8/28/2000

Regarding School Report Cards (cont.)

Emotions ran strong about how and whether parents should evaluate schools, teachers, administrators and the curriculum. (See last week's responses.) The greatest fear seems to be that parents can't be objective. That may be true, but isn't it their most heartfelt opinions that school people need to know?

Dear Ms. Bruno:

Before you decide to go ahead with this idea, try the shoe on the other foot. If parents should grade teachers, why not have teachers grade parents? Consider, as a parent, getting a report card from your child's teacher assessing how you are doing as a parent. On what criteria would teachers base their grades? What would make a teacher qualified to grade a parent? What factual evidence about home life can teachers gather based on what they see and hear from children in the classroom? What qualifications should teachers have before they assess parents? Does the prospect of being graded by your child's teacher seem just a little threatening?

The idea might face some obstacles because:

• Valid assessment must be based on fact. Both parent and teacher see each other to some extent through a child's eyes. When we see each other primarily through a third party (especially when that third party is a child) our perspective is affected, and it is more difficult to separate fact from opinion and make valid assessments.

• Valid assessment must be based on shared expectations and criteria. As it is, the plurality of parental expectations makes the teacher's job very complicated. While most teachers want very much to please parents, they will never be able to please everyone. Parents come from a wide variety of backgrounds and their value systems vary tremendously, which is why teachers are held accountable to the school district's evaluation standards, not individual parent standards.

• Assessment (especially when it is a one-sided evaluation) might undermine the parent/teacher partnership. We are not equals when one of us is judging the other, and communication would shift from the child-centered focus it should have. In fact, assessment of students has changed dramatically in recent years. Teachers are encouraged to make children participants in their own evaluations, establish and share criteria for evaluation at the beginning of a learning activity, thus taking the mystery out of the grade. In fact much of our assessment is narrative or based on rubrics. Teachers are encouraged to ask for and use feedback from students about what worked and didn't work for the individual learner.

• Finally, research tells us that assessment, if it is to promote positive learning, should allow the assessed to reflect and make changes based on what they learn from the assessment. How would the kind of assessment you are talking about meet those expectations?

Researching and weighing what is to be gained from parent assessment of teachers would be necessary before deciding if it is a valuable and effective tool for promoting better education.

***

Dear Ms. Bruno,

I happen to agree with your column about school report cards. A system-wide approach to evaluating schools and teachers -- by parents and students -- is what is needed. Under the current system, a parent who wishes to express any type of criticism of a teacher faces the prospect that the child might be subject to retaliation of some sort from the teacher. Also, the tenure system is out-dated and inefficient. Granted, teachers certainly need protection and safeguards of some sort; but tenure protects dinosaurs and deadwood as well as good teachers. The entire tenure system needs an overhaul. It should work more like corporate performance reviews - stating strengths and weaknesses and giving the individual an opportunity to improve on those weaknesses before the next review.

There is the danger that under the "report card" system certain parents (and students) who have a personality conflict with a teacher could abuse the system to do damage to the teacher. However, if everyone participates in the system and a teacher is doing a good job then the good comments would outweigh the bad.

Any good teacher wants to know how they are doing. But many parents may be reticent for the reasons I've mentioned before. We as parents have an obligation to be involved in our children's education. As long as things remain the way they are, the least we can do is try to have regular discussions with the teacher. This may consist of "How did Johnny do today?" But we must not forget to ask the child, who should be the first, best source of information.

***

Dear Ms. Bruno,

I am a high school teacher, and I have just read your piece on "school report cards." I'm sorry, but I don't feel that most parents are qualified to assess the schools their children attend. If they were to visit the school a few times a year, observing classes, and had a realistic view of their own children, then it might be feasible. When we have a parents' night at our school, only about ten per cent of parents attend -- and these are mostly the parents of freshmen. Furthermore, Those parents are primarily the parents of children who are successful in school and are attending in order to hear their child praised. This is fine, but the parents we need to see the most are the scarcest.

Perhaps this is not true in all schools, but it certainly is in mine. I see the biggest problem in education today as the societal context in which our schools are attempting to function. I believe that the societal problems that have caused the failures in contemporary education must be solved in more arenas than just the schools. It is not fair to teachers to ask us to be parents, confidantes, parole officers, counselors, mediators, and all the other things we are asked to be in today's schools. I am a person with a life, too. If I did all those things to the best of my ability, I would have no time for my family or my personal interests. The paperwork alone is practically a full-time job!

It is very easy for those not in the classroom to say, "If teachers did thus and so, scores would be higher, children would be more motivated, etc." Come to my classroom and teach my classes for a month -- then tell me what you think. Everyone wants to blame someone else.

This attitude has transferred itself to many students.

***

Related Resources

To read about a School Report Card developed by David and Susan Carroll, consult their book, "How Smart Schools Keep Community Support, published in 1994. The authors developed a School Report Card to help educators collect essential information about parents, teachers, students and the community in order to help communities develop a strategy for capturing and securing public school support from all stakeholders. For more information, call 860-489-5639 or consult: http://www.edmarketing.org/.

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