MSNBC reports that the secretary of education is calling for actions to respond to another decline in U.S. math scores. We continue to shovel money into an education system that is not getting the results we want. More money, as proposed, will not overcome problems that began before children entered school.
Recently a guest column in the KJ on chronic absenteeism stated that it is the school system’s job to convince parents of the value of education. Twenty years ago, no one would have conceived such a thing! It speaks volumes that we have reached this point. It is not the schools’ job alone to cure Maine’s parenting gap.
These concerns are not unrelated. Most understand that student success depends on parental involvement. Involvement is more than a school problem. It is a state and community problem that can only be solved by comprehensive social, medical, legal, and preschool action.
This action must be rooted in a full analysis of the problem. All the state and community institutions with an interest in Maine’s children must participate, in order to facilitate their involvement in the solution. This will be a challenge for a fractured child and family system.
We must get over our outmoded assumption that parents are the answer without major changes. Support systems and accountability expectations for parents must be very concrete. Schools also need to be held accountable for results in a continuous quality improvement system. Simple solutions will not work.
Dean Crocker
Manchester
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