I usually just do a year-end list on parent engagement posts and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to make it easier for me — and perhaps, to make it a little more useful to readers — I’m going to start […]
Two months after completely bungling elections for Parent Councils (and that election was a “do-over” because they had completely bungled it the first time), they have announced spending $2 million dollars for a survey to parents. I have voiced my concerns about the use of surveys in previous posts. I am amazed, though, the the […]
Last week, I posted Newark’s Outreach Effort Appears To Have Been A Sham, which highlighted how Newark school reform leaders had a plan they were going to push no matter what they learned in their “outreach” effort to residents. Today, a New Jersey newspaper reported more on the plan, which includes a massive expansion of […]
Dana Goldstein offers some good perspectives on Newark’s community outreach effort in her post, $1 Million Survey on Newark Public School Reform Proves Inconclusive. You can read my previous posts on the topic here.
Remember that $1 million they were spending in Newark to pay canvassers to find out from residents what they thought should happen in schools? The effort that I questioned in previous posts as a big waste of time since no long-standing relationships were being built between schools and parents during the process. Don’t worry about […]
Adults blame parents for education problems is the headline on an article in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. Here’s an excerpt: Blaming teachers for low test scores, poor graduation rates and the other ills of American schools has been popular lately, but a new survey wags a finger closer to home. An Associated Press-Stanford University Poll […]
“Parent and Community Involvement in a College/Career-Ready Culture” is a new report from the Texas Comprehensive Center. Here’s an excerpt from its introduction: The literature on parent and community involvement is extensive. However, there is little rigorous, experimental research; rather, the literature consists primarily of descriptive case studies or correlation studies, along with numerous studies […]
Family Tree is a comic strip drawn by Signe Wilkinson which is often funny and insightful (coincidentally, thirty years ago she and I met several times in Philadelphia when I was an intern at the nonprofit where her husband worked). Her comic strip today, though I’m sure well-intentioned, communicates a message that I think is […]
The Washington Post just ran a column about a new book several education researchers have written severely criticizing the research base of President Obama’s “Blueprint For Reform,” his successor to No Child Left Behind. Here’s a quote from that column: For example, it says, “Family involvement is crucial to education, but the evidence for a […]
Dear President Obama…Sincerely, Parents Across America is a follow-up letter that was sent a few months ago (“Put the Parent Voice back in Public Education!”). A group of organized parents offer a critique of the President’s education policies. I’ll repeat what I said then: I like what the letter says. However, during my twenty-year community […]
The Associated Press and Univision just published a poll they did with Latinos across the United States. You can read a summary written by Education Week and one done by the San Francisco Examiner. And you can read the actual poll results from AP here. You can also see an Associated Press interactive, which makes […]
“Put the Parent Voice back in Public Education!” is a letter hosted by Change.org where parents can sign and communicate their unhappiness with the Obama administration’s school “reform” efforts, including their lack of making parent engagement a priority. I like what the letter says. However, during my twenty-year community organizing career, we always looked at […]
Part Three Of The MetLife Survey Of The American Teacher has just been released. I’ve written about the first two parts in my other blog. The third part of this extensive survey of teachers and students is titled Teaching As A Career and “examines collaboration in the context of teacher professional growth, experience level and […]
State Laws on Family Engagement in Education is the title of a study just released by the PTA. Here’s how they describe it: The purpose of this reference guide is two-fold: It provides families and advocates with information on family engagement provisions within state education laws so that they can better advocate for their children’s […]
The Toronto Globe and Mail ran an article today headlined ‘Parent academy’ offers dividends to children. It focuses on a new effort in Toronto that has this as its goal: “In effect, schools would become de facto community centres for whole families, offering programs to help parents with their most pressing needs – from finding […]
Several new useful reports have come-out related to parents and schools since our final manuscript was submitted. Here are links to several of them: * The Community Agenda For America’s Public Schools “A coalition of leading educators and community organizations has produced a “Community Agenda for America’s Public Schools.” The group, which includes Randi Weingarten, […]