Steven Edwards, member of the Manchester Board of Education, has made a controversial proposal to help his school district to comply with a state law requiring districts to show how they have helped increase parental involvement in their schools.
Edwards says parents aren’t properly preparing their kids for school. He’s proposed evaluations on whether parents get their children to class on time, ensure their kids have completed their homework each night and attend the twice-yearly parent-teacher conferences about the children’s report cards and academic progress
The other two categories — which Edwards admitted are more a matter of interpretation — would give parents a positive or negative grade depending on whether their children seem to have been fed an adequate breakfast and are appropriately dressed for the weather. FoxNews
The measures are not meant to be punitive, he emphasizes, but he would like to see parents given a “pass/fail” check to be discussed at parent-teacher conferences.
I commend the state of Connecticut on its recognition of the importance of parental involvement to a child’s education (at least on paper), but has this district lost its mind? Judy (Consent of the Governed), this is your area of the country. Is this just some guy with an idea, or is this being seriously considered?
Problem one.
It is not the state’s job to oversee the parents. If teachers suspect actual abuse, that is one thing, but the state should not be developing lists so that school personnel…agents of the state…can grade parents.
Problem two.
This proposal targets low income families who likely have had a history of failure in the “system.” How on earth is a failing grade given to the parents by a teacher going to forge positive relationships and empower parents to take an active role in their children’s education?
Affluent parents know how to get what they want, who to call and how to ensure that their children’s needs are met. Low income families often do not and may even be intimidated by the institution. They need support, teaching and encouragement. Not the humiliation of a failing grade.
Problem three.
This may seem a tad insensitive, but it is not meant to be. Unfortunately, this is the life many of these children were born into and will continue to live in if they do not break the cycle. The greatest teachers I knew who helped students achieve their greatest potential despite seemingly insurmountable socio-economic factors were the ones who accepted no excuses.
By offering up excuses in place of performance, students attempt to pressure me into being Mom, an understanding and caring person who will turn a blind eye and make it all nicey nice. Instead, they get a zero for the day. Some of them get a few zeroes because they don’t learn the first time. Some disappear after a while. Most catch on, though. They persevere because they realize the standard is set and it isn’t going to come down to within their reach; they have to stretch. It’s healthy and fair because they [sic] same holds true for everybody. Writing in Faith
Boston.com has the perfect summary:
Edwards is aware that a similar experiment failed when it was tried in Chicago seven years ago. But he says things that get measured get done and it’s worth the try by the Manchester school board.
Yes, we know it has been tried elsewhere with disastrous results. So we would like to try it here because we think it will get a different result. Makes perfect sense.
[tags]education, parental involvement, Manchester, Steven Edwards[/tags]
Principled Discovery is a place to stop and discuss news and information related to faith, family and particularly education. Pour yourself a cup of tea and join the conversation! 
I shared this with my husband which made him VERY cranky. Oops. Anyway, what a horrible horrible thought but not surprising when it comes down to it.
Doesn’t seem like one of those things that no one in their right mind would think feasible? I don’t see who would possibly go for it, other than perhaps some teachers who can get very frustrated with parents not supporting children in the classroom, but I would think that for the most part it would be more of a joke to talk about grading parents. Not that even they would really think such a plan would work.
This reminds me a bit of the requirements placed upon the parents of children who attended Maria Montessori’s first children’s house, among them that they were to bring their children clean, properly dressed, and on time, and that they were to meet regularly with the teacher. However, there was no “grading” applied to the parents; rather, these were conditions placed upon the child being allowed to attend the Children’s House. Having their children cared for and educated at the children’s house was a privledge, not an obligation
I don’t think the expectations are unreasonable — it’s what any parent ought to do; it’s combining that with compulsory attendance and a *grade* that is so insulting and makes such a plan doomed to fail. It is certainly frustrating for teachers to attempt to teach in situations where parents refuse to parent, but that only underscores the fact that it is *the family* and not the school which has the ultimate authority and makes the ultimate difference in a child’s education.
Also, if schools and parents are truly going to have a partnership (not a dictatorship) the schools should also be accountable to the parents. Perhaps (sarcasm) each teacher should get a grade from the parents at the end of the year; the averages could determine pay scale and contract renewal. It amounts to the same thing. The relationship between parents and school has to be a two way street; right now it seems to be a power struggle.
I find it very backwards that schools (and Sunday schools, too) tend to talk about how families should “support the work of the school”; in reality, schools should “support the work of the family.”
You are right, Rebecca. It really should be the parents overseeing the school.
In these situations, that isn’t happening. Should parents be encouraged to help with homework, get kids to school on time and attend conferences? Of course. But what is grading them going to do except further humiliate?
We need to look at ways to support parents, not further alienate them. My district did a very good job at that…the focus was on teaching parents that they were their children’s first and most important teacher, and that they were also their most important advocate. I think the opposite happens when you begin grading them.
As a former teacher I do see how a school (teachers and administrators) could come to a proposal of this sort. It is frisutrating when parents do not parent…but then again, the whole school institution has taken much of the parenting away from parents and now that parents walk away from it the schools are no longer happy. They cannot have it both ways.
I do think that Rebecca made a good point–if parents can be graded (and as a teacher I really would not have used that task as a grounds for gossip) than teachers equally would be deserving of a grade!
Apparently fingers are being pointed in all directions and the finger pointers forget the three remaining fingers point back towards themselves. The system is flawed. It needs to be overhauled. American families in general are flawed. Our prioroities and values have become skewed…and until those are aligned, schools really have no direction.
I really need that darn EDIT button **Grrrrrr**
I worked for a nationally recognized parental involvement program in my district and they never took the position of being “over” the parent. The whole point of the program was to teach parents how important they were and give them the tools and confidence to advocate for their own children.
