Putting Parents in Charge is a condescending NY Times column on parent engagement that was written by Peg Tyre.
Among other things, she talks about how parents aren’t “sophisticated” enough to truly know what a good school is because often times they will pick ones with “low academic achievement” — and that’s usually a code phrase for low test scores. Excuse me — perhaps many parents know that there is far more to getting a good education than being able to do well on a multiple choice standardized test!
She calls for “substantive training programs” for parents so they can make choices about what “works best in schools.” I wonder who will make that determination? How much you wanna’ bet that not many teachers would be invited into that process? And it doesn’t look like many parents would be, either….
Give parents more credit. Many research and learn by taking with other informed parents. In New York, you need to tour and observe. Test scores matter some, but the type of school matters too. It is not easy by any means, but attending school events and conferences makes it easy to leave phone and email. Teachers give email and phone numbers as well.