Like many things, parenting has gotten more difficult in the last couple of years. Families had to adjust to virtual learning and many discovered how little they know about their children’s education. Conversations on the way to the bus stop and looking through backpacks are not the same as being put in charge of the entire school day. One interesting result of having a more informed cohort of parents is that their rights as parents, apparently, need to be clearly delineated.
The Missouri Legislature is currently debating several bills that are each known as a “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” They’re not all exactly the same, but, for the most part, they reiterate that parents have a right to know what their children are being taught—and not by digging through notes or textbooks. Parents should have easy access to what each teacher plans on teaching.
In addition, parents (and taxpayers) should know how much is being spent and what the money is being spent on for public education. Surveys consistently find that parents and taxpayers underestimate how much is spent per student in our public schools. Consider that in the last school year (2020–21), the average spending per student in Missouri was about $16,800. Where is that money going? Parents have a right to know.
One of the most fundamental rights of parents is the right to know whether their children’s school is doing a good job or poor job at educating students. This should be very simple—no jargon, no words like “provisionally accredited,” and no protecting the egos of the adults in the building. Parents understand the difference between an “A” and an “F” on their children’s report cards, and they should be given the same opportunity on a report card for their children’s school and district.
One version of a Parents’ Bill of Rights (HJR 110), sponsored by Representative Christofanelli, requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to report on a list of indicators for each school and district and to score them with a letter grade of A through F. Unfortunately, the bill gives DESE too much wiggle room in how to assign points that determine the calculation of grades. It also includes some non-academic measurements, such as attendance, and some gameable measurements, such as graduation rates.
To be useful, school report cards should be based on objective learning outcome measures of both performance and progress. They should be timely and use clear and transparent descriptions of what’s an A and what’s an F. They should be as rigorous as possible and have automatic increases in rigor (e.g., the bar for what constitutes an A keeps going up over time) to encourage continuous improvement.
It’s great that legislators are ready to stand up for parents, but we need to make sure that they get this legislation right.
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