NC PTA Hears Report On Gaps In Parent Involvement

Check out the full report from Appleseed. -Patricia

By Liza Weidle | NBC17.com
Education Reporter
May 09, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A report on the impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation finds that parents are the ones being left behind.

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Released during Friday’s town hall meeting with N.C. PTA leaders, the Appleseed Network findings show that parent involvement policies and initiatives are lacking in substance.

The report, “It takes a North Carolina parent: Transforming education under the No Child Behind,” focused on school efforts in parent involvement.

Educators said NCLB was considered “The single greatest issue in education today, followed by meeting the needs of all students and a lack of parent involvement.”

It has been six years since NCLB was created and educators wanted to know if it’s made the differences it could have.

NCLB places a legal obligation with school districts to “provide timely, accurate, clear and honest information and to establish sincere, precise, and convenient mechanisms for parents to contribute in a meaningful way to improvement efforts.”

The report found that while the opportunities “for laminating projects and taking up tickets at football games may have increased, the opportunities for parents to participate in a meaningful way have not been created.”

“Parents report that the law is frequently treated as a formality” said Edwin Darden, Appleseed director of education policy.

Researchers found that of the 115 districts in the state, most did have a parent involvement policy. Some districts including Chatham and Durham county only had guidelines for Title I schools.

Most school systems focus their efforts on schools that are in Title I status with children who generally come from families with low socioeconomic status.

“School systems need to develop a district-wide policy. The legislation indicates that schools need to be serious about parent involvement for all children. There must be a real expectation that parents are going to step up” said Darden.

Some parents are unsure of their rights under the law. Those who are aware find the NCLB reports untimely and unclear.

“I wasn’t aware that parent involvement is a required piece of NCLB,” said Trilby McClammy, Durham PTA Council president. “I don’t think principals believe parent involvement is important.”

The report also showed a lag time between the time a child sits for an exam and the time results come back. This is particularly true in North Carolina. This year, a new edition of the End-of-Grade test requires a new scale score range across grades 3 through 8 to be established and new achievement standards (cut scores) be set for each grade. The new standards will be presented to the State Board of Education in the fall. Once the standards have been set, the test reports can be created and given back to parents.

By the time test scores are released, the students have moved on to the next grade. For parents, this means the opportunity to address concerns that may be uncovered by the EOGs has long passed.

Major Findings to Parent Involvement

* External barriers are preventing parents from participating - especially parents of low socioeconomic status, limited English proficiency (LEP) and varying cultural expectations.
* Communication on student progress as well information on the school, district, and state parent involvement policy is limited.
* Information on NCLB legislation is unclear and untimely. Parents do not have information received in simple straightforward terms that allows them time to make choices offered by the law.
* Parents do not feel welcome in their child’s school. They believe they have little say in important educational decisions.

Recommendations for N.C. school districts, N.C. department of public instruction, and the federal government:

* Implement outreach initiatives to engage parents in poverty and parents who have limited proficiency.
* Adopt a more proactive posture and more creative outreach in school-parent communications.
* Disseminate NCLB progress results in a clear and timely way, provide parents with child-specific progress and must inform parents of how to take action in response to the information.
* Cultivate a warm, welcoming, and collaborative school environment where parents feel confident in their ability to approach the school with questions or concerns.

Appleseed completed the research during March and April 2008.