, 2011, with registration starting right on January 3rd. Our registration is based on a first come first served basis.

Matafao Parent Center

2010-11-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

In late October, ASPIRC agreed to vacate the room that was used for the Parent Center at Matafao Elementary school, so that a Level 5 class at the school that desperately needed a classroom could have a place for daily instructions. This is due to a construction project of ASDOE, which is now underway to build a new classroom building for the school. This brings down the number of ASPIRC's school and church-based parent centers down to seven. ASPIRC will continue to assist the principal, faculty, and students at Matafao Elementary in promoting parental involvement, so students received the necessary help they need to achieve.

Parents As Teachers (PAT):

2010-11-16T20:53:00.001-08:00

In October, Moe Masoe, ASPIRC's program manager & certified parents educator started his personal visits with approximately 30 parents enrolled in this Early Childhood Parent Education program. Parents were selected by ASPIRC's school and church-based parent center and coordinators at 5 locations; Failolo, Pavaiai, Tafuna, Matafao, and Alofau, based on their interest and participation in other ASPIRC activities. Only parents of children ages 0-5yrs can participate in the PAT program. The current group will participate in 1) personal visits, 2) group meetings, 3) health & developmental screenings, 4) resource networking, for a period of 10 months. The main goal of the program is to train parents to be the most influential person in their child's early development, by ensuring that they receive positive experiences in the home.

Parents Computer Training

2010-09-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

The American Samoa PIRC has just completed another 4 weeks of computer training for parents of the territory this past week. Over 80 parents participated in Computer 1 & 2 classes that were offered at ASPIRC’s parent centers in Tafuna Elem, Pavaiai Elem, Matafao Elem, Fagaitua HS, & Manu’a HS. Another 20 parents attended classes at ASPIRC’s Central Office in Nuuuli. At the Certificate Presentation ceremonies held at each of the above-mentioned locations, some of the ASPIRC Board members spoke highly of the need for parents to be trained on the use of modern technology if they want to be effective in their roles as great mentors for their children. Most of the parents received Certificates of Completion, while the few who did not meet the attendance requirement of 75% received participation certificates. It was great to see parents feel empowered because of the acquisition of this new skill. Registration for the next parent computer class offering starts on Monday, October 4th, 2010. Class sessions start on October 25th and will end on November 18th.

Failolo Parent Center Opening

2010-08-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 ASPIRC opened its second parent center, set up in a Church setting, at Failolo Methodist Church in the western district. This brings the total of ASPIRC’s school-based and church-based centers to 8, with its 9th one destroyed in last year’s tsunami, at Taputapu Elementary. Already, this parent center is becoming popular to both students and parents with its opening hours going from 4-8pm. There is a parent computer class still in session at the moment, which will complete on Sept 23rd. Six parents participate in this class, and are very excited about the opportunity to learn a new skill, so they can assist their children & grandchildren with schoolwork.