Schools can learn from program that puts parents in classrooms is the headline of a Chicago Tribute article on a unique parent engagement program sponsored by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, and on a new book about it.

I’ve spoken with leaders of the Association about the program, and am impressed. I’d encourage you to check out the article.

The Sacramento Bee has a great article today titled Teachers’ visits to students’ homes can make big difference. It’s about the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, which I have written about many times in this blog.

There’s also a chapter in my parent engagement book about them. Our school is very active with the Project, and I’ve helped do some of their trainings.

You can find out more information about them here at their website.

Districts Use Web Polls to Survey Parents on Hot Topics is an article in Education Week about schools using online polling tools.

There are obviously a lot of concerns with doing something like this, not least of which being many families can’t afford computers or Internet access. Some school officials raise those concerns within the article, and say that’s why they use multi-lingual phone polling, too.

When I was a community organizer, we used to say the only reason to do a survey or poll was to have an excuse to engage in a conversation. Because of the belief, I’m very wary of schools making any kinds of decisions based on surveys — online or by phone. People are generally restricted to the multiple choice answers provided, and you can’t really determine how strongly people feel about a topic — some will say what they think they should say and not what they really think. You also can’t identify a person’s leadership potential or their social network, and you can’t develop a relationship with them through a survey, either.

I hope online polling doesn’t doesn’t make schools feel like they are really doing anything to engage parents.  It’s just another form of one-way communication, and not the two-way conversation, schools need to have with families.

Online polling could have a small place in the scheme of things, but, if I were a school administrator, I wouldn’t place a whole lot of confidence in it.

School’s a Community Effort in Indiana District is another excellent article by Mary Ann Zehr at Education Week.

I’ve written a number of posts about these kind of community schools — ones that connect many community services with students and their families.

I’m concerned, though, about many of them relating to parents as clients instead of partners.

I had some email with Mary Ann Zehr about that issue today, and she graciously gave me permission to publish it here:

First, here was my question to her:

I really liked your community schools story today, and am a big advocate of them. However, one of the missed opportunities I have seen with many is that the school staff often decide what they should offer and how, with very little input from parents themselves. I’m going to point readers of my parents blog to your story, but I was wondering if you had any sense of if parents were and are involved in the decision to be more of a community school and how the programs are run?

Here is her response:

I don’t feel qualified to say how much input parents are giving into how the community schools should be run because that wasn’t the focus of my reporting. At Lincoln School, I attended a morning “coffee” hosted by the school for parents. Several parents and grandparents told me they regularly attend such events. They expressed appreciation for input they’d received about nutrition through that venue. At the “coffee”, several community people gave presentations for programs the attendees can get involved in, such as a program to support grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. The meeting was facilitated by a parent coordinator employed by Lincoln School; she seemed to have a good relationship with the parents. The parent coordinator has used the parents’ ideas for speakers and topics at the meetings. I didn’t ask how parents were involved in the various structures, such as the School Community Council, that are in charge of the school-community connections.

Do you know of community schools that have genuine partnerships with their students’ families?

Tennessee state legislators are soon to vote on House Bill 1085, which

… would require that all students enrolling in school for the first time document their immigration status by presenting their Social Security number, passport or visa to the school system. According to Weaver, the purpose of her bill is to keep track of the number of undocumented students in the state and to analyze their financial impact on taxpayers.

If students don’t have those documents, they will have to provide a written affidavit saying so.

You can read what Metro Nashville Schools Director Jesse Register has to say about the bill, and he’s not happy with it — nor should he be…

“She pulls in parents with Starr power: In Brooklyn Center, one woman is on a personal mission to get parents involved in their children’s education” is a nice article about a good “parent university”-type program in Minnesota.

I’m sure it’s a good program. However, I wonder if schools miss out on the possibilities of making it so much better by not engaging with parents at the beginning to help develop the curriculum….

Dennis Walcott has just been confirmed as New York City’s school’s chancellor. He made this statement:

“I’ve always talked about, especially in the past week, parent involvement, parent engagement, making sure that parents are totally invested in what’s happening in their child’s school,” he said.

Perhaps it was just an oddly-worded comment in the moment, but saying you’ve “always” been some way, “especially in the past week,” could leave one wondering how serious a commitment we’re talking about.

I guess we’ll see soon…..

I’ve written several posts about the on-going fiasco of school reform (and the community outreach efforts) going on in Newark.

If you think I’ve been exaggerating, you should read USA Today’s article today, Newark school woes transcend money.