Parent Perception

Parent perception of schools are greatly influenced by a variety of factors. The media often portrays education in a negative light which often colors the way parents work with schools. The school I currently work at has many challenges but I believe that we are making inroads towards improvement; some of the improvements, however, are made in spite of parent/community negative attitude instead of a helpful and positive attitude as seen in some schools. I firmly believe that parents and community can make a difference; but the question is, in what directions. Groups that are interested in only being critical make the environment of a school more difficult as opposed to groups who work with the school to address the problems. No one is advocating putting thier head in the sand, instead what we need to do is work together to improve student achievement.

Tutoring

A report of a study indicates that tutoring may not help students. There is more and more research that shows that tutoring is most effective when provided by a credentialed teacher. Teaching is something that everyone has an opinion on but it’s really not something just anyone can do. Unfortunately, the tutoring provided by NCLB has very limited accountability. Of the programs that I’ve seen, very few seem worth while. However, it seems in vogue to suggest anything besides public education is better. What we are seeing from programs like this and from some charter schools is that not being in a traditional public educational setting does not mean your better. Clear expectations need to be set and accountability’s laid bare otherwise we continue the same loop of the students who need the most support receiving the least.