As a parent

My experience in the public school system and my opinion on parental involvement.

As a parent of a college freshman, a 10th grader and a 3rd grader I (we) have always had the attitude that education is very much a team effort. Our plan started with a decision to live in the best school district/neighborhood we could find, in the least expensive rental we could find. We have always supported the teacher's efforts and taught the kids to have respect for their teachers. We have taught them that they will spend their lives dealing with all types of personalities, roll with it. Our school had an extremely involved principal and there were only a couple of teachers that were way off track. I still knew parents who did the best they could to make things work with said psycho teachers, trying to smooth things out for their kid's sake. The ethnic makeup of the school was a good diverse mix, but not really any illegal immigrants that I knew of. (I've had several friends who taught in other schools in the district in the lower income neighborhoods, and experienced great difficulty in gaining parental support). My overall experience through the years was that the principal and parents were all very supportive of the teachers. We moved last year and the school my 3rd grader attends is brand new. I am on the School Site Council and have been very impressed with the principal and quality of teachers. There is still a good diverse mix, but definitely a higher number of students who have less parental support. My point is, I believe that a weak (or strong) link in the parental support of fulfilling assignments, attitude toward teachers and all other aspects of school holds MUCH significance in the outcome of student success, and undeniably, the home environment as well. As for the whole NCLB issue, I have not seen much more than huge amounts of pressure and accountability on teachers' shoulders and unqualified students still being pushed forward, my college student's opinion also. Our old school has had the top API scores in the County for years. When my son was in 6th grade, his (amazing) teacher had recently transferred there, and was really working the class to bring their writing skills up. She felt our school was sorely lacking in this area, that they were concentrating on other skills for the test scores.
I gotta share this memory that I love:
One of my favorite teachers and most beneficial HS classes was called Future Studies, a creative writing class taught by Mr. Hooper, a (more sedate than) Robin Williams type guy with a big white guy fro and tight tan Angel Flights. His goal was to inspire us to envision the possibilities of the technological advancements burgeoning on the horizon of the 80's, and to teach us how to BS well in college. One day he wrote on the board "Compare and Contrast the working class..." I don't remember exactly, but he named a title we had never heard of. The class protested, no one had heard any assignment to read THAT, he replied that it didn't exist, just BS it. He kept a roll of toilet paper on his desk, to staple on your essay as part of your grade. I got three squares.