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Parental Involvement Webcast Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

August 26th, 2004Lorraine Wise

Office of Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs

Ronald Houston

State Director of School Improvement and Title I, Delaware

Dr. Sonia Diaz-Salcedo

Superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools

Bob Witherspoon

Senior Research Associate, RMC CorporationLorraine Wise, Office of Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs:

Hello I am

Lorraine Wise

with the Office of Student Achievement and SchoolAccountability Programs. Today we are going to talk about parental involvement andhow critical it is to the improvement of the education of our children.Joining me today we have

Ronald Houston

, State Director of School Improvement andTitle I, for Delaware.

Dr. Sonia Diaz Salcedo

, Superintendent of Bridgeport PublicSchools and

Bob Witherspoon

, Senior Research Associate, RMC Research Corporation.Let’s start talking about the activities that are taking place at the state level, the districtlevel and from your perspective, throughout the nation, relative to the Parents’ Right toKnow, annual report cards, public school choice and supplemental educational services,and how you are communicating this information to parents so that they can be a part of “No Child Left Behind.” We want to start with Ron.

Ronald HOUSTON, State Director of School Improvement and Title I, Delaware:

Good afternoon, and I’m really glad to be here with all of you and to talk about parentinvolvement. As a state representative I want to point out that parent involvement is veryimportant. As you know in this law, “No Child Left Behind,” parent empowerment isextremely important.Parents need to know about the accountability provisions in the law, how important it isfor children to achieve at a certain level, schools to achieve at a certain level. Parentsneed to be right in the front in the involvement of preparing applications and submissionsfor funding to the Department of Education, to receive these funds to help children toachieve, as well as all of the other provisions of the law regarding Parent’s Right toKnow, parent compacts and other areas where parent involvement is important, so I think it’s important to point these things out as we have this discussion.

Sonia Diaz-SALCEDO, Superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools:

And Lorraine, thank you also for the invitation to be here. Parent Involvement is a criticalelement in the work that I do and having served as a teacher, as a school administrator and currently as a superintendent, I can see the evolution that the whole notion of parentinvolvement has taken for the last 30 years.With the “No Child Left Behind” legislation, parent engagement has come to a differentlevel of sophistication and of intensity and it is a very critical time certainly in the urbansector, for us to look at the power that parents bring and the opportunity to give parents avoice with this legislation. The whole notion now of parent involvement is at a very, verydifferent level, particularly because parents have the right to know what is happening inschools and this piece has been formalized certainly through the legislation.In terms of all the other critical elements of this legislation as well, giving parents reportson how students are doing, how schools are doing, how districts are doing. I think we’ve

certainly brought that level of awareness to a different height and a different level.I’m very excited about the work that I’m doing, recognizing that parents as partners aregoing to make the work that I do more effective and help me be more successful intransforming schools into the kinds of places that really serve children in communities.

Bob WITHERSPOON, Senior Research Associate, RMC Research Corporation:

Good afternoon, thank you for the opportunity to be here Lorraine. “No Child LeftBehind” certainly, as Sonya just indicated, has raised the level of parent involvement to awhole new level. Now with the requirements in “No Child Left Behind,” parents have anew role, kind of parents as consumer, you have to select schools under the ChoiceProvision, you have to be aware of the Supplemental Services Providers, the SES provisions through extra tutoring. So it kind of enhances those parent roles that we’vealways recognized the parents as learners, parents as teachers, parents as supporters,where now “No Child Left Behind” has really elevated that to parents as consumers.Parents now have to understand data when you look at how schools are doing, how their own students are doing. When there are different providers, how do you select among a provider? How do you select a different school? It’s not just like going out to buysomething off a shelf, but you really have to become more deeply involved in howschools work, how they operate, what’s best for your child. What if there are no choiceswhere you are? How do you still make sure the school where your child is has animprovement plan and how parents are involved in that?So “No Child Left Behind” has clearly raised it to a whole new level that is veryencouraging to recognize the role of parents as partners.

Lorraine WISE:

All right, these things are complicated and interrelated issues, so how are you getting theinformation out to parents? Do they really understand the Parent’s Right to KnowProvision? Do they really understand school choice? Are they really able to partake of supplemental educational services? What mechanisms are you using to reach parents?Anyone?

Sonia Diaz-SALCEDO:

Before I answer that, I want to talk about the whole notion of accountability, and whatthis has done to public urban education in terms of involving parents and informing parents of their rights, and all the different pieces that go in the managing and therunning, and certainly the instructional part of a school.Parents now have a right to know all of the pieces that are going on in a school and withthe legislation this has evened out. Before we counted on the, certainly the intelligence,and the information, and the efforts of a school leader, and a teacher who really made