Schools, families and communities working together have the capacity to craft and carry out effective solutions that will make a difference for students. It’s important to know how your neighborhood public schools are doing in order to focus your actions to have the most impact. There are several ways to do this. You can research information online (see below). You can enlist a volunteer or workgroup in your community to gather data or hire a consultant.
Few people question the value of parents being involved in schools. But many school leaders labor with traditional strategies that have little meaning or success. The underlying assumptions we have about our students have a dramatic effect on our ability to teach. The same holds true among adults. Even with the best of intentions, educators struggle to work with families without realizing that their own deficit assumptions are creating the barriers.
We chose to champion and speak for the inclusive, nondiscriminatory idea that all families are inherently good and worthy of being treated with respect, dignity and value (including those who are economically disadvantaged, minority or speak a language other than English)
