Should Parents Dictate School Reforms?

Should Parents Dictate School Reforms?

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed education reform legislation on Jan. 7 that will give unprecedented power to parents whose children attend the worst-performing public schools. Under a provision known as the "parent trigger," if 50 percent of parents at a given school sign a petition, the school board must choose among several options, including closing the campus, converting to a charter, or replacing the principal and other administrators. Advocates of the controversial measure hope that it will make the state more competitive for Race to the Top money, in addition to improving education; opponents, such as the California Teachers Association, are concerned that the approach is too punitive.

Is the parent trigger a good idea? Did California make the right choice by adopting it, or should the state rely on other school improvement strategies?

-- Eliza Krigman, NationalJournal.com

The Parent Trigger Represents Hope

Ellen Winn - Director, Education Equality Project

The most innovative idea to emerge from the slew of state-based education legislation sparked by Race to the Top is the parent trigger (master-minded by the LA-based Parent Revolution). Parents and their children have an unquestionable stake in the quality of available public education. The parent trigger puts power in parents’ hands, enabling them to act decisively and swiftly to improve their local schools.

The parent trigger allows parents to kick-start the reform process and break the logjam of politics that paralyzes so many school districts, but does not pretend that parents alone will know what type of school reform is best for their local school. Choosing between a transformation strategy, a re-start, a charter strategy, or a closure is a complex decision – and the parent trigger gives all of the most important stakeholders (e.g., superintendents, educators, parents) a role.

The grim reality is that the achievement gap in California is profound. In 2006, 42% of CA’s students scored proficient in English Language Arts, with startling sub-group break-downs: 27.4% proficient – Hispanic, 29% proficient – African American, 60.3% proficient - white, 64.3% proficient Asian. The Education Trust West’s most recent analysis of the achievement gap in California found: “The racial and socioeconomic achievement gap exists across all subjects and remains largely unchanged over the past 7 years.” For the huge numbers of low-income and minority students assigned to consistently failing schools, triggering any of these reforms will be the first possible step towards ensuring they receive a better education and all the increased opportunities we know accompany it.

Now communities long-accustomed to excuses and foot-dragging in the face of schools that continually fail generations of children have an option, a chance to come together and make a permanent change in their local schools. Too often low-income parents feel stuck in under-performing schools, without the options middle- and upper-income parents have to “opt out” of the public school system. Most families are left feeling both disillusioned with their children’s schools and powerless to do anything about it. Now, when schools are failing their children, parents have an out. The parent trigger directly empowers a majority of parents to demand a large-scale change at their school and ensures that the decisions about how their school will be improved will be made carefully and inclusively.

Without Race to the Top, innovative reformers like Parent Revolution Executive Director (and EEP signatory) Ben Austin, and the many courageous parents fighting for their children, we would not have the opportunities for dramatic change the parent trigger represents. And how can we not want to increase opportunities for another generation of students trapped in under-performing schools?

VIEW THE SOURCE

Categories: Education News