Schools require parents’ support

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March 3, 2010

Anonymous The Kokomo Tribune Wed Mar 03, 2010, 12:26 AM EST

THE ISSUE:Academic performance.

OUR VIEW:Help your children meet expectations. Get involved in their education.

For the first time since its inception, the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress – ISTEP to you and us – will be administered entirely in the spring.

Essay and short-answer tests will take place this week through March 10. Multiple-choice exams will be administered April 26 through May 5.

Ensure your children eat breakfast before heading off to school; make sure they get plenty of rest – this week and every week. Why? Parental involvement is a powerful indicator of a student’s academic performance.

At least 15 studies dating back as far as 1980 suggest that children of parents who volunteer at school, check homework and talk to teachers score higher on standardized tests or earn better grades than their peers.

Over the last three decades, education has become a key political issue on the national scene. Taxpayers are demanding public schools spend tax money more efficiently. Parents are demanding schools better prepare their children for college or the workplace.

And government has the same set of demands. Since Jimmy Carter established the U.S. Department of Education in 1980, education has been a constant presidential campaign theme.

In short, local school corporations will continue to be required to meet ever-increasing state and national education standards. Indiana, for example, designed the ISTEP-Plus standards and exams to make students more accountable for their education, and teachers and school systems more accountable for providing that education.

Expectations for student achievement will not be lowered; they only will increase. And the best way to meet those expectations is for parents to get involved in their children’s education.

Ask your children whether they have homework and ensure they complete it. Attend parent-teacher conferences. Volunteer at school. You can chaperone a field trip or dance, and assist school employees running extracurricular activities.

Your children and their teachers need your help.

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