The Education of Mary June
An original story about the danger of falling complacent, by Kate Gladstone, New York, New York

Mary June always did well at school. She never got below 80% on a spelling test. So she “did well” at spelling. (Of course, she spelled one word in five incorrectly – but she still passed.)
When Mary June read, she missed two or three words per sentence. She skipped some, mispronounced others, and didn’t understand (or care to look up) a few of the rest. But she got 80% right - missing one out of five – so she “did well.”

When Mary June wrote, her a’s looked like o’s (when they didn’t look like u’s) Her n’s looked like u’s, too. And her r’s and her s’s both looked like her i's. But the teacher could — mostly — figure out what Mary June had tried to communicate. So (never mind the poor writing), Mary June “did well” in writing, too.

And Mary June “did well” in other subjects. She liked math the best, because she got the right answer a full 85% or even 90% of the time. (Of course, she never did get the hang of the seven-times table. But seven-times anything only forms a measly 19% of the whole table – and gosh, she could always use a calculator for that! Even on tests without a calculator, of course, not knowing seven-times-whatever didn’t stop her from getting a good solid 90% on the multiplication unit.)

With those high grades in math, Mary June became a math teacher. She passed every exam – with good, solid eighties and nineties. So she has taught for thirty years. And one of her students, probably, teaches your children. The next time your kid comes home with a “7x8=56” marked in red ink as “incorrect” on a math-paper – or “inoculation" on a spelling test red-inked to “innoculation” – remember Mary June.

What’s New in Research That You Should Know About The First “R”

Reading was long assumed to be a pretty simple, basic skill that all schools could teach well. It’s one of those fundamentals that most parents have always assumed schools had down pat. But for the last 15 years, the nation’s education leaders have been engaged in what has become known as the “Reading Wars.” For a long time, that meant a fight over what was the best approach to teach reading (see Parent Power! Vol. 1, No. 1 for background). Thanks to modern research and the results of some definitive studies, what it takes to teach the vast majority of children how to read is no longer a mystery. It is, however, rocket science, and the National Institutes of Health have found from intense brain research that reading is in fact a science, and not an art.

Five things create good readers, according to more than 100 studies. They are: 1) Phonemic Awareness, 2) Phonics, 3) Fluency, 4) Vocabulary and 5) Text comprehension. Reading programs must be designed to create fluent, purposeful, active readers who comprehend what they read. That means that most teachers — who have not received direct instruction in these fundamentals — need professional development so that they can learn how best to instruct reading. Principals, too, need training. And parents need to be aware of the different kinds of approaches. While the research is clear, oftentimes textbooks do not reflect current science. You can learn more by logging onto the National Institutes for Literacy at www.NIFL.gov.

Making the most of parent-teacher conferences

The traditional parent-teacher conference takes place about eight weeks into the school year - an event that often pairs anxious parents with a nervous teacher. Tremendous significance is attached to the meeting. In many cases, it is the first time parents discuss their child with the teacher. For teachers, they have spent hours preparing back-to-back meetings, during which they try to concisely explain the academic and social performance of 20-some kids, having known them for only two months.

It is no wonder that many parents (and teachers) often leave these conferences feeling dissatisfied, or worse. Success depends on solid communication, good planning and understanding expectations. That’s a tall order for one 20-minute meeting.

Anne Robertson, coordinator of the National Parent Information Network at the University of Illinois, says that improving the quality of these meetings requires overhauling the relationship between teacher and parent. The conventional parent-teacher conference puts the teacher — however well-meaning — in control, she says. Parent-teacher conferencing, according to Robertson and others, must begin well in advance of the actual sit-down meeting. “That first meeting,” says Susan Stewart, a former third-grade teacher and the mother of three, “can be so very superficial.”

Real change needs to happen at the institutional level, Robertson says, with schools reexamining how conferences are organized. Ideally, teachers should meet with parents early in the school year, perhaps even in the summer, to exchange information about the child. “At these meetings, parents share with teachers what their child is like,” she says. “The teacher explains her expectations. The meeting establishes that they are working together, and the parent-teacher relationship becomes one of openness, and not one of control. Once that groundwork is done, the next conference can be more traditional.”

Parents don’t have to wait for school-wide change to apply these principles to their dealings with teachers.

The first step is to be proactive. Introduce yourself early on. Try to volunteer in the classroom. If that’s not possible, send the teacher a note and set up a time for a short phone call or meeting.

At the conference, the teacher should be prepared with notes, suggestions and samples of the student’s work. But, as Stewart says, a good parent-teacher relationship is “symbiotic,” and parents should do homework of their own. Prepare questions, observations and samples of your child’s work from home. Ask your child if there is anything that she wants you to discuss. Suggest ways the teacher can get the best from your child. “Parents can advocate a plan,” says Stewart. “You know what works for your child. Why wait weeks until the teacher figures it out when you already have the answer?”

