School Based Parenting Education

  • Date: June 1 - August 9, 2023 (flexible)
  • Location: CCE Ontario County
  • Summer Intern: Andrea Galvan
  • Faculty sponsor: Kimberly Kopko, Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR)
  • Campus-based mentor/supervisor:  Julia Chapman
  • Field-based mentors/supervisors: Tim Davis, Anne Lahr and Sue Wells-Bowen, CCE Ontario County
  • Stipend: $6,000
Man and granddaughter reading together
Participants in a Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County parenting workshop. Photo by R.J. Anderson, Cornell Cooperative Extension

This selected intern will be working with school personnel to develop a school-based parenting program reaching targeted audiences (e.g., teen parents, parents of atrisk youth, transient families, parents who lacked strong role models as children). This project will identify how CCE and school personnel can deliver parenting education that considers outreach methods, timing/schedules, incentives, etc.

Roles and responsibilities 

The selected intern will:

  • Survey school principals, guidance counselors and psychologists in three school districts to determine targeted parents, issues/challenges facing parents, and opportunities to collaborate with school personnel to reach targeted audiences
  • Design impactful programs based on CCE Parenting Resources that will be effective with parents & families who traditionally have limited/no engagement w/ schools
  • Propose required resources and funding needed to implement programs; develop grant template that can be used in the future

Qualifications and previous coursework

This opportunity is available to students in Cornell University's College of Human Ecology.

  • Human Development and Family Studies coursework and/or interest
  • Experience and/or interest in:
    • Working collaboratively with public schools      
    • Program design      
    • Program budgeting

Learning outcomes 

The student will gain:

  • Awareness of parenting needs within targeted audiences
  • Learning to assess community needs
  • Working collaboratively with formal education partners
  • Experience reviewing existing parenting education resources and designing opportunities to use them in new ways
  • Program budgeting