Concerns about parenting in poorer families ‘misplaced’ is the headline of an article in The Telegraph.

Here’s an excerpt:

Common perceptions that poorer mothers and fathers are likely to be less involved in their children’s lives are unfounded, according to research.

A new study argues that less well-off parents are just as likely to help with homework, play games and read with their children as those from wealthier backgrounds.

I’m adding it to “The Best Research Available On Parent Engagement.”

A New Study Reveals Much About How Parents Really Choose Schools is a very interesting report at NPR.

It’s good for us educators to know what elements appear to be most important to parents.

I’m no fan of junk food but, as I’ve previously posted, banning parents from making baked goods for bake sales or to give to an entire class is, in my humble opinion, not a good use of a school’s “relationship capital.”

Texas’ agricultural commissioner just proclaimed a “cupcake amnesty” eliminating any local schools’ restrictions.

I’m not convinced that it’s an important enough issue that the state needs to make or repeal related rules, but schools just need to be more careful about picking their battles.

Jay P. Green, with whom I often disagree (but not this time!), has written an excellent review of the infamous “Broken Compass” book on parent involvement titled Wrong Diagnosis on Homework Help from Parents: Authors find correlation, mistake it for causation.

Here’s how he ends it:

After examining more than 300 pages of The Broken Compass with its dozens of regressions and charts, I know no more about the causal relationship between parental involvement and academic progress than I did before. If the purpose of The Broken Compass were simply to raise questions about this inverse correlation, it might be a fine book. But when the authors and unthinking reporters use it to recommend that parents stop helping kids with homework, they are being irresponsible, no less so than advising sick people to avoid hospitals because they tend to kill you.

I’m adding it to The Best Commentaries On The “Broken Compass” Parent Involvement Book.

How do you make a baby smart? Word by word, a Chicago project says is the headline of an article at The Hechinger Report.

It’s another in the flurry of recent media coverage on the “Word Gap.”

I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Word Gap.”

Parents Challenge President to Dig Deeper on Ed Tech is the headline of a New York Times article about President Obama’s remarks today on student data privacy.

After reading it, you might want to check out The Best Posts On The inBloom Data Fiasco.

I’ve previously posted about a report on California charter schools which found that many require parents to volunteer their time as a condition of their child attending the school (see “Concern over charter schools’ requirement for volunteer time”).

Now — a little late — the Los Angeles Times has published an editorial commenting on the report. Here’s how it ends:

Once children are enrolled, it’s fine for schools to encourage voluntarism as a way of engaging parents in their children’s education. But setting discouraging rules should be prohibited. The state Board of Education should impose firm rules to stop schools from requiring unpaid parental labor; California students are guaranteed the right to a free and public education.

How using technology can keep parents in the loop is an article in eSchool News that shares several examples of how schools are using tech to connect with parents.

I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Using Technology To Help Engage Parents.

The New Yorker has just published what I think is probably the best article written on the “word gap.” It’s titled The Talking Cure: The poorer parents are, the less they talk with their children. The mayor of Providence is trying to close the “word gap.”

It includes a substantial section detailing critiques, too. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Word Gap.”

Father-figure engagement making difference at Tahoe elementary school is the headline of a short article in a local California newspaper about a father-involvement program.

What’s intriguing about it is that it is apparently part of a national program promoting father-involvement in schools called Watch D.O.G.S. from The National Center For Fathering. I have heard of neither the program or the Center, but they sound helpful. Let me know what you know about them.

I’m adding this info to The Best Posts On Involving Fathers In Schools.

The Notebook, an excellent education publication in Philadelphia, has been reprinting their favorite pieces from past years.

One is particularly good: Parents still struggling for a seat at the table.

Here’s how it begins:

“Profound parent involvement means sharing leadership – and that means sharing knowledge, responsibility, and most difficult of all, power. This is anything but simple.”

