Can anyone provide nuts & bolts advice how parents have gotten together to improve their local DCPS?

[Anonymous]

So glad the Cap Hill parents have managed to steal yet another thread where parents wanted to have a civil discussion on DCPS, to argue about which school is the best on the Hill. Can we leave the Brent/Maury/Deal arguments for another thread please? Some of us who live off-Hill would like to actually talk about real issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So glad the Cap Hill parents have managed to steal yet another thread where parents wanted to have a civil discussion on DCPS, to argue about which school is the best on the Hill. Can we leave the Brent/Maury/Deal arguments for another thread please? Some of us who live off-Hill would like to actually talk about real issues.

Hmmm... The OP asked what parents have done to improve their local DCPS. A few parents at some of the good schools on the Hill responded. Then some asshole said--basically--that the only reason Brent's any good is that yuppie scumbags throw money at the problem. To which a few other folks replied, essentially, that "you're a churlish ignorant fuckwit."

In any case, it seems that it was a Cap Hill hater who dragged the conversation off-topic, and further, it seems talking about some of the DCPS elementary schools that have become successful in the last half-decade or so is entirely appropriate to the discussion of "how parents have gotten together to improve their local DCPS".

So what's your problem? How about adding something to the conversation rather than adding to the BS quotient?

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't think you have a viable parent involvement if you don't don't have principal buy in. A lot of principals will say they want parents to be involved but the dirty little secret is that teachers and principals view most parent involvement that is not raising money for them as annoying and interfering. I will grant you a certain amount is, but if they really want to move these schools they will need to bring parents in and give them a role. Managing volunteers is hard and most principals just don't want to do it so they rely on a small cadre of parents to try and manage the Potemkin village of parental involvement. I can tell you as parent that feels like they have been bled dry trying to get other parents involved and an principal who really doesn't care about parents it is a dead-end road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't think you have a viable parent involvement if you don't don't have principal buy in. A lot of principals will say they want parents to be involved but the dirty little secret is that teachers and principals view most parent involvement that is not raising money for them as annoying and interfering. I will grant you a certain amount is, but if they really want to move these schools they will need to bring parents in and give them a role. Managing volunteers is hard and most principals just don't want to do it so they rely on a small cadre of parents to try and manage the Potemkin village of parental involvement. I can tell you as parent that feels like they have been bled dry trying to get other parents involved and an principal who really doesn't care about parents it is a dead-end road.

Wow, this bears repeating. Yes, ALL principals will talk up parental involvement but it's a pretty rara avis who actually wants to engage parents in any way beyond fundraising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't think you have a viable parent involvement if you don't don't have principal buy in. A lot of principals will say they want parents to be involved but the dirty little secret is that teachers and principals view most parent involvement that is not raising money for them as annoying and interfering. I will grant you a certain amount is, but if they really want to move these schools they will need to bring parents in and give them a role. Managing volunteers is hard and most principals just don't want to do it so they rely on a small cadre of parents to try and manage the Potemkin village of parental involvement. I can tell you as parent that feels like they have been bled dry trying to get other parents involved and an principal who really doesn't care about parents it is a dead-end road.

Wow, this bears repeating. Yes, ALL principals will talk up parental involvement but it's a pretty rara avis who actually wants to engage parents in any way beyond fundraising.

After 10 years w/ kids in DCPS, I have also found the above to be true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't think you have a viable parent involvement if you don't don't have principal buy in. A lot of principals will say they want parents to be involved but the dirty little secret is that teachers and principals view most parent involvement that is not raising money for them as annoying and interfering. I will grant you a certain amount is, but if they really want to move these schools they will need to bring parents in and give them a role. Managing volunteers is hard and most principals just don't want to do it so they rely on a small cadre of parents to try and manage the Potemkin village of parental involvement. I can tell you as parent that feels like they have been bled dry trying to get other parents involved and an principal who really doesn't care about parents it is a dead-end road.

Wow, this bears repeating. Yes, ALL principals will talk up parental involvement but it's a pretty rara avis who actually wants to engage parents in any way beyond fundraising.

