Being an Advocate for Your Child

This principal wants what you want: whatever is best for your child. Be sure all the adults in your child's life are informed of problems, and maintain a united front with these professionals.

By Lisa Hummel

As parents, we’ve probably all found ourselves in situations where we were concerned about something going on at school (or something our children have told us was going on at school) and been unsure about whether and how to speak up about it.  Having had this occur often lately with my own children, I’ve been mulling over the most effective way to be an advocate for my children.  I’ve found that there can be a fine line between being an advocate and being a pest.  I do try not to be a pest or to micro-manage my kids’ education, yet it is my responsibility to see to it that their educational needs are being met as well as possible.

The worst example I can think of when a parent  did not advocate for her child was when I was teaching high school science .  A freshman girl in the English teacher’s room next to mine said she didn’t feel very well.  Thinking she was nauseous, he sent her down the hall to the bathroom.  What she meant, though, was that she had a seizure coming on.  She left as she was told and had that seizure on the hard stone stairs on her way down to the nurse, unaccompanied by anyone.  This could have resulted in a severe injury, but luckily it did not.  It turns out that this girl, new to the school like every other freshman student, was subject to frequent violent seizures and nobody informed the teachers.  This was a dangerous situation in which her parents should have made sure that all the adults who were responsible for her knew about this problem.  In a case as serious as this, parents needed to make sure all the teachers were made aware.  Don’t assume that school personnel have passed on information, especially if your child is in a new school or class.

An excellent example of parent advocacy for a child with special health needs happened when I was teaching at a summer camp.  The mom knew that we had no nurse, and she made sure we knew her child had a severe food allergy.  She was apologetic about it, but she asked for a meeting with me and the camp director to discuss the allergy, including the child’s use of an epi-pen if needed.  This mom actually took the time to show us how to use the pen, letting us practice stabbing it into an apple to get the feel for it.  It may sound silly, but as a teacher who is not a trained health professional, I was very appreciative of this mother’s proactive efforts.  Happily, we never needed the epi-pen, but I was very comfortable having this student in my class, knowing I was prepared for a possible emergency.

Of course, if we’re lucky, it is not about severe health problems that we worry when it comes to our kids at school.  Rather, we find ourselves concerned with academics, discipline, and social issues.  We may think our child has too much homework, or not enough, or is being teased or distracted.  Maybe the curriculum in our children’s school is inadequate or the discipline is too lax.  Whatever the case, I’ve met many parents who have concerns like these but are afraid to say anything about them.  Maybe they feel that if they “rock the boat,” their child will be retaliated against for it.  I suppose that’s not impossible, but I have found that when I bring up a concern, school administrators and teachers are generally receptive and interested in improving the situation.  They want good outcomes for their students, and constructive feedback parents give them is usually appreciated, especially when it is given in a respectful manner.

When I have an issue with a teacher or principal, I of course try to keep it just between the adults, not involving my child in any way that would sow seeds of discord or disrespect in the classroom.  As far as the kids know, the school and their parents are a united front.  Kids need to show respect for people in authority and to understand that even decisions they don’t like may not be theirs to make.  Before I had kids of my own, I remember a student telling me what her wise parents told her and her siblings: “You do what the teacher says, and if there’s a problem, you come home and tell me, and I’ll deal with it.”  So while these parents knew teachers weren’t infallible, they also wanted their kids to learn in no uncertain terms that it was not their role to argue with their teachers.  Those students got the message that they were to be respectful, but also that their parents would stand up for their interests.  Parents like these were mature enough to get both sides of the story and make their objections in a constructive manner.  Parents who don’t get good results from this should follow the chain of command, starting with the teacher but moving on to the principal, superintendent, and school board if necessary.

Finally, being an advocate for our children doesn’t stop at the individual needs of each child.  As a society, we must advocate for effective education for all the children in our collective care.  If something happening in your school or district (even if your own children go to a private school) seems detrimental to the kids’ education, pay attention.  Go to a school board meeting, write an e-mail, make a phone call, and make your voice heard.  I think sometimes the school board only hears the voices of the central office administrators, but when these people are making decisions that harm the students, such as taking away recess or a treasured music program, parents and community members need to speak up.  We are the taxpayers and the voters who put the school boards in place, and we need to be watchdogs for our children.  Let the school board and others know when you like what they’re doing, thanking them for their public service, and also let them know when their decisions harm kids.  Ignoring problems when they don’t directly affect your own child doesn’t help.  As a society, especially in our struggling economy, we need the best-educated people we can get.

