"It is folly to talk about education reform in the absence of parental involvement," Corretta Scott King reflected recently on her own education and the strong influence of her mother. Similarly, retired General Colin Powell recalled the "auntnet" in his neighborhood—a network of women who kept their eyes on every child on the block. King and Powell spoke at two different education conferences; but the message was the same: Children and young people need caring adults in their lives. Have we lost sight of this basic need? Here are Web sites that can refocus us.
Parents, Families, and Teachers
http://www.pta.org/. This is not your mother's PTA. The National PTA has developed national standards for parent and family involvement in schools. From helping with homework to serving on school site councils to founding charter schools, today's parents have many roles available to them. See Patricia Sullivan's "The PTA's National Standards" (p. 43).
http://www.MegaSkillsHSI.org. How do parents rate the teachers of their children? What can schools and teachers learn from parents' answers to questions like "Does this teacher appear to enjoy teaching and believe in what he or she does in school?" Dorothy Rich of the Home and School Institute explains "What Parents Want from Teachers" (p. 37).
http://www.parenttime.com. Sponsored by Time Warner, this site provides multiple entry points for parents, including ways to help their children in school. Search the site for "roller coaster" and find practical advice for parents and teachers of young adolescents. In "Turning Parents from Critics to Allies" (p. 40), Charlene C. Giannetti and Margaret M. Sagarese present tactics teachers can use to gain the confidence of parents.
http://www.publicagenda.org/index.html. Public Agenda Online, a "nonpartisan organization devoted to public opinion and public policy," has published a report "Kids These Days: What Americans Really Think About the Next Generation." Another report presented online, "Reality Check," is a special feature of Quality Counts, the annual report by Education Week. Ron Brandt discusses these and other Public Agenda reports in "Listen First" (p. 25).
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents.html. "Helping Your Child Learn Math" . . . "Reading" . . . "History" . . . "Responsible Behavior"—all these resources are online at the U.S. Department of Education, including a new report, "Simple Things You Can Do to Help a Child Read Well and Independently." Also, visit the American Library Association's site (http://www.ala.org/parentspage/) for "How to Raise a Reader." And see "Just Read" (p. 61) by James Wolf.
http://familyeducation.com/community.asp. The Family Education Network is heavy on ads, but full of helpful content for teachers, parents, and kids. Vote in opinion polls, such as "Should tax money be used to fund public preschool programs?" Read hypertext on "Some Real Cool Women"—all about Marie Curie, Wilma Rudolf, and even Wonder Woman.
Communities That Care
http://www.americaspromise.org/. For information on how to become one of Colin Powell's Schools of Promise, visit this Web site or that of Communities in Schools (http://www.cisnet.org). Ron Lewis and John Morris describe effective community partnerships in "Communities for Children" (p. 34).
http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/browse/html/altpiph_050396.html. Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia and The Shelter of Each Other, is the subject of this Seattle Times essay. Says Pipher, "We are connected. If we don't have decent neighborhoods, our children won't grow up to be mentally healthy people." Community involvement starts on our own block. See "The Shelter of Each Other: A Conversation with Mary Pipher" by Marge Scherer (p. 6).
http://www.arctic.ca/LUS/Partners.html. Yes, the Arctic Circle has gotten it together on the Net. This page shows the multitude of community businesses and other partnerships of the Leo Ussak Elementary School in Rankin Inlet, Canada. See William Belsey's article, "Igalaaq: Window to the World" (p. 68).
http://www.roe21.k12.il.us/cchs/. The Arctic Circle has nothing over rural Illinois, where students are researching Southern Illinois coal mining and its effects on the environment—and posting their reports on the Web, thanks to the state's community-based technology plan. Read about it in "Bringing Technology to Rural Classrooms" (p. 71) by Troy Kathleen Corley.
http://children.state.mn.us/stw/school/best/Teacher.htm. Find out why Minnesota's School-to-Work program is so effective. Not only do students visit workplaces and perform real work there, but so do teachers, as Brian A. Bottge and Lynne S. Osterman discuss in "Bringing the Workplace to the Classroom" (p. 76).
