02.12.07 Opening Pathways for Parental Involvement Under No Child Left Behind
Opening Pathways for Parental Involvement Under No Child Left Behind
Chicago Appleseed Report Details School/Parent/Community-based Solutions for Improving Student Achievement in Illinois
Few people would argue with the notion that parental involvement improves student success in school. Until now, however, little effort has been made to come up with systematic solutions for increasing the role parents play in their children's education. In a new report, Improving Parental Involvement in Illinois Under the No Child Left Behind Act, Chicago Appleseed offers a model for creating organizational structures that foster parental involvement even in the most disadvantaged school districts.
The report is a follow-up to Appleseed's national study, It Takes a Parent: Transforming Education in the Wake of the No Child Left Behind Act. The report found that poverty, limited English proficiency and varying cultural expectations are among the biggest barriers to parental involvement. It also found that such barriers limit parents' ability to exercise their rights under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), including school choice and supplemental education options. Although section 1118 of NCLB mandates that schools create plans for comprehensive parental involvement programs on a local and community level, it offers little direction on how to do that.
The Chicago Appleseed report was based on the examination of three Illinois school districts (Bloomington, Evanston/Skokie, and Waukegan) as well as interviews with parents, educators and community groups. It found that schools and districts need to work from the top-down to initiate parental involvement and create organizational structures that make parental involvement a priority. At the same time, parents need to work from the bottom-up to take advantage of those structures and make the programs flourish. The report found that community organizations can play a vital role in training parents in the skills they need to interact comfortably and effectively with schools.
Link...