A Teacher's View of Parents
There is perhaps no more heated a topic in the teacher lunchroom than the role of parents in education. The overwhelming bulk of parents, even in the most challenged schools I researched, remain the best allies a teacher could ever want. But teachers are human (at least most of us), and by human nature all those good parents often get forgotten because of the negative impact and behavior of a minority (numerical minority, not demographic) of parents.
If you enter the teacher lunchroom and hear heated voices, the chances are very good that at the heart of it is a parent who refused to come to an important conference about their child, or one arguing to get a grade changed, or threatening the teacher, or demanding an unneeded IEP accommodation.
The vast majority of parents - our best allies
Prior to publication of Lifting the Curtain: The disgrace we call urban high school education, I spent three years of surveys, visits, and interviews researching urban high schools. Since then I've received hundreds of emails and posts on the topic. One thing is very clear -- even in the most challenging high schools the majority of parents are a huge help, and are the driving force in the success of their children. A 2012 analysis in Great Britain said exceptionally well something all USA teachers know:
"A study by the Royal Economic Society, to be presented this week, finds that parental effect on test results is five times that of teachers' influence. This comes in the wake of warnings by Sir Michael Wilshaw last week that teachers were unable to properly do their own jobs because parents were expecting them to cover their own parenting skill shortfalls and to become surrogate family for the students."
In my research looking at parent-teacher nights, teachers reported that 87 percent of attendees were parents of the best students. There is tremendous cause and effect hidden in that finding -- the best students succeed exactly because of the parent involvement and caring. Based upon the research, 71 percent of the parents are in this category -- setting expectations, support, and motivation for their child that are the most wonderful gifts a parent can ever give a child.
A numerical minority - At the heart of the storm
But then there are the other parents. The tremendous negative impact just a handful of parents can have on a school and their children is staggering. A minority of 29 percent of the parents were found to totally dominate school conferences, conflicts, and policies. The average teacher has 3.1 difficult parent confrontations per month. Only 30 percent of the teachers get solid support from their administrators in parent confrontations -- principals would rather have the problem "...just go away" by changing a grade or promoting a child who needs to fail. Getting support from these parents is so difficult and frustrating that in 2012 Detroit actually looked at (silly, but understandable!) making it a misdemeanor crime to skip a teacher conference.
One of the most common and frustrating statements by such parents to teachers is "...it is your job to motivate my child." But it is not. It is the teacher's job to reinforce and build upon the motivation the parent has already installed in the child.
Trying to teach the children of such parents becomes the impossible challenge of trying to motivate a child for 5 hours each week, while knowing the child will be in a home and non-school environment for 12-15 hours each day that works against everything we try to do. Is it any surprise that children in urban high schools do an average of just 1.5 total homework hours per week, 29 percent copy most homework, and 24 percent routinely take zeroes on homework?
The problem is especially confrontational with special education students. SPED is a wonderful concept, a powerful benefit to those who need it, and arguably the most A Teacher's View of Parents | D. A. Russell:
