Copyright 2000 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The
Plain Dealer
February 8, 2000 Tuesday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 673 words
HEADLINE:
BILL SEEKS;
TO INCREASE;
PARENTS' ROLE;
IN SCHOOLS
BYLINE: By KAREN MacPHERSON; BLOCK NEWS ALLIANCE
BODY:
Parents are more talk than action when it
comes to getting involved with their children's schools, according to recent
surveys.
Despite overwhelming evidence that parental involvement boosts
children's academic achievement, fewer than one-third of parents with children
in school now spend time helping teachers in the classroom, according to a
national survey done for the Horace Mann Educators Corp., an Illinois insurer.
And only one in four parents is active in a parent-teacher organization,
the survey of 1,000 adults showed.
The National PTA's own poll reflects
a similar divide between parents' attitudes and actions. While 91 percent of the
800 parents polled agreed that it is "extremely important" to be involved with
their child's school, only 38 percent felt they had much input into their
child's education.
Enter the federal government. Congress is considering
legislation that would bolster parent involvement requirements in the major
federal law affecting the nation's K-12 schools, the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act.
The bill, called the "Parent
Accountability, Recruitment and Education National Training Act," would allow
schools to use federal funds to increase parent involvement in a number of ways,
including:
Training teachers on how to effectively involve parents,
something few teachers learned at school.
Using technology, such as
e-mail, to strengthen communication with parents.
Including parent
involvement as a measure of a school's success.
The legislation builds
on the decades of experience gained from parent involvement programs that are
part of a federal education program known as Title 1. The program, established
in 1965, is designed to give extra academic help to low-income children who need
it to catch up with their peers.
"The PARENT Act is not a
one-size-fits-all federal program, or a costly mandate," Ginny Markell,
president of the National PTA, said in an interview.
"This is a sensible
outline for schools to develop stronger partnerships between parents and
educators. Research shows that parent involvement matters more to a child's
academic performance than parent income or education," Markell added.
The PARENT Act, initiated by the National PTA, is sponsored by two
Democrats, Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat, and Rep. Lynn Woolsey,
California Democrat. But the measure has bipartisan support, since even
Republicans who adamantly oppose any expanded federal role in education don't
want to come out against the idea of parental involvement in schools.
"In the past, we have told school districts that we wish you'd create
parental involvement programs, but you have to pay for the whole thing
yourselves. This legislation would let them use federal funds," Woolsey said in
an interview.
She noted, however, that the bill wouldn't necessarily
offer additional federal funds for parental involvement programs.
The
legislation still faces some obstacles, mainly because it is part of the massive
Elementary and Secondary Schools Act. Democrats and Republicans
in both the House and Senate are wrangling over what changes to make in that
law.
Darcy Olsen, director of education and child policy at the Cato
Institute, a Libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C., thinks the PARENT Act
is the wrong way to increase parental involvement in schools.
"There are
already 760 federal education programs right now crowding out parental
involvement," Olsen said in an interview. "There are breakfast programs, lunch
programs, after-school programs, you name it, there's a federal program taking
parents' place.
Other education experts, however, believe parents and
schools need some help in learning how to forge a new kind of partnership. They
welcome the federal help, saying the Title 1 parent involvement program has
really made a difference in student achievement.
"It makes parents more
knowledgeable about our curriculum, and it lets parents know how to help their
children," said Pat Crawford, a spokeswoman for Pittsburgh Public Schools.
LOAD-DATE: February 9, 2000 