 

The Role of Sports in Educating a Young Person

How likely is your child to ever play in front of paying fans?

I’m not just a teacher, parent of a student-athlete, and a sports fan, but I’m also a high school referee for soccer, so I’ve got lots of competing perspectives on this topic. I’m going to focus here on what parents should know about student athletics, and a few do’s and don’ts. In a later post, I’ll give my referee’s perspective on parent behavior at the games, as that’s not a commonly-heard view. But for today, let’s stick to the athletes themselves.

First, do NOT plan on your little athlete making money playing sports for a living, or even for attaining a college scholarship. I read somewhere (if anyone knows where I can find this stat, please let me know, as I’ve looked in vain) that only about 1% of high school athletes go on to play at college, and of those only 1% will ever get paid a single dollar to play in a professional sport, even semi-pro small-town baseball, much less in the majors! And for those who do have the talent to possibly go further, lots can get in the way. Injuries, of course, but also academics, loss of passion for their sport, even the development of poor character and judgment. By way of example, I did the math one time for my students at Riverview Gardens High School, and showed that they could expect a professional athlete to come out of their school about every 10-15 years. And, I pointed out, when I was new, two football players were there who eventually made it to the NFL for a while, so the odds were even more against them! In short, if your kid likes sports, great. If s/he’s good at it, even better. Enjoy it for what it is.

Second, along those lines, do NOT think that better coaching, officiating, etc., is going to turn your kid into a professional athlete. Different sports look for different things in their players: size, quickness, toughness, strength, agility, passion, and other unquantifiable qualities that we have no control over. To take the classic “Michael-Jordan-got-cut-from-his-high-school-basketball-team” story and reverse it, Michael Jordan was so good that better judges of raw talent found him; I believe he was destined to be a professional basketball player, no matter what his high school basketball program did to him.

Third, and this goes for all parents of all athletes of any age, use the sport to teach about commitment. I’m sure there doesn’t exist an athlete who hasn’t dreaded the occasional practice, made a game when they really wanted to be somewhere else, or even had a team they wanted to quit. Even at the youngest levels, be sure your child understands what commitment to a team means BEFORE you sign them up for a sport, and then expect them to follow through on that commitment. Obviously, commitment grows more serious as your child gets older, and there are often good reasons to miss practices and even games, but don’t let them out of a practice or a team activity “just because.” Otherwise, they won’t really get the lessons of team sports–sign them up for tennis or golf, instead.

Fourth, GO TO THE GAMES AS THEY GET OLDER (sorry for yelling). First, the action gets much better, and it’s a lot more entertaining to be a fan. But second, if your kid is playing ball in middle or high school, they’re doing it because they love it. How many other things does your tween and teen allow you to watch them do that they love, and that they do with their friends? Also, seeing 20-30 high school kids give their all on the field in front of five fans (I see that a lot in soccer) is just sad. They’ll be gone sooner than you know–wouldn’t it be great to talk about that awesome play they made over dinner that evening? I know, a lot of high school game times are inconvenient for working adults; make the ones you can. Make it a priority.

Finally, and this goes back to point one, keep your perspective about it all. Our kids (even the teens) do look to us for guidance on attitudes and behavior, so if you keep the sport in its proper place (behind homework and academics, ahead of video games), it’ll help them do so as well.

 

Progress Reports: What They Mean to Teachers

Report cards used to be very simple. Is all the new data we get on our kids all that helpful?

I know progress reports are going to start coming out at the end of this week and into next week for some schools here in St. Louis, so let me take a few minutes and tell you what they mean to teachers.

First, don’t forget that teachers know how interested you are in their child’s progress, and they generallly do their best on any kind of report that’s sent home to you, including these very short-term reports that come at the halfway point of each quarter. That said, though, for middle and high school teachers, progress reports are undoutedly the LEAST important communication they’ll have with you all year. In a lot of classes, especially for those schools on some kind of block schedule, tests are given about once every three weeks, so each progress report will only have one test reflected in the grade, and that often turns out to be a very incomplete picture of what will eventually be the quarter grade. Historically, quarter grades were just “progress reports” themselves; don’t most of us have high school transcripts that reflect only semester grades?

For elementary teachers, progress reports are easier to compile; that’s the nature of having 20-30 students vs. 100-130 students. But parents should rest assured that if your child is having trouble in the class (that extends outside the norms of the class and the school), you almost certainly will have been contacted in some form by the teacher or adminstrator. These forms of contact can take the form of a phone call or e-mail, but might also include an office referral for behavioral issues, or a test being sent home for a parent’s signature.

The truth, though, about progress reports is that most teachers find them to be a pain, particularly in this new era of computer-generated report cards. While they usually look just like regular report cards, they have little weight compared to a quarter grade, much less the permanent semester grade. Also, where previously only kids in “trouble” would receive a progress report, now everybody gets one, and many schools require teachers to put a comment on it for each kid. This leads to teachers having a rack of 5-10 generic comments (whose computer input codes they’ve memorized) that they then apply to every child, no matter how meaningless. Because really, progress reports just get in the way of what teachers want to do with their planning time: plan better lessons to teach our kids more effectively!

One last thought. Good tests (with short answer and even essay questions) and projects take time to grade, sometimes weeks to give each student their fair due. These often get graded at the end of quarters, and have a huge impact on the final grade, and they aren’t reflected on the progress report. So take the progress report with a grain of salt. And if you really want to keep up with your child’s grades, get on your school’s parent access list, and you can see the teacher’s gradebook right in front of you. Be concerned when you see zeros for homework, and test scores much lower than your child’s natural aptitude. That’s going to tell you that your child’s not putting the effort in they need to be successful.

 

The Original Cheater Under No Child Left Behind: Secretary of Education Rod Paige

Any dropouts in Houston, Secretary Paige? "I see nut-sing! Nut-sing at all!""

We all know that No Child Left Behind is extremely unpopular with teachers and administrators, particularly in schools that serve lower socio-economic students. These schools fell victim to the draconian “corrections” NCLB  mandates more quickly than those with stable middle-class and upper middle-class families, and the pressure on them has been intense. For those who don’t know, NCLB required a continual increase in the test scores of groups and sub-groups (income levels, races, special education status, etc.), until 2014, at which point every school in the land would have all of its sub-groups performing proficiently, at least. This comical goal, reminiscent of Lake Woebegone’s promises of nothing but above-average children, was nevertheless embraced by the poorest and (surprise, surprise) lowest-performing schools in the country. Much of this embrace was based on belief in the so-called “Houston Miracle.”

Rod Paige served as superintendent of Houston’s public schools, overseeing the miracle. What exactly was this miracle? In some of the poorest high schools in the city, with a heavily transient population (including kids who would head back to their native Mexico, never to be heard from again), for several years there were ZERO dropouts reported. Most urban high schools have a dropout rate of 20-40%, and heading higher all the time, and in these Houston schools freshman classes of 1000 were graduating 300, but still there were NO dropouts. Amazing! In Houston at the time, those leaving school were coded, and the “unknown” (dropout) code was essentially forbidden. So every student that left school “officially” transferred to another high school, moved on to community college, was pursuing a GED, or … or … well, I don’t know, but I’m sure they had a good explanation for where that student had gone.

So how do you get educators, people who chose to forego economic rewards and social status and dedicate their lives to helping kids, to falsify data like this? You scare the living hell out of them! (I’ll discuss how that fear has infected the entire system, and cost schools great teachers, and some great teachers their jobs, in a later posting)

Now, all of this would just be a sad little story of one man’s over-zealous abuse of power in one school system, but for this important fact. Rod Paige, superintendent of Houston public schools during the falsifying of most of this data, and during most of George W. Bush’s governership of Texas, was President Bush’s selection for Education Secretary! He planned to bring the “Houston Miracle” to poor schools across the country. He sold himself to the president and to Senator Ted Kennedy, co-authors of NCLB, as a butt-kicking CEO that brought needed focus and discipline to those lazy teachers and principals in Houston schools, and convinced them that a new law doing the same would turn urban education around. For those paying attention to urban education, how’s it all working out?

What kills me is that when this dropout scandal was reported in the mainstream media, it didn’t really enter the educational discussion. Paige survived in his job (he later retired under no evident pressure), and NCLB survived as well, to terrorize an entire generation of educators, and making liars and cheaters out of a huge number of them. Meanwhile, the kids in those schools continue to suffer from the rapid turnover of staff and “reforms” NCLB has forced on them.

For more specifics, check out this article from “Rethinking Schools”: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/bushplan/drop181.shtml

 

College Placement Exams and Your Incoming Freshman

Your child may not be ready for this...

By Dr. Shirley C., professor at a large state university

You remember that the college-planning year goes like this: College tours? Check. College admissions and aid packages in? Check. Prepared for college placement exams? Ch… placement exams? Those didn’t exist when I went to college.