After 10 years w/ kids in DCPS, I have also found the above to be true.

Thank you PPs! Very helpful in setting expectations. So, with or without naming names, what actions do the good principals take (like open office hours, dinner meetings, etc.) or characteristics (cheerleader, door greeter, etc.) do they show? I'm sensing imminent change in our school and would love suggestions on what to look for based on actual experiences in DCPS of what's possible. I've heard Eaton in NW and Beers in SE (Hillcrest, the posh part) are parent favs.

[Anonymous]

You have to build trust with a principal and demonstrate you aren't there to revise curriculum, hire/fire, decide the special schedule or any other number of things I've seen well-meaning parents attempt to do while "fixing" the school.

Showing up, being supportive and asking, "how can I help" can get you a long way. It's nice to drop the occasional kind word too. Principals hear very little of that sort of thing and I've found a sincere compliment, "what well-managed hallways" or what have you, can go a long way to cracking the ice.

Be sincere and be patient. Also recognize that at the end of the day, a good principal answers first to his or her students. Sometimes that means your needs as a parent or volunteer come second, or third. That's ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to build trust with a principal and demonstrate you aren't there to revise curriculum, hire/fire, decide the special schedule or any other number of things I've seen well-meaning parents attempt to do while "fixing" the school.

Showing up, being supportive and asking, "how can I help" can get you a long way. It's nice to drop the occasional kind word too. Principals hear very little of that sort of thing and I've found a sincere compliment, "what well-managed hallways" or what have you, can go a long way to cracking the ice.

Be sincere and be patient. Also recognize that at the end of the day, a good principal answers first to his or her students. Sometimes that means your needs as a parent or volunteer come second, or third. That's ok.

This is precisely the dilemma. If parents have no input on the curriculum, they might as well homeschool or send their kids to private.

The truth is, you can volunteer all you want and have very little impact on the quality of educational opportunities that are offered at your school. They will use you up with fundraising while your child languishes with a second-rate curriculum.

[Anonymous]

"If parents have no input on the curriculum, they might as well homeschool or send their kids to private."

Really? Do you think parents in Montgomery county get to weigh in (at the individual school level) on curriculum? I'd be surprised if parents the privates in the area get to change curriculum either.

I can think of lots of things that I've personally done to make our DCPS a better place, but I never thought for a minute I was qualified to make decisions on curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"If parents have no input on the curriculum, they might as well homeschool or send their kids to private."

Really? Do you think parents in Montgomery county get to weigh in (at the individual school level) on curriculum? I'd be surprised if parents the privates in the area get to change curriculum either.

I can think of lots of things that I've personally done to make our DCPS a better place, but I never thought for a minute I was qualified to make decisions on curriculum.

Give yourself more credit. It's not brain surgery

[Anonymous]

Parental pressure has definitely helped to push changes in curriculum at our private school, but it can take time.

[Anonymous]

Give yourself more credit. It's not brain surgery

.

Actually, curriculum development is a technical fine art.

It involves such skills as developing a true scope and sequence across all grade levels and all subject areas, and then being able to break down that scope and sequence into developmentally appropriate essential understandings, translate those into measurable learning goals that address both the skills and concepts behind the "understanding" (which is a jargon-y word, but is the clearest one I can fetch on a Sunday morning), designing appropriate and authentic learning experiences (without resorting to busywork worksheets, textbooks, or other canned curriculum because rote memorization does not result in true conceptual understanding), designing a method of true measures (both quantitative and qualitative) that truly assess and evaluate our learning activities and whether they actually achieved a learning goal/competency, and using that data to scaffold our next learning activity onto the understandings hopefully achieved/mastered/developed in the last unit. Then, of course, before moving on, really good curriculum development includes the skills of teaching students and teachers how to peer evaluate, self evaluate, and program evaluate, with the goal of teaching the same essential understanding better the next time.

Not to mention that, ideally, very good curriculum development means making accommodations to every learning activity to meet every student's learning needs and style.

Brain surgery? No. But designing excellent curriculum is a specialized skill set and attitudes like the pp's are not going to help anyone improve schools.

