The Missouri PIRC is comprised of a variety of statewide agencies whose collective mission is to provide high-quality services to meet the needs and interests of Missouri parents.

The Missouri PIRC serves parents, schools, and community organizations throughout the state by providing a wide range of information, training, technical assistance, and resources to help parents promote their children's achievement in school. A collaborative effort of LIFT (Missouri's Literacy Resource Center), the Parents as Teachers National Center, Inc. (PATNC), ParentLink, Practical Parenting Partnerships (PPP), Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), and the St. Louis Public Schools, the Missouri PIRC disseminates parent-related information to parents in all areas of the state. On another level, the Missouri PIRC partners provide intensive services targeted to parents in urban and rural communities in Missouri with children attending low-performing schools. During this three-year project, more parents will receive information and training to help them better understand Missouri's accountability system, their options and choices, and ways to improve their ability to help their children succeed in school.

Building upon existing, high-quality parent education and early education services and programs, the Missouri PIRC works closely with the state department of education to provide parents timely, accurate information so that they better understand Missouri's accountability system and the options and choices in No Child Left Behind. The PIRC training and technical assistance components assist parents and schools in strengthening their parent involvement policies, plans, and activities.

The Missouri PIRC employs a number of strategies and activities to share information and resources, including parent trainings, workshops, toll-free hotlines, print materials, and web sites. The Missouri PIRC also coordinates various Federal, state, and local parental involvement initiatives.

The goals of the Missouri PIRC are:

• to improve parents' ability to support their child's academic achievement
• to expand and strengthen partnerships among parents, schools, and community organizations
• to coordinate a statewide comprehensive approach to improve student learning through parental involvement.