Learning Curve
PEER Initiative in DeKalb County
Meet Lisa Lake, Parent Mentor in DeKalb County
A Look at the DeKalb Parent Education Empowerment Resources and Support PEERS initiative:
Lisa Lake, parent mentor in DeKalb County, is continuing the work in her district to build a Parent Education Empowerment Resources and Support (PEERS) under DeKalb County’s Exceptional Education Department.
“Last year, I created this PEERS initiative as an ongoing way to boost our parent education and engagement efforts on a district level. We had none. Since we are parents helping parents, the PEERS acronym fits two ways. It encompassed new virtual parent education sessions, in-person parent engagement events and digital communication through our newly created parent newsletters.
For the 2025-26 school year, I added school visits to educate staff on our parent team, resources we provide, teach our processes and protocols, and support/encourage them to increase their parent engagement. I’m tracking data to see how we can grow the numbers of parents participating and improvement.
Last year’s PEERS numbers( year 1):
- I hosted (6) PEERS virtual parent sessions on various topics including a fall transition series.
- I planned (2) PEERS in-person events ( Transition Fair/Parent Engagement Fair)
- I created (6) PEERS digital parent newsletters featuring different offices under Exceptional Education that was sent to 8,500 families via infinite campus.
PARENT ATTENDANCE:
- We had a little over 1000 parents attending our virtual/in-person events combined last year.
- An average of about 250 families registering for events. Our 504/ChildFind virtual session had a whooping 600 families registered!
- On average about 100 families attended in-person/virtually for each event last year.
GOALS:
- To improve the event planning/execution/budget yearly
- Double attendance numbers each year
- Increase internal and community collaborations to help expand our marketing/visibility/partnerships
- Troubleshoot access issues/barriers that might be preventing families from attending
- Use our parent surveys to drive decisions on how to improve the family experience at all events.
- Increase number of families completing event surveys