We must increase accountability

(5/1/2011)

In recent months, as I have addressed and proposed changes in public education to improve student learning, I have notably neglected a critically related topic: the roles and responsibilities of individuals and parents. The truth is that the best classroom innovation is not enough. We will never truly improve public education to the degree necessary if we don't effectively address individual and parental accountability.

Educators accurately claim that there is no large "stick" for enforcing parent accountability. Kicking students out of school is a disservice to society at large, which benefits from an educated populace. Otherwise forcing parent involvement proves difficult.

Rather than attempting to enforce accountability, we can take the more productive route of leveraging accountability through the enormous "carrot" available: gaining a meaning education and the improved outcomes that result. Parents care deeply for their children and this "carrot" can be the foundation of encouraging parents to be engaged partners in the educational process.

Research over the past three decades consistently demonstrates the value from parent and community involvement in education. Such involvement correlates with higher grades and test scores, school attendance, improved behavior, graduation, and enrollment in higher education.

While debates in education reform often plant excuses in the socioeconomic status of low-performing students, parent participation in education is twice the predictor of student achievement than socioeconomic status. And while strategies and approaches to achieving this involvement vary, research and experience demonstrate that increasing parental and community involvement in education is an accessible path for making gains in student achievement.

As an educational community, we can better encourage parental involvement and thus more effectively leverage this vehicle for improvement in education. No longer can once-yearly student conferences (which have decreasingly low attendance rates as students progress through middle and high school) be an acceptable means through which to cultivate effective parent involvement in education.

While fundamentally challenging to dictate, creating avenues to invite and encourage more fruitful and authentic opportunities for parents to engage with their students is a necessary step in increasing student achievement. Through minimal investment, the state could equip parents with online resources that 1) outline measurable learning milestones that students in each grade-level should achieve, 2) provide student assessments that could be administered at home, and 3) provide learning activities parents can use with their children to support attainment of established milestones. These resources, which acknowledge research that demonstrates that achievement gains are greatest when parent involvement is directly linked to student learning, would empower parents to be accountable partners within education.

Additionally, to encourage student accountability, we must show students what they can achieve through education and to help them apply what they are learning. We must expect the best of our students and then empower students to achieve at those levels.

Through my work with teenagers for many years, I often quip that there are two types of parents: those that have very high expectations for their children and those that do not. And few are ever surprised. I suspect the same can be said for teachers. I've seen teachers who've had very high expectations of their students be able to work magic. Not all students are willing, in those circumstances, to rise to the occasion. But often, many are.

Simply put, as a collective and direct beneficiary of public education, we must invest in this resource as parents and as a larger community. Leaving the job in the hands of teachers alone neglects the rich resources available and the value created when we collectively--as parents and community members--invest in our greatest public commodity: education.