The Manchester school district would be much better off to look at the many positive and successful programs out there than to reach for those which have already been tried and universally seem to have failed.
The problem here is with the family which I may get to more in a later post. But creating this sort of animosity and “sides” is going to do nothing.
And it is frisutrating, isn’t it, Shawna? : )
Hey… I guess I have to weigh in on this one. The funny thing is that my husband works at XL Insurance (in IT) in Hartford where Steve Edwards works, so my husband actually knows and works with this guy. Steve never thought this would get the media attention that it got. He just thought that it was an idea to “get parents to see that they haven’t been doing their job”. My husband told him that it was a bad idea, when Steve asked him what he thought of it.
You know even with all the flap - he got re-elected to the Board of Education in Manchester anyway! He really is a decent guy, with no agenda other then to try to wake some parents up. I think he did a whole lot more than that. I don’t think he ever dreamed of the attention it would get.
I doubt this idea will go anywhere especially with the great negative reaction that it got. The issue of lack of parental involvement is a big one in the Hartford area schools. But I also think this is a problem that many school systems have brought upon themselves after many years of them saying they are the experts and parents shouldn’t get involved.
The bigger problem here in CT at the moment is the new Commissioner of Education (Mark McQuillan) who wants to have more control and authority. He is currently testifying in the Sheff v. O’Neill lawsuit to say that he as commissioner should have the authority (and be given it to him by the legislature) to dictate to suburban school systems that they MUST take “project choice kids” (urban school kids) into their schools, thereby obliterating home rule and self determination of municipalities on managing their school population. Look for an article on Consent of the Governed next week with regard to this issue.
This next legislative session should be a doozy.
Wow.
Unbelievable.
I’m speechless.
Lord, help us.
Bet they spend 8 million for a commission to study it first.
Then, when they do implement it, it will last a semester and then be thrown out as a failure. Or, better yet, they’ll get to waste another million defending the lawsuits.
Tax dollars hard at work.
Life on the Planet, you don’t have experience with educational bureaucracy, do you?
Thank you so much for your insights, Judy. That was my biggest question as I read through the different reports and comments. Was this just some idea thrown out there or a serious plan of action?
I sincerely believe most people in education are good people motivated by the right reasons, but with a flawed idea of what that is.
I understand the problems of low parental involvement well. My district was plagued by it and I worked in the parental involvement office as well. But plans like this really only further set the “us vs. them” mentality that really helps no one.
I look forward to next week’s entry!
Wow - that’s scary. Reason #556 for why my wife and I home educate. Great blog!
GREAT post, Dana! How can the people running our schools be such idiots? That’s why they get the big bucks…they’re so full of brilliant ideas!
If parents were doing what they were responsible for in the first place I imagine this guy would not have had to think outside the box and come up with this idea.
While he probably won’t get away with it he gets props in my book for making people THINK about how they are sending their kids to school.
Tracee Sioux,
Of course this wouldn’t be an issue if parents were more actively and positively involved in their children’s education. But this will not come close to solving that problem, and would likely make it worse.
It has been tried in other places and failed. I don’t think that is really “thinking outside the box.” It is just attempting to replicate the failures of other districts and expecting something better to happen.
There are more workable solutions out there that do not involve humiliating parents and placing school districts in authority over them when it is supposed to be the other way round.
I am a former public school speech therapist. My husband and mom are both former teachers.
Unfortunately, yes, I have had some experience with school bureaucracy.
However, all you really have to do is read a newspaper to see how school boards waste money. They seem to be coming up with new and creative ways in which to do so.
So in this Free Republic:
The beuractats will watch over and evaluate the citizenary (parents) and hold them to government standards;
And they will do it with the citizens parents ) own money.
Sounds like Socialism to me and we keep marching on down that road.
Wow, I’ve never heard of anything like this before. Although I am all for schools holding parents somewhat responsible for their child’s education, I think this it taking things too far.
Thank you for sharing this with the Carnival of Family Life. Your post will be included in the November 19th edition at An Island Life. Aloha!
“I would rather see local boards of education work with parents in terms of what their role is…” said Vincent Mustaro of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. I have a problem with the Board of Education being the one to determine what the role of the parent is and how to help the parent fulfill that role. It sounds like a nice gesture, but actually undermines the parent in the end.
If I allow someone else to decide what my parental duties are, I’ve given them control over me. Parents have already handed over many of their responsibilities - at the demand of the Dept. of Education, ironically enough. So it’s a strange paradox that now the edu-crats want to give some responsibilites back to parents (as if it’s theirs to give and take).
Of course parents should be giving their children adequate (and hopefully excellent) care at home. That’s not the real issue here, in my opinion. This CT situation is just one result of a decades long attempt to shift parental authority to the state. I think it’s tragic to hear comments from boards of education about how they need to “teach the parents” this or that. Whadda ya know, take away parental authority and give it to the state and FAMILIES FALL APART, and then the state complains about it.
So the answer is??? I can tell you that the answer should *not* be the Dept. of Education or any of its associates running parent-training classes, or grading parents, perpetuating the myth that *they* are the expert and the parent is a coincidence. Some people may not like my answer, but it lies in the hearts of all men and women who need to make a choice about living a righteous life, not a selfish life.
There is no government initiative or public program that will turn the tide. It’s simply revival in the hearts of God’s people - to take seriously the words “to train up a child in the way he should go,” to begin to truly love one another, and to take back your children from the systems.
Hi Dana,
I also live in Connecticut. I blogged on this back on November 4th. You can read my post here.
http://thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/2007/11/grades-on-parenting-skills-for-parents.html
I have not heard much about this since this came out.