The parent-teacher conference should not be the place to discover that your child has a problem. If you’ve established a relationship, parent or teacher can communicate at the first sign of trouble. The conference is the place to further discuss issues. Write down specific concerns or observations; suggest motivational strategies. Communicating effectively depends on how you present your ideas. Gail Hoelscher, the mother of two school-age sons, puts it succinctly: “You could end up looking like a neurotic, over-anxious parent, but you can present your concerns in a balanced, non-accusatory way.”

Conferences in which the news isn’t good, or in which you are dissatisfied by the teacher’s response, are the most difficult to handle. “Our instinct is to go into 'Mother Tiger' mode,” says Robertson, “but that must be toned down.” Parents can ask that others at the school, such as the counselor, reading specialist, or even the principal, be included in a follow-up team meeting with the teacher. If a child is showing signs of a learning disability, parents can request testing even if the teacher doesn’t suggest it.

Even good-news conferences can be frustrating. A child with no problems may not draw attention to himself, and the teacher may have little to say. What to do? Give the teacher extra information about your child so he can get to know him better. And ask questions: Is your child being challenged? How does his work compare to classmates? What are his strengths and weaknesses? How does he get along with others?

Most important, Stewart says, is to follow-up. “Parents should be the initiators,” she says. “For teachers it’s all relative. If they have 25 children, and five of them have issues, yours might fall in with the other 20 and not be a priority. But if you take it on, follow up and don’t wait for the next conference, your child will become the teacher’s priority, too.”

The Principal Factor

Perhaps many of us can remember the terror we felt whenever a teacher threatened to send us to the principal's office. As adults, some of us may still feel intimidated by the person who runs our child's school.

Don't be. First, the principal is not as powerful as you may think he or she is, and second, the principal can be one of your best allies in your fight to change and reform your school. The key is finding the right approach to the school's leader.

However, parents should realize that the job of principal has changed dramatically. With centralized school administrations micromanaging schools and school boards deciding questions of discipline, assessment and teacher quality, principals serve with a lot less autonomy than previously. In addition, collective bargaining agreements can have a grave impact on their ability to hire promising teachers, fire under-achieving ones, and make day-to-day decisions within the walls of the school.

This makes school improvement enormously challenging. Experts concede that strong leadership is the key to an effective school. There are a whole host of new organizations devoted precisely to that task, such as New Leaders for New Schools, that have found that the difference between a really good school and a bad one often comes down to leadership, particularly in more disadvantaged areas.

Though there's no longer need to fear them, don't think good principals are necessarily loveable pushovers. They have restrictions on what they can and cannot do, but strong leaders are often willing to bend rules and make accommodations for children that many schools may never consider. If you have one of these principals, strike a partnership and work together to back their action. If you have a less than enthusiastic principal, you may have to work slowly to determine whether working together you can effect change.

Schools must be willing to accept parents as change agents, says educator Gene Bedley, a former principal and founder of the National Character Education Center. "They are going to have to be open to ideas and solutions from parents," Bedley says. "Often, schools are closed to that."

In seeking change, parents have to determine what are school-based policies and what are district-wide policies. To change individual school policy, enlist the principal's help by being well-prepared, have a realistic timeline, and a set of clear goals. If district-wide policies are to be reformed, a parent is wise to enlist a principal's support to gather momentum for the proposal, Bedley says.

Enlisting the support of the principal does not have to be a daunting task. It's all in the attitude, says Bill Grobe, president of the National Association of Secondary Schools and a principal at a western New York State high school. If parents and the principal work together, they can improve the child's chance for success.

Parents with concerns about their child's education should visit the principal with a clear question or purpose in mind. Be specific, Grobe says.

Next, parents and principals should work out a solution and be prepared to follow through. Don't expect the principal, the school or the teachers to do all the work with your child.

Other tips for parents include:

1. Build a relationship with the principal. Make an appointment, stop by to say hello, and be sure to connect your child with the principal.
2. Make yourself a known entity in the school. Be willing to take on responsibility or even leadership of a project or committee. If you can’t, just make sure you make your presence known when you can.
3. While maintaining an open attitude, recognize that unresolved issues may have a lot to do the absence of the right kind of leadership skills. Sometimes parents have to weigh in with higher school officials if they have repeated concerns that the principal is not good for the institution.
4. For the less serious issues, if you have questions about how to talk to a principal or have a concern about your child's education, the National Association of Elementary School Principals will hold a National Principals' Hotline in April. Call or log on to the hotline to speak directly, but anonymously, with one of 150 volunteer school principals April 7, 8, and 9. Their purpose is to ease difficulties and encourage constructive communication between schools and families. The number is 1-800-944-1601 or e-mail the association at www.naesp.org.