Want to Improve Schools? Make Parent Involvement Meaningful

Al Vann:

Truly involving parents and communities in our public schools, and the decisions that affect them, is essential to improving our school system.

While parent involvement is crucial to a child's educational success, the reality is that such involvement is not always present for various reasons. However, the larger communities in which a student's school and home are located also play an instrumental role in nurturing educational achievement, as expressed by the African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child."

Unfortunately over the past several years, the Department of Education has consistently failed to meaningfully empower and involve these important stakeholders in its decisions about schools. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the Education Department's decisions and proposals regarding closing or phasing out schools, and opening new ones.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 31, 2011 2:21 AM
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