Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

Parent-Center Grantee Defends Motivation, Work

July 12, 2005 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

Regarding your front-page article “U.S.-Funded Parent Information Centers Questioned on Their Agendas, Efficacy” (June 8, 2005):

Three years ago, the Center for Education Reform submitted a proposal for a Parent Information and Resource Center grant—our first ever—to the federal government. It outlined our vision to reach out to parents in four Southeastern states to inform them of their newly acquired rights under the No Child Left Behind Act. Our research indicated there were more than a quarter of a million parents in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina affected by low-performing schools.

Since the center’s inception almost 12 years ago, these types of parents have been our constituents, so we felt uniquely qualified to offer our concept of how to connect with them. Unfortunately, some local districts were spending very little time and few resources disseminating information to parents in a timely and understandable way about the status of their schools.

We designed the Parents Network for Better Education to work through community-based organizations to reach out directly to those with children in “needs improvement” schools to inform them of their right to transfer their children to higher-performing public schools and their right to receive free tutoring. A second goal was to educate parents of young children on how best to prepare their children for elementary school in this new era of accountability and choices. Teaching the parents of 3-year-olds about such matters as how the state holds schools accountable and what they as parents can expect from their schools is one way that districts and states can encourage parental involvement that lasts for years.

In the nearly 18 months the parents’ network has been operating, it has connected with some 80,000 parents and distributed more than 200,000 pieces of literature about parents’ rights. Politics is not part of our work. The only agenda we have is to reach as many parents as we can to spread the word about the accountability and choices tha: t the No Child Left Behind law offers them.

More information on the Parents Network for Better Education is available online (www.theparentsnetwork.org).

Mary Kayne Heinze

Program Manager

Parents Network for Better Education

Center for Education Reform

Washington, D.C.

Related Tags:
Opinion

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Student Achievement K-12 Essentials Forum How to Build and Scale Effective K-12 State & District Tutoring Programs
Join this free virtual summit to learn from education leaders, policymakers, and industry experts on the topic of high-impact tutoring.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: April 16, 2025
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Quiz ICYMI: Do You Know What 'High-Quality Curriculum' Really Means?
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Image of curricula.
iStock/Getty
Education Quiz ICYMI: Lawsuits Over Trump's Education Policies And More
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Image of money symbol, books, gavel, and scale of justice.
DigitalVision Vectors
Education Quiz ICYMI: Trump Moves to Shift Special Ed Oversight And More
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington.
Evan Vucci/AP