Hot on the heels of a Tennessee bill targeting undocumented immigrant students, the North Carolina legislature is considering a bill requiring principals to ask each parent if their child is documented or not.

Now, that will really be a tool to encourage parent engagement…

The North Carolina bill was also introduced just weeks after federal officials warned states and school districts against checking student immigration status.

Maybe North Carolina legislators need to check their mail…

“Complain at school and get a knock on the door” is how a New York Daily News article (Parents say administrators are siccing ACS on them to retaliate for complaints) about parents claiming that if they make a complaint about their school, then the school reports them to child welfare investigators.

Of course, there’s no way at this point to know for sure who’s telling the truth, but there does appear to be quite a few of these parent complaints. If there is validity to their concerns, it’s certainly not a good way to encourage parent engagement, to say the least.

Thanks to Ken Libby for the tip.

Last week I wrote a post titled “Failing” Parents, which shared a New York Times article about misguided punitive steps to encourage parent involvement/engagement.

Since that times, The New York Times Learning Network has invited to students to respond to the question:

Whose Fault Is It if a Child Is Failing in School?

So far, there have been sixty-nine responses. They’re pretty interesting.

The campaign to use the “parent trigger” law in Compton is now over, and supporters are trying to start a charter school at a local church instead.

“Judge to throw out Trigger petitions:Compton parents to open charter nearby” is the title of a post at the Thoughts On Public Education blog that gives an update.

It will be interesting to see what kind of approval, and from whom, they need for their proposed charter school.

Union and Parents Join Forces to Improve School Conditions is a nice success story from the National Education Association’s Priority Schools Campaign.

It’s worth a visit.

The New York Times has just published an article on recent efforts by not-particularly-enlightened legislators to “help” students learn by punishing their parents. It’s titled Whose Failing Grade Is It?

Here’s a Diane Ravitch quote from the article:

That is not surprising, said Diane Ravitch, an education historian and the author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System.” Yes, parenting can be “taught” Ms. Ravitch said, but not this way.

“If we could just find the right person to punish,” she said of the philosophy behind too many education reform plans. “Punish the teachers. Punish the parents. It’s Dickensian. What we should be doing instead is giving a helping hand.”

I’ve written about several of these misguided efforts in the past, and you can read those posts here.

The NY Times reports that New York City Mayor Bloomberg today complained today about the predominantly minority parents who are fighting against his plan to close twenty-two schools:

“Unfortunately there are some parents who just come from — they never had a formal education, and they don’t understand the value of education.”

It’s an outrageous insult against all parents, and especially to immigrants. In my experience, often immigrant parents who have little formal education are some of the biggest boosters of helping their children improve themselves through schools. On top of that, his comments show the arrogant perspective that if you don’t support what he wants done, then you obviously don’t care about schools. It’s similar to the refrain often used by school reformers against anyone who opposes their plans (see The Best Posts Discussing Arrogance & School Reform).

Unfortunately, this comment is just the latest in a series of actions he’s taken to show he does not respect parents of the children he is responsible for educating (in New York, the mayor is in charge of the school system). You might be interested in reading:

Mayor Bloomberg Appears Tone Deaf…

What Is Mayor Bloomberg Thinking?

“Bloomberg talks down to parents, teachers and students fighting for lives of their schools”

I wonder if this attitude is one of the reasons why 65% of New Yorkers don’t approve of the way the Mayor is handling schools?

Making a Strong Home-School Connection by Being Culturally Responsive is from ASCD, and lists twelve helpful hints for educators.

It’s written by an elementary school principal.

Rethinking how to make parents a bigger part of the education equation is the headline of an article about parent involvement in Delaware.

It includes a video interview with U.S. Senator Chris Coons from Delaware, explaining why he co-sponsored the Family Engagement in Education Act of 2011.

“Working with Immigrant, Refugee Students and Families To Help Them Understand School Transportation” is a useful article written by a Maryland family involvement specialist, Young-chan Han.

It’s worth a look.