NCLB Reauthorization
PEN pushes for stronger parental involvement measures

By Patti Mohr

After spending three years interviewing the public about the NCLB, the Public Education Network released policy proposals this week recommending a series of new requirements for schools, districts and states to improve student achievement.

What sets the coalition apart from the hundreds of other associations making reauthorization suggestions is that it wants parents to have a stronger say over their children’s education.

PEN, which advocates for public schools serving low-income communities, called on Congress to expand NCLB’s accountability system by requiring schools and districts to factor parents’ involvement into their annual performance evaluations.

School districts would need to report to states about steps taken to involve parents and communities in development decisions. They would also have to prove they are implementing the Section 1118 parental involvement provisions – a popular but weak portion of the current law.

PEN would impose new requirements on stakeholders at every level of the education spectrum:

1. States would have to hire a “sufficient number” of qualified staff to work with districts and schools to address parental concerns, assess local training needs, and provide appropriate technical assistance.

2. Teachers’ colleges would have to require students to complete courses in parent and community involvement.

3. Schools and districts identified as being in need of corrective action would have to appoint a full-time community coordinator to seek input from educators, parents, community leaders, and higher education and other specialists familiar with school data and evaluation to develop a school improvement plan.

4. The Education Department would need to develop a complaint procedure by which parents could hold states and school districts accountable for implementing parental involvement provisions.

The goal of involving communities in school instruction is not a new one. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., would authorize hundreds of millions of dollars to help public schools offer more services to their communities.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, would invest as much as $260 million in school community outreach centers to help manage relationships between educators and parents.