One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood – Agatha Christie
Do you want to change a policy in your children’s schools?
Do you feel that the school is wonderful, but that small changes would make it even better?
Are you worried that your child is not getting the best experience possible?
Do you feel hopeless about improving your child’s education?
Today’s parents are increasingly aware of the importance of education and the formative years in a child’s life. This awareness translates into a greater involvement in their child’s schooling. Of course, the concept of “helicopter parents” has also emerged in the last few decades – parents who hover over their children and do not give them space to breath. Should we get involved in our children’s education? Should we let those in charge do what they do best? What’s the balance that parents should strike?
In their book Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids, authors Denise Pope, Maureen Brown, and Sarah Miles write about what they feel (and research shows) is the best balance for school change:
We believe that effective school change happens when all stakeholders – administrators, faculty, parents, counselors, and students – come together to identify problems and work on solutions. This is not a revolutionary concept, but how often have we seen reform efforts superimposed on schools with little student or teacher voice or input, and how often have we watched them fail? School reform experts agree: When schools work with a team of stakeholders in a focused way, they can make real progress toward improving policies and practice.
Basically, what Pope, Brown and Miles are saying is that parents shouldn’t hover and tell the teachers and administration what’s wrong. Instead, parents, teachers, students, and administrators should come together to identify problems and enact solutions. This isn’t a revolutionary concept, but most of the time, we see parents push solutions on schools or we see administrators push solutions on parents. The idea behind their research is that all stakeholders should be involved in the process.
What are the issues most people think need to be changed and improved on? Obviously, each school has its own unique characteristics, but the researchers came up with five categories that they identified as the main types of change in schools. They use the word SPACE to organize these categories.
Students’ schedule and use of time: This category of school change is one that is often the most obvious to identify and then also the most difficult to solve. Among the issues that arise is the daily schedule. For instance, parents might feel that school starts too early or ends too late, and teachers and administration might feel that they need this extra time to finish their rigorous curriculum. There are many creative ways to play around with scheduling, but of course, everyone needs to be on board so that students, parents, teachers, and administration are satisfied. Other issues that can fall into this category are homework policies, new bell schedules, and block scheduling.
Project- and problem-based learning: Sometimes the school community is not cohesive. Different departments, teachers, classes, grades, or subjects end up being segmented. This category deals with incorporating community building school-wide projects that improve the overall atmosphere in the school, encouraging collaboration and unity.
Alternative and authentic assessment: Many times assignments will be “spit-back” or not necessarily thought-provoking. At other times, there will be too few assignments, but it’s impossible to add more marking to the teachers’ workload. Change in this area includes modified grading policy, ungraded assignments, and a look at the revision policies.