I think, however, that what parents can do to improve curriculum is to find out what their teachers need to become very good curriculum developers and practitioners. Find out what the goals are in your child's classroom and school and ask the teachers how equipped they feel to meet those goals. Ask them how they feel about the professional development opportunities in their school or district. Then work on researching and lobbying for more high quality professional development in curriculum design and development.

There are many important things that can be done to improve schools. Investing in a high quality teaching force is one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to build trust with a principal and demonstrate you aren't there to revise curriculum, hire/fire, decide the special schedule or any other number of things I've seen well-meaning parents attempt to do while "fixing" the school.

Showing up, being supportive and asking, "how can I help" can get you a long way. It's nice to drop the occasional kind word too. Principals hear very little of that sort of thing and I've found a sincere compliment, "what well-managed hallways" or what have you, can go a long way to cracking the ice.

Be sincere and be patient. Also recognize that at the end of the day, a good principal answers first to his or her students. Sometimes that means your needs as a parent or volunteer come second, or third. That's ok.

Building trust with the Principal is a good move all around, I agree. But what if revising the curriculum, hiring/firing, augmenting the specials schedule etc. are exactly what need to happen to "fix" the school? If parents of the actual children in the school don't push for these changes, who will? In some cases, getting rid of the current principal may be the first thing that needs to happen!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Give yourself more credit. It's not brain surgery

.

Actually, curriculum development is a technical fine art.

It involves such skills as developing a true scope and sequence across all grade levels and all subject areas, and then being able to break down that scope and sequence into developmentally appropriate essential understandings, translate those into measurable learning goals that address both the skills and concepts behind the "understanding" (which is a jargon-y word, but is the clearest one I can fetch on a Sunday morning), designing appropriate and authentic learning experiences (without resorting to busywork worksheets, textbooks, or other canned curriculum because rote memorization does not result in true conceptual understanding), designing a method of true measures (both quantitative and qualitative) that truly assess and evaluate our learning activities and whether they actually achieved a learning goal/competency, and using that data to scaffold our next learning activity onto the understandings hopefully achieved/mastered/developed in the last unit. Then, of course, before moving on, really good curriculum development includes the skills of teaching students and teachers how to peer evaluate, self evaluate, and program evaluate, with the goal of teaching the same essential understanding better the next time.

Not to mention that, ideally, very good curriculum development means making accommodations to every learning activity to meet every student's learning needs and style.

Brain surgery? No. But designing excellent curriculum is a specialized skill set and attitudes like the pp's are not going to help anyone improve schools.

I think, however, that what parents can do to improve curriculum is to find out what their teachers need to become very good curriculum developers and practitioners. Find out what the goals are in your child's classroom and school and ask the teachers how equipped they feel to meet those goals. Ask them how they feel about the professional development opportunities in their school or district. Then work on researching and lobbying for more high quality professional development in curriculum design and development.

There are many important things that can be done to improve schools. Investing in a high quality teaching force is one of them.

Are DCPS teachers actually developing curricula anyway? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those decisions made by the Chancellor's office and then handed down by fiat? Even if they're not, and if individual schools are allowed to select curricula, does that mean the teachers develop them? Or isn't it more likely that they're purchasing an off-the-shelf package like McRuffy v. Spectrum or Everyday Math v. Saxon?

And if that's the case, why shouldn't parents have a say in that decision?

[Anonymous]

I am the pp that wrote about Principal buy in. They have to get that the parent base they have is the parent base they need to address. If a principal that that gets that, then they will make sure their communication strategies reach out to parents-i.e. remove jargon and simplify language, translate information, use multiple methods of communication phone, web etc. Encourage two ways. Too many are afraid parents complaining at PTO is bad. It is a lot better for it to be said in an open forum than all of us start emailing each other and bitch and gripe at pickup. They will state priorities and ways that parent can measure those priorities. They will open up the school for parent participation. Finally they will need to understand if the previous principal did not encourage involvement then they will need to retail politic yeas shake hands, talk to parents. Schools can improve without parents, but they can't be great without them. Too many principals miss that last point.