In this statement, longtime education activist Rochelle Nichols Solomon describes the core of an ongoing struggle to create more meaningful roles for parents in schools.

A Different Approach to Breaking the Cycle of Poverty is a lengthy article in The Atlantic about the growing interest in “two-generation” school programs that support both parents and children.

I’ve written some previous posts on the same topic:

“Want More Kids to Graduate? Report Suggests Starting with Mom and Dad”

“D.C. charter school educates parents alongside children”

I guess this week is a time for me to learn new terminology being used in parent involvement/engagement.

Yesterday, I posted about “bilingual facilitators” in Maryland.

Today, there’s an article about a Pasadena (Texas, not California) school district using ‘charlas’ (the Spanish word for chat) as a parent involvement strategy.

Check out Pasadena Schools Experiment with ‘Charlas’ To Help Students By Coaching Their Parents.

Schools’ bilingual facilitators have busy days with growing Hispanic population is the headline of a fairly lengthy article in the Annapolis, Maryland newspaper about the local school district hiring Bilingual Facilitators (which I think most districts would call “parent coordinators”).

It’s worth a read….

To give their children a better education, parents launch new school is the headline of an article in the LA Times.

Here’s an excerpt:

“We did it. We had an opportunity to put our word in and say, ‘You know what, we want something better for our students,'” Melendrez said.

It was a unique showing of parent power. The group had ambitions beyond the typical PTA and used a less confrontational route to asserting control over the education of their children. In recent years, parents at several underperforming public schools have tried to force dramatic changes in management using the state’s parent trigger law. If at least half of the school’s parents agree, the law gives them the power to demand changes in staff and curriculum, close the school or convert to an independent charter.

Here, however, parents were happy with what they had and fearful of what came next. It was a preemptive move to keep their students out of low-achieving high schools, parents said.

Parents: 50 texting acronyms your kids might use that you need to know is a helpful list from a Cincinnati television station.

It might be something worth sharing with parents….

A major expansion of community schools is being attacked in New York City. You can read what its defenders are saying in an article headlined Buery, Fariña defend community schools’ academics.

Here’s an excerpt:

Deputy mayor Richard Buery on Monday defended the community school model’s efficacy in improving student academic outcomes after the administration announced partnerships between social services agencies and 45 new community schools.

While Mayor Bill de Blasio has made community schools a central part of his education agenda, critics have said there is mixed research on whether the community school model actually improves academic achievement in low-income neighborhoods.

During a press conference after the announcement, Buery cited studies showing academic gains for community schools in Boston and Tulsa, Oklahoma. In Tulsa, for example, some community schools outperformed their peers in math by 32 points and in English by 19 points on state exams, according to a Department of Education press release.

“Just calling it a community school and bringing in resources by itself does not, of course, guarantee increased academic achievement,” Buery said. “What community schools are all about is increasing the capacity for learning,” he added, stressing a familiar theme for community schools supporters.

I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Learning About Community Schools.

Schools Teach Common-Core Math to Two Generations is an Education Week article discussing creative ways schools are helping parents learn about the new Common Core Math standards.

I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Talking To Parents About The Common Core Standards.

The Hechinger Report has a piece on the parent trigger that seems particularly slanted in its favor. That’s a bit surprising to me, since their work is usually pretty objective.

However, it does include a very good comment from Barnett Berry from the Center For Teacher Quality:

Barnett Berry, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Center for Teacher Quality, also finds the group [Parent Revolution] suspect. He says the movement would fall flat were it not for the funding. “As long as wealthy individuals continue to market parent trigger, as long as there’s money behind these matters, the group will stay in the news and give us a sense that the movement still has momentum,” he says.

You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Learning Why The Parent Trigger Isn’t Good For Parents, Kids Or Schools.

The New Work of Words is a lengthy article in The Atlantic about…words.

I’m sharing it here because the first quarter has an interesting perspective on The Word Gap, which is why I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Word Gap.”