Back when I started writing about education fresh out of college, I thought I knew all of the answers.
By the time I’d have kids, I figured, I’d be well-equipped to navigate the system and make good decisions easily about schools.
Little did I know.
When it was time for my own children to go to school, I felt stressed out, confused and overwhelmed. I had taken a break from education reporting for a while, but my past, objective knowledge about education policy didn’t seem to help much.
So, I decided to return to education reporting. Now, I am joining Education Week to specialize in blogging about parental involvement issues, as I raise a preschooler and an elementary-age student.
In this blog, I plan to write about the roles that parents and family members play in shaping schools. So many laws and policies have been passed to give more power to parents—and sometimes take it away.
There are school-choice options and parent-trigger laws. There are policies allowing parents to have a say in how their schools are run, including how the money is spent. There are strong efforts to change laws at the state and federal levels.
I look forward to exploring these issues and more. I welcome ideas and suggestions on topics to cover. I hope this will become a place to learn something that could apply to your own families and schools.