Workshops help a mother teach her children

Seven-year-old Whitney Montoya loves the “Junie B. Jones” series of books for children, and she especially loves the way her mother reads them to her, dramatically voicing the role of Junie, the sassy first-grader who experiences one humorous misadventure after another.

For Whitney’s mom, Sandra Montoya, the bedtime reading sessions provide mother and daughter with valuable one-on-one time and they help Whitney learn to appreciate books, stories and words.

Since her husband died four years ago, Montoya has poured her energy into her three daughters, who range in age from 16 to 7. When she heard about the Parents as Tutors Program at Sara Coughlin Elementary School last year, she jumped at the chance to become more involved to help ensure a bright academic future for her youngest child.

An enthusiastic participant in the program since that time, Montoya said she has picked up valuable skills about preparing Whitney to be successful in school.

“At home, I’m always reading with my daughter,” Montoya said. “She got 94% in reading last year! She had very, very good grades last year. She loves the way I read the book for her.”

English is Montoya’s second language, and she speaks both English and Spanish to her daughters in their Pacoima home.

In program workshops, Montoya said she learned “how to see different ideas and say it in different ways.” She found new ways to explain concepts to Whitney in math, science, reading and other subjects.

“Sometimes you don’t know how to explain the idea and give an important message,” Montoya said. “It may be very important, but sometimes it’s very hard to say it.”

In workshops, the parents are exposed to “thinking maps,” a visual learning tool that their children are taught that helps them develop better writing skills and problem-solving approaches.

Montoya, an unemployed cosmetologist, volunteers every day at Coughlin Elementary in Pacoima, where Whitney is a first-grader. Montoya said helping at the school is her way of ensuring her daughter’s academic success.

“I want her to be somebody in life,” Montoya said.

The Parents As Tutors Program is part of Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) Los Angeles, founded in 1999 to significantly increase the number of urban, low-income students who attend college. Project GRAD works closely with the Los Angeles Unified School District, operating in 13 of the traditionally lowest-achieving elementary schools in the northeast San Fernando Valley, which encompasses Arleta, Pacoima, San Fernando and Sylmar, and serves more than 20,000 students and families. The schools send notices home to alert parents to the workshops.

This year, about 1,500 parents attended the workshops, which are offered in both English and Spanish and are held in the early morning and at night to accommodate working parents, said Ashley De Lucca, vice president of development and communication for Project GRAD.

Specially trained staff members teach comprehension skills and strategies to the parents, and make them aware of college and community resources available to them. The staffers also explain to parents what their children are expected to master at each grade level.

Parents As Tutors is funded entirely by private donations. The Times Holiday Campaign has contributed $20,000 this year.

The overall goal of Project GRAD is to have at least 80% of its students graduate from high school and 50% of the graduates enter college.

Project GRAD schools are 94.6% Latino, and 60% of the students are English-language learners. More than 55% of students at San Fernando High School, the school many of the Parents As Tutors elementary schools feed to, drop out before their senior year, De Lucca said.

Of those who stay and graduate, only 17% of the senior class enrolls in California public colleges.

Montoya hopes her children, Julie, 16, Bridgett, 12, and Whitney will beat those odds. And she is grateful that Parents As Tutors is there to help.

“I want her to be whatever she wants to be,” Montoya said of Whitney. “She’s going to choose, I don’t know what she will chose in life. But I want her to have good opportunities and make good decisions.”

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amanda.covarrubias@latimes.com

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