An Insider's Guide to Education for Parents

Change and Accountability For Your Child’s Education Begins At Home

I feel a bit caught up in the politics of education these days. There is so much activity, particularly at the Federal level, that has the potential to dramatically impact our educational systems from early childhood education through post-secondary education. The rhetoric is about change and accountability, both of which are sorely needed in education today. But none of this will happen without parents taking the lead, standing up for what is right for their children and in their communities.

This past week, President Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan went to Madison, Wisconsin to talk about educational reform, specifically highlighting the Race to the Top (RTTT) grant program, which is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

RTTT is a $4.35 billion competitive program that is designed to encourage and reward states that create the conditions for making significant improvements in student outcomes through educational innovation and reform. You may have heard about the RTTT funds in the context of the controversy regarding breaking down the “firewall law” in some states that says that you can’t link student performance with teacher evaluation, an automatic disqualifier for eligibility for the funds.

The RTTT calls for reform in 4 key areas:

Adopting internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace;
Recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers and principals;
Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices; and
Turning around our lowest-performing schools.

Yet despite President Obama’s commitment to direct significant sums of money to those states and districts prepared to move education from business as usual to a system of accountability and innovation, his speech in Wisconsin reaffirmed the personal responsibility of parents and students, who ultimately must own their own success or failure.

Citing an example with his daughter Malia, he spoke to the primary role of the family in advancing educational achievement:

Lifting up American education is not a task for government alone — it will take parents getting more involved in their child’s education. It will take schools doing more to reach out with parents. It will take students — students — accepting more responsibility for their own education.

So, while the health care debate seems to dominate the headlines and divide our country along partisan lines, the battle over our children’s future is also being waged. But whatever your political leaning or beliefs about education policy, the importance of family involvement in a child’s education, from infancy through the teenage years, is irrefutable. It is perhaps the most significant responsibility one could ever have.