If you're a parent, would you like it if your kid's school gave you a grade on your child's performance? Or if you had to fill out a form asking questions about how well you were preparing your kids for school?
In an effort to forge better communication between teachers and parents, some schools are sending parent report cards home to identify kids that are slipping through the cracks and need extra attention both at school and at home.
This morning, Matt interviewed Steve Edwards, a school board member in Manchester, Connecticut, who has proposed grading parents, and Julie Woestehoff of Parents United for Responsible Education, to discuss these issues. WATCH VIDEO
In my opinion, if your school system is operating properly, you have teachers, administrators, social workers, guidance counselors -- an army of people that should be able to say, "This kid's not doing their homework" or "This kid is coming to school without a winter coat."
I'm sure in a lot of cases, the people working at schools are shorthanded and overworked. But if we're talking about at-risk kids who are slipping through the cracks, there should be no bigger priority than to make sure those students are getting the attention that they need. And adding a level of bureaucracy by sending notices home for parents to fill out isn't going to cut down on the workload (after all, who's going to read all of those things?).
If a teacher notices that a kid isn't doing their homework or doesn't seem to be properly prepared for school, call the kid's parents. Make sure the parents are showing up for parent-teacher conferences. Do the usual things to make sure the parents are involved. But sending home a checklist to ask if their kids are properly fed before they come to school? I don't think that makes a lot of sense.
To be sure, the school administrators in Manchester shouldn't be faulted for taking an interest in their students. But it seems like there's a lot of wasted effort and energy in sending checklists for parents to fill out to defend their parenting skills.
Would it take much time for parents to fill out? Probably not. But the parents who have kids that need extra attention probably aren't going to fill out those checklists anyway. And if the teachers and administrators aren't seeing the warning signs of kids falling through the cracks, then they aren't doing their jobs.