Beyond Pizza Sales
Parent Involvement in the 1990’s
Scratch the surface of parent involvement in schools and there’s no telling what you’ll find. In some schools it’s little more than rhetoric, with involvement frozen at the level of […]
Building Bridges with Books
D.C. Project Puts Parents in Classrooms
WASHINGTON, D.C. — They are urban education’s silent partners: parents with a direct stake in the quality of urban public schools but whom, for a variety of reasons, the schools […]
‘We Must Act as if All the Children are ours’
Interview with Parent Lola Glover
The following is condensed from an interview with Lola Glover, head of the parent and community-based Coalition for Quality Education in Toledo, Ohio. Glover is also co-chair of the National […]
Chicago School Reform: Giving Parents Decision-making Power
CHICAGO — Parent Denise Ferguson remembers the day in the spring of 1990 when the Local School Council at Hefferan Elementary School met with the principal to talk about the […]
Trouble over the Rainbow
Controversy Engulfs NYC’s Multicultural Curriculum
In a sudden end to his three years as head of the nation’s largest school system, New York City School’s Chancellor Joseph Fernandez found a pink slip instead of a […]
Parents Asking the Right Question
Boston Project Trains Parents
BOSTON — At 6:30 p.m., after a particularly cold winter day, about 25 public school parents gathered in a semi-circle. They sat nervously, awaiting the start of a school-related conference. […]
Why is Tracking Harmful?
What to Do If Your Child is on the Track to Nowhere
The following is adapted from an article by the National Coalition of Education Activists. The article is part of a packet on tracking entitled, “Maintaining Inequality.” Tracking is a way […]
Parents, the Law, and Education
How to Protect Your Rights
You want to see your child’s school records, but you’re told they’re private. What can you do? Your child’s locker is searched for no apparent reason. Is that legal? Your […]
The Feb. 16 MPS Referendum
Race and Property Taxes Deliver Knock-Out Punch
The defeat of the Milwaukee Public Schools referendum can be summed up in four words: race and property taxes. No one was afraid to focus on property taxes when criticizing […]
