Should+Parents+be+Graded+by+the+School+District?

** Should Parents Be Graded By The School District? **

This was a topic on THE TODAY SHOW on NBC. Parents are the only component of the child’s educational progress that is not evaluated. Schools are evaluated by the state. Teachers are evaluated by both administration and state. Students are evaluated by teachers and the state. When so much is being placed on the American School Systems to succeed at a rate of 100% by the year 2014, it seems appropriate to assess everyone who is involved in a child’s education. Even school cafeterias are being evaluated to provide balanced, healthy foods for student breakfasts and lunches…Teachers are no longer allowed to reward academic success with a candy cane during the month of December. Yet, children are still obese. (This could be a whole other article in itself.) It does seem ironic that parents need a driver’s license to drive and a fishing license to fish, but nothing to have a child…the most precious resource of our future. And then on the other side of the coin, we can see the personal lives of adults invaded to an extreme extent when they wish to become a foster parent or adopt a child that is already a part of our society.

But would assessing a parent be beneficial or even practical? Can a parent be judged when the evaluator is not in the home? Although I can appreciate the concept behind the idea, I don’t think it would work. We, as teachers, feel threatened by state mandates placed upon teacher performance. I think parents would only feel threatened and less appreciative of what school systems are trying to do if their parenting skills became a part of the testing process. I believe that once a parent felt threatened, the “communication” between the home and school, which may already be strained, would become non existent. Teacher evaluation process by the state, in my opinion, is unfair and inappropriate, so in this case, I don’t think “misery would love company.” I’m sure we can all see areas within and outside our schools that could improve our child’s education. In my opinion, the outside forces lie within the overwhelming after school schedule we place on kids as young as Kindergarten. Kindergarten children are playing in soccer and t-ball games. This is beneficial, for it teaches teamwork and coordination at a young age, but one needs to prioritize. Which is more important…Time with family, homework, simply reading a book together, or rushing to soccer practice and trying to fit in a Cub Scout meeting and piano lesson all on the same night? When life is so hectic, the “dinner hour” becomes shorter; less nutritional and more convenient (i.e. Mc Donald’s or microwave meals). Some children can handle the hectic schedule and perhaps even thrive on it, but some do not. Another component to outside forces is the use of computers, video games and TV as “babysitters” and entertainment. Children need to have interaction within the family unit. I believe that all media can be used as a great tool to promote learning, but when it is substituted for family interaction, children’s listening and communication skills become less important, and this carries into the classroom…children expect to be “entertained” and less willing to learn through teacher/student communication. Should parents be evaluated? In my opinion, each parent can evaluate themselves by looking at their own child’s success in and out of school. Every parent’s reward will be their child’s achievements.