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John Nelson Parent Involvement Matters Award

John Nelson Parent Involvement Matters Award (PIMA)

MELLFIN John Nelson Parent Involvement Matters Award (PIMA) is an annual award for an immigrant parent whose exemplary contributions to Maryland public schools have led to improvements for Maryland public school children, schools, and districts.

Meeting

The Award

Nominees must demonstrate involvement in one or more of five core areas from Maryland’s PreK-12 Family Engagement Framework:

Welcoming all Families

  • Creating an environment where all stakeholders—parents, students, and school staff—feel valued and connected
  • Identifying and removing barriers
  • Cultivating a positive climate

Encouraging partnerships among schools, families, and communities

  • Creating opportunities for engaging families and communities
  • Connecting students, families, and staff to expand learning opportunities and community services while working collaboratively with schools and community members

Supporting student learning and success

  • Ensuring all families have opportunities to advocate for their own and other children
  • Engaging community support

Building capacity among school stakeholders

  • Providing training and resources to school staff and families to ensure instructional equity
  • Enlist parents and parent organizations to recruit other parents to be involved in their children’s education

Promoting effective school-family communication

  • Encouraging regular and meaningful two-way communication
  • Identifying and removing barriers for family engagement
  • Supporting targeted outreach efforts

Eligibility

To be considered for the PIMA award, nominees must:

  1. Be an immigrant parent
  2. Have a child in a Maryland public school
  3. Not be an employee of any Maryland public school system or the Maryland State Department of Education

Criteria

To qualify for the award, nominees must be a consistent advocate of public education and have had a significant, positive impact with their creativity, innovation, and/or commitment at the school, district, or state level in one or more of the five above areas.

Past Recipients

Past recipients are currently unavailable.