I’m so excited, I could bust!

Finally, after years of NCLB and the Bush rhetoric about parent involvement centering on parental choice, a study has concluded that parental choice doesn’t necessarily reap academic achievement.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin has had a pioneering effort to give parents choices as to where their children would attend school. So no one thinks I am hyperbolizing or making stuff up, let me share some significant quotes from the article. You can read the entire article here.

“A new study shows that the Milwaukee, Wis., school system’s pioneering move toward parental choice isn’t reaping significant educational achievement….The option does not seem to inspire parents to choose schools based on academics.

Only 10 percent of Milwaukee public school parents exercise choice by considering at least two schools and basing their decision on academic criteria and school performance, the study says.

The Milwaukee study, however, suggests that allowing parents to choose a school does not necessarily inspire parental involvement.

Milwaukee has been the focus for some time on the parental choice/voucher option as a way to improve public education. So far the results there give little comfort to that view.”

The Federal Government, since this administration has taken control, has completely disregarded what family engagement is, that being the strong relationships that need to exist between home and school so that a child’s academic progress is positively affected. Of course, in true Republican style, the right-wing think tank that did the study indicated that parental involvement may not be the key to school success. Unfortunately, even when being beaten with their own bat, they still don’t get it.

I have said in every speech and workshop that I have ever done that parents want to know that their child’s school cares about their children and that they have some say and understanding with regard to the education of their children. Simply giving them a choice of schools, most of which shun real involvement and parental engagement, is like giving them a choice between cancer and polio. Most parents believe that it is better to stay with the “devil they know.”

Don’t get me wrong, I think parents should have a choice in where their children are educated, whether that be at home, in public, or private school. I just don’t think it is prudent to define parental involvement as “parents right to choose a school.” That definition barely makes it into the category of shortsighted and self-serving.

Hopefully, hundreds of studies will be done and everyone will start to see what we have known for a long time; parent involvement is not the only conduit to improved achievement, but without it, we most likely will never get to where we want to be with regard to all children learning.