07/21/2000

Engaging the Public

Even though everyone has attended school, when it comes time to sending one's own child to kindergarten, parents frequently feel like outsiders looking in. The late summer visit to meet the teacher and take a short ride on the school bus is a beginning, but not nearly enough to engage parents meaningfully as teaching/learning partners.

Parents feel like strangers because so many decisions that affect their children are made without their participation or input. The School Board, superintendent and principals seek public support for school funding but rarely engage the public when making decisions that matter most to parents, such as new curriculum programs, homework expectations, hiring of teachers, disciplinary practices and personal safety.

Children bring home a report card at the end of each term. Teachers fill out this report card, which rates the child's academic achievement and behavior, highlighting strengths and weaknesses. Parents, children and the teacher often use this information to guide their efforts toward improvement of the student's weaker skills or abilities.

I propose that the superintendent request a performance review from parents each term, too, to find out how each school is doing in carrying out its charge to successfully educate each child. The parent report card could then be used as a guide for administrative efforts to improve teaching and learning. Parents would appreciate regular opportunities to voice their opinions and concerns, especially those parents whose voices would otherwise go unheard. Only a small percentage of parents typically attend PTA or School Board meetings and of those, only a small percentage speak publicly about their ideas or concerns. A School Report Card would invite opinions from every parent in the district.

A School Report Card would ask parents to rate teaching performance, school facilities, curriculum and administrative effectiveness, using the same numerical or grading scale used on student report cards. Parents would be encouraged to provide qualitative comments, too, emphasizing strengths as well as weaknesses. School leaders and staff need praise as well as criticism, just like students and parents do! Such outreach could bring problems out into the open to be solved, problems that might otherwise lie dormant to either fade away or get worse.

Development of the school report card could be the beginning of this process of engagement, if school leaders and parent representatives devised the report card form together. School report cards could save administrators a lot of wasted energy expended on initiatives of low priority to parents.

Examples of some questions to consider including on the form follow:

• All things considered, what grade would you give (name of school) - A, B, C, D or Fail?

• What do you particularly dislike about (name of school)?

• What do you think is especially good about (name of school)?

• If you could change one thing about (name of school) what would it be?

School administrators need to tune in to what their constituency is thinking, and that includes parents. Telling people something is not nearly as effective as listening to what's on their minds. Listening to parents and engaging them in the teaching/learning process with their children will build strong loyalty and meaningful parent involvement in local schools.

Do school administrators and teachers routinely ask you, as parents, how they're doing? Do you think they should? What questions do you think belong on such a report card or survey?

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.