parent involvement

Gadfly links to a study comparing urban, suburban, and rural schools, and makes this observation:

That rural students' overall academic performance isn't higher may be surprising to those who believe that involved parents and satisfied teachers are the key to student academic achievement. The study found that rural parents are more likely to be involved in their children's schools and learning than in other locales, and that rural teachers are more satisfied with their jobs. (Involved parents are nice, but hardly necessary for students' success. As for teachers, competence and skill matter far more than how satisfied teachers are in their positions.)

It really is time for the parent involvement meme to go. There is a difference between experts and amateurs. Very few non-homeschooling parents can do what competent teachers can do. see: ten-year rule


The NSDC on parent involvement

So here is yet another edu-organization I've never heard of. The list goes on.

Their thoughts on parent involvement sound sensible enough.

Obviously it's better for a school to have good relations with parents than bad relations; if a school can build a working relationship with parents, so much the better. I had working relationships with C's K-5 teachers; I have a working relationship with Jimmy's and Andrew's teachers to this day. It's wonderful.

Schools should pay attention to the state of their relationships with parents (and taxpayers), just as all organizations should pay attention to the state of their relationships with the public.

But when it comes to the core mission of the school, which is the transfer of knowlege from one generation to the next, teachers are the people who know how to do that.

Leaving aside, of course, the fact that our schools of education have not believed in the transmission of knowledge since the 1960s.

But that's another story.


Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance
National Coalition for Parent Involvement in the Schools