Given the variability in the high-school preparation of incoming college freshmen, many public colleges are requiring all incoming students to take a math placement exam and possibly an English and/or science placement exam. Admission into college-level classes is no longer based on the high-school transcript or on SAT/ACT scores, but instead on these all-important placement exams. These exams may be computer based and timed, and students may have to take them before they can attend a freshman registration day.

Why placement exams? I teach engineering at a public university and assist with freshman advising. Therefore, I see the effects on students’ academic careers of poor math, science and English preparation. Pre-engineering students who come into college testing into Algebra I are starting at a major disadvantage;. they will require a year of math before they can move into many engineering classes, including physics. Even students who take calculus in high school may not be prepared for the rigor of college-level calculus. It is tough. Almost all college students were good students in high school. The ones with poor high school grades did not go to college. No one in college was at the bottom of his/her class.

Why do these low scores happen? As an adviser/faculty, I put it into one or more of three categories: (1) poor testing taking skills, (2) underestimating the importance of these exams, especially since many take them around prom or graduation, and (3) inadequate preparation in high school classes. How can I tell which category it is and whether a retest is a good idea? If the high school transcript does not include at least pre-calculus, I assume placement into Algebra II/Trigonometry is correct. If the high school transcript includes AP calculus and good SAT/ACT scores, I wonder about test taking skills. If I have a Dean’s list GPA but a mediocre SAT/ACT score in math or if the transcript and placement do not match, I wonder about the quality of the preparation or test taking skills.

What can parents do? If you are already at the college advising session, first, DO NOT yell at your child. Support them; this is disappointing for them also. Help them decide what they need to do to be successful in college. Then, go home and share your stories with your local schools. Encourage better standards (we don’t believe high school grades at the college level unless it is a nationally-ranked high school).

If your child has not taken the placement tests yet, remind him/her how important these tests are. Then encourage preparation. Look at your child’s high school classes and their scores on standardized tests. Do they match? If not, does your child need to review the material to demonstrate his/her skills? Do they need to improve test taking ability?  Then you need to decide how you can help your pre-freshman be as ready for college as possible.

 

Why Has Test Prep Become So Popular? Should It Be?

Testing has become more prevalent, more emphasized, and yes, more important to your child's future.

The past decade has seen a huge jump in test preparatory courses being offered to high school students across this country. In fact, many high schools now have an ACT/SAT prep course as part of their regular course offerings to their juniors and seniors, and the test is supposed to reflect what the students have learned in their regular classes!

We also see a constantly-growing list of alphabet-soup tests given throughout our kids’ school lives: MAP, PLAN, PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP, IB, ASVAB, MCAT, LSAT, GRE, and the recently added Missouri EOCs. (*)  The kids themselves have trouble keeping all of these tests straight, and to parents it’s a larger mystery. What we are certain of, though, is that we’re all being told how important each of these tests is to our child’s future. I have to admit, as both a father and a teacher, I do not like the emphasis placed on these tests, and particularly the way that these tests are used as excuses by all sorts of people to produce anxiety in parents, and therefore a profit for themselves.

However, I will also admit that I understand why so many rely on these high-stakes tests to make decisions about our kids’ academic futures. Simply put, school records (GPAs, reference letters, etc.) have become thoroughly unreliable as predictors to students’ future academic success, so all sorts of institutions have come to rely on the tests as ways of evaluating individual students, as well as the schools they come from. It’s harsh, but it’s about the only option colleges have to compare students.

The way I see it, this all started with the tender hearted, but ultimately misguided, self-esteem movement of the ’60s and ’70s. Even though the benefits of high self-esteem as a means of building educational achievement have been thoroughly discredited (for example, the people with the highest self-esteem are criminals, gang members, and psychopaths), schools continue to believe that kids are damaged when they are told something, anything, that doesn’t affirm their lofty thoughts of themselves. Hence the movement, in some schools districts, to eliminate the following: dodge ball and other competitive games in gym; class rankings; Ds and Fs; even teachers’ red pens. The upshot is that teachers are afraid to give students low marks, no matter how appropriate to the individual’s lack of effort and achievement, and we now have the weird phenomenon of high schools with 10-15 valedictorians, all tied with a  perfect 4.0 GPA. Furthermore, so many teachers have bought into this idea about their own kids being SOOO great that there is not just “grade inflation,” but even “reference inflation.”  This is when teachers use superlatives in most of the reference letters they write, making each candidate for college entry indistinguishable from the others.

So what’s left to use to evaluate the real capabilities, achievements and potential of students? Only standardized tests. And that’s why they’ve become so important.