Related Link: Recent
Accomplishments
IMPROVING PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
(“NCLB”)
Under the federal “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB)
law, schools must notify parents about individual students’
test results and the related performance of the schools they
attend. Schools judged to be “failing” under NCLB
must report that fact to parents and provide parents with
alternatives and resources: namely, tutoring services for
their children and the opportunity to change schools. Determining
whether parents receive and understand the required messages
about school performance, then act to take advantage of their
options, was so important to the WK Kellogg Foundation that
it awarded $618,000 to the national Appleseed organization
to fund research on improving the effectiveness of parental
involvement.
Appleseed’s 6-State Research Report
With Kellogg’s staunch support, Connecticut Appleseed
joined with five sister Appleseed Centers in early 2006
to research whether parents are receiving the information
to which they are entitled and whether they then become engaged
to help improve their child’s educational performance.
Our findings and recommendations are summarized in “It
Takes a Parent: Transforming Education in the Wake of NCLB”.
We found that:
- School districts need to become more aware of the real-life
barriers that keep parents from getting involved. These
barriers include demanding work schedules, the economic
need to work more than one job, unavailability of daycare,
and significant language/cultural barriers; and
- Some racial and/or ethnic groups feel ill at ease or
even unwelcome among school officials. Better awareness
of these less visible - but no less real - barriers can
help school districts more effectively reach out to and
connect with all parents.
Perhaps the most powerful remedy under NCLB for failing schools
and failing students is the promise of tutoring for children.
However, the reality is that qualified tutors are difficult
for parents to access; the qualified tutors don’t live
in the same neighborhoods, so transportation becomes an enormous
obstacle. The other tool offered by NCLB—the ability
to switch schools—is also out of reach for most students.
There are far more kids at failing schools than there are
open slots in schools in the same city or town.
Harnessing Parents to Narrow Academic Achievement
Gaps
It takes more than just coordinated work on the federal,
state and local levels to make sure that parents know the
steps and resources available to prevent their children from
being left behind. Schools can take small, low-cost but effective
steps to better engage parents in rallying their kids to improve
individual and school-wide CMT scores.
Later in 2006 we took steps to reach out to parent groups around
the results in “It Takes a Parent” and connected
them with resources on the tutoring and choice options available
to them under NCLB. For example, in October 2006 Connecticut
Appleseed presented to a room filled with more than 100 Bridgeport
parents at their monthly Parent Advisory Council meeting on
the results of the Appleseed report and re-emphasized the
importance of their taking advantage of all the educational
resources promised under NCLB. Connecticut Appleseed also
presented to the Connecticut Board of Education on the major
findings of the report as well as recommendations to increase
parental involvement in Connecticut.
In 2007 and beyond we continued to work with school
districts and state officials to emphasize the important role
of parental involvement in strengthening schools.
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