There’s still a lot of school turnaround work to do!
But it’s not being done because parents aren’t truly engaged in this work.
We always hear how schools and teachers aren’t doing enough.
Well please explain to me what parents are supposed to do?
Parents must be intentionally engaged in the learning process before school starts.
We all play a role in educating children; not just teachers!
States and school districts can develop better relationships with early learning and development centers, churches and communities to ensure that parents are taking the steps need to ensure their children are getting a healthy balance of learning, recreation and socialization.
I have asked a dozen parents and stakeholders about their thoughts on the need for school turnaround strategies or school closures.
I was interested to find out that parents and stakeholders are aware of the information regarding school turn around strategies.
Many times parents rely on the knowledge and recommendations from school leaders and elected representatives on school and student performance.
At at recent event, more than half of the parents I asked about school turn around plans feel like they aren’t truly engaged in the process.
But this shouldn’t be a roadblock nor an excuse for parents to start education at home.
However, there are many of the parents of children who have traditionally been overlooked or disenfranchised, mentioned how the support and resources provided for the turn around strategies being used don’t connect to their abilities to continue education at home.
Their views of school turn around attributed to factors that they feel create and or cause schools to be in positions to close. Some of these factors included:
- Lack of equitable resources
- Lack of transparent and effective engagement
- Lack of awareness and support for early learning
- Lack of true partnership with families and parents
School turn around is simply finding innovative ways to ensure that schools are producing successful, prepared and well-rounded students to go into college, careers and society as productive citizens.
Could it be that school Districts aren’t seeing the success of school turn around strategies because of the methods they are using to engage parents, families and communities?
Possibly. It’s important that school districts aren’t using the initiatives as experiments.
We are experimenting and or testing out strategies on children to find success.
The bottom line is that school turn around work can’t be successful without the engagement and accountability of parents.
Jason has worked in education for over 15 years as a teacher, blogger and community advocate. He speaks and writes primarily about the need to improve education for Black boys, particularly increasing the number of Black male educators in schools. In addition to blogging here at EdLanta, Jason is also a featured writer at Education Post.