The Parent Institute began in 1987 when Rev. Vahac Mardirosian (retired pastor & community activist) and Dr. Alberto Ochoa (SDSU professor & activist) invited parents to discuss their social conditions, the school system, and the low academic achievement of their children. Sherman Elementary (99% Latino students) was then ranked at the bottom of the 109 elementary schools of the San Diego Unified School District. What was initially expected to be a two hour dialogue with a dozen parents evolved into eight weeks of two hour weekly sessions with over ninety parents from that school.
As a result of this eight-week discussion with parents, 54 issue areas were documented. The question was then posed to the parents: "What shall we do with all of this information?" The parents responded, "Hold these same 8 week discussions at other schools". From this "parent mandate" came the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE). Dr. Alberto Ochoa took the 54 issues that were identified by parents and developed a curriculum for workshops targeting K-12 parents.
Since the program started in Sherman Elementary School, October 1987, over 375,000 parents have graduated from PIQE's (9 week) parent involvement training classes from 1,500 elementary, middle and high schools in districts within San Diego, Los Angeles, Fresno, San Jose, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Monterey, Sacramento, Stanislaus, Alameda, San Francisco, and Shasta counties. In addition, approximately 20,000 parents have participated in PIQE's follow-up "coaches" program that provides one-on-one information to parents during a four-month period on how to access school services and promote the aims of PIQE for parent involvement.
During the first couple of years, PIQE was implemented on the sheer determination of Rev. Mardirosian, his wife Eunice and the organization's Board/staff. They firmly resolved that the mandate given by the parents at Sherman Elementary School had to be carried out. It started off on a very precarious footing with no sense of financial security and with a majority volunteer base of people with no expectation of financial gain for themselves. To a large extent, that philosophy exists 19 years later in terms of the temporary contract staff.
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