蜜桃影视

Washington, D.C.

Family engagement is key to getting education reform and school choice right, panelists said Tuesday at an event in Washington.

鈥淭here is so much goodwill around the [education reform] strategies that are being deployed,鈥� but leaders are often charging forward and missing opportunities to engage families and community leaders, said Robin Lake, director of the Center for Reinventing Public Education, an education research center at the University of Washington.

鈥淔ailing to go there is just a huge liability that鈥檚 unnecessary,鈥� she said at the event, held at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

There are many ways to go about it, she said, citing nonprofit groups in D.C. that provide one-on-one support to parents, or EdNavigator, a New Orleans鈥揵ased group that helps parents negotiate the city鈥檚 choice system and other challenging school-related interactions.

鈥�There are a ton of ways to make sure this works, and you have to commit to it. You have to fully commit to it because these are the families who most need high-quality options,鈥� Lake said.

The event coincided with the release of a CRPE evaluating school choice in 18 cities. The researchers looked at whether cities were continuously improving, if all students had access to high-quality options, and whether the education reform strategy is responsive to community needs.

鈥淣o city has got it absolutely nailed on any of these fronts, but in general we鈥檙e seeing a lot of momentum, real progress, tangible progress, and reason for optimism,鈥� Lake said.

CRPE researchers found that in a majority of cities studied, low-performing schools moved out of that performance status within three or four years; in 11 of 17 cities, high school graduation rates improved; and in five of 14 cities, students showed statistically significant improvements in math and reading proficiency. (Not all data were available or usable for all cities for every measure.)

The study intentionally does not get into the 鈥渞esults war鈥� of charters versus district schools, Lake said.

In many cities, including Washington, D.C., competition between charters, which enroll 46 percent of students, and district schools have benefited both sectors, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson said.

鈥淎bsent the insertion of choice, we didn鈥檛 have a lot of good schools. I鈥檓 not speaking about [just] D.C., I鈥檓 talking about a lot of urban areas 鈥� When parents have other options, I think it forces us to pay attention as a district,鈥� he said.

On access to quality options, the CRPE researchers found that most of the studied cities struggled with some 鈥渂asic choice supports鈥� like a common schools guide or application, or a lack of transportation to schools of choice.

And on measures of community acceptance, researchers found that almost every city has improved how it engages families, but 鈥渆ducation leaders are often perceived as non-responsive by community members because leaders fail to communicate back to families how their input has been used.鈥�

Family engagement is particularly key around the issue of school closures, both for traditional public schools and charters, and is a key component of education reform, panelists said.

Leaders should particularly recognize that it鈥檚 often the same communities, families, and children caught up in difficult school closure discussions, Wilson said.

鈥淚t does require a real understanding that there鈥檚 some families that are going through these conversations multiple times,鈥� he said.

Bryan Morton, executive director of Parents for Great Camden Schools, said data must be part of the conversation, and that education reform groups should be just as willing to condemn low-performing charters as they are poor district-run schools.

His group recently pushed for closure of a charter school (which he didn鈥檛 name) where proficiency rates were in the single digits 鈥� and parents didn鈥檛 know, he said.

鈥淲e really have to make data a regular part of the conversation,鈥� he added.

Panelists also briefly discussed how education reform has been affected by national politics. Some advocates have become wary of associating the movement, particularly charters, with President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Many people who are leery of school choice perceive it as taking away resources from traditional public schools, long seen as the great equalizer in American society, Wilson said, adding that 鈥渨e have to have public systems that work.鈥�

Lake was more optimistic, noting that there has been bipartisan support for public school choice.

鈥淚 expect that in the long run, that will hold, because folks in blue states and red states have an interest in better schools and more choices,鈥� she said.

The Walton Family Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provide financial support to 蜜桃影视, the Center for Reinventing Public Education, and the Brookings Institution.

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