Teachers Grading Parents??

SCREW THAT!!!

<taking a deep breath> Okay, I just went through that ENTIRE list and wrote up about 5 pages of common sense problems and objections to each and every single bulleted point.

But the most salient point/problem out if the entire 5+ pages is this:

Such a bill places a teacher "above" parents/ gives them a supervisory position, creating an uneven relationship. My child's teacher is NOT my boss. At BEST we are a partnership, and chips down and I overrule THEM, as my child is MY child that they are *entrusted* with their care.

I agree with MR. I am a high school teacher with 180 students, more students than I have ever had before. I did read the bill, and it just sounds like more paperwork to keep up with, and more documentation that I would have to do when parents did not comply. It's a lovely idea, but if parents aren't doing these things already, I don't think this bill will get them to, and I doubt that it would be enforced.

Um, this is what Americans have fought and died for to STAY AWAY FROM! This is scary. At the very least it is insulting to parents. Mostly, though, it is like reading about some frightening orwellian time and place.

How could you possibly agree with this bill? Until you have walked in every parents shoes - you CANNOT judge. I am a teacher and I am very aware that there are parents that literally don't have the time to be involved b/c they work 2-4 jobs, especially single parents. There are others that are illiterate and are not comfortable being in a school setting and obviously can't help with homework or read the paperwork that comes home. Then there are the parents who don't speak english. Until you know the whole story, you must refrain from judgement.

insanity.
good parenting cannot be legislated.
and it sure as hell can't be judged by a failing school system.
this is out of control nuts.
khairete
S.

I'll admit, I didn't read the link but I will say this:

I am a teacher of about 150 students, pretty common in high school. I'm already overwhelmed with all the bureaucratic red tape I have to do already as far as dealing with my students is concerned. I have about 50+ IEPs that I have to commit to memory because they are legal documents that I must follow to the letter (that's not counting the 504 plans...or the med plans). I have lesson planning and grading to do for 5 different classes. I have weekly eligibility reports to do for all my students who are involved in activities. I have, on average, at least 3 meetings to attend per week - this is in addition to my teaching periods, my supervision periods, and my one plan and one lunch period. And now on top of this I would have to rate the parents of the 150 students I have? Um, no thanks, not to mention all the trees we would be killing with the various forms and whatnot. (Don't get me wrong - all the tasks I listed above, I knew that I would have to be doing these so I know I bought into this when I became a teacher and I'm not complaining...I'm just saying it would be just one more thing added to my plate.)

Here's how I see this ending up: Little Johnny does not do well in school and his parents aren't notified that they are bad parents. Now, said bad parents are going to sue the school because Little Johnny is failing and the school did nothing to tell them that they're bad parents.

Sometimes I can barely get parents to show up for their parent-teacher conferences, let alone return phone calls or give a damn when their kid is doing poorly. It's very frustrating. And now, I'd have to have the stones to tell them that I think they're not parenting correctly? Definitely not interested.

Don't get me wrong - these are the things that parents SHOULD be doing. The fact that it has to be written in a document is absolutely frightening. And, it would already add more work to many teachers who are already held hostage by the bureaucratic process that education is becoming.

I don't know that I agree with it... While it would be nice if every parent could be involved with school for every child... sometimes it's just not feasible. My family for example... I had a single father trying to raise 4 kids on his own. He worked 2 jobs, generally left before we woke up for school, and got home in time to fix us dinner... there is no WAY he would have been able to go over our homework every night, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have wanted to be bombarded with 'check in forms' sent home with students all the time... especially 4 student's worth! I think that the entire time we were in school, he made it to 3 parent-teacher conferences. BUT... we did ok. We weren't straight-A students, but we got average grades. We all had near-perfect attendance, and were always in the top scores in citizenship. The teachers knew about and understood our situation, and when they HAD to have parental contact, they worked with him. He would have failed the school's grading system... but as far as I'm concerned, he has an A in my books for doing the best he could with what he had. Then you can take my friend's family... her mom did everything 'perfect' as far as schooling is concerned... and yet her daughter failed out of high school. She got pregnant when she was 16, and married the dad. She still doesn't have a diploma 4 years later. While I DO think it's nice when parents are able to be involved in their child's school life, I think the children themselves need to be held more accountable for their behavior as well...(at least the older ones)

I couldn't figure out what the real consequences of this would be. Honestly, it is scary to me that a teacher might have this much power over the parents if there are real consequences. She could determine anything she wanted. And, I know that many teachers are young and idealistic with no children at all of their own. They don't have a clue about raising children and what it takes to make a family function. This is just another step into the government having more control over the family jurisdiction. And, another reason to homeschool. No thanks. The more power we hand over to the government, the less we have to complain when they are calling all the shots. Most people just want their video games, tv, and starbucks and they will give away pretty much everything else. Peace, comfort, and affluence. So short sighted!

As a parent, I say great! I know I would receive an A. I believe it is my responsibility to work with the teacher, school, administration, to assure my child is successful as he can be. However, as a former teacher, I would NOT want to grade parents. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'd love to let some of them know that they weren't doing enough to help their child, but how would that effect the student, teacher, parent relationship? It takes all 3 to acheive success for a child in school, but if the parent is angry about a grade from a teacher, how would that help the child?

***After reading most of the responses, I'd like to say that I believe children would do better in school if teachers and administrators would do their jobs to the best of their ability and parents would stop pointing the finger everytime they disagree with a teacher or school district. Working together helps a child achieve success in school and in life and teaches them cooperation and tolerence for others.

Oh wow, I just read that bill and my first reaction was the Big Brother is watching.

While I agree that parental involvement is paramount to a child's success to have a state legislate how and what that involvement should be is scary. From reading the bill is seems, to me, that parents are being pushed into a cookie cutter - no consideration being mentioned for the disparity of household and child rearing styles that are prevalent in our society.

The proposal states lists CAUSES FOR STUDENT UNDERACHIEVEMENT as:

"(a) A child is not physically prepared for the school day due to inadequate rest or improper clothing, lack of necessary school supplies, or frequent tardiness or absence.
(b) A child is not mentally prepared for the school day due to uncompleted homework or inadequate preparation for tests.
(c) Communication between parents and the teacher is often written rather than through personal contact and often occurs only when a problem has arisen rather than on a consistent basis throughout the school year."

(a) Is the state going to access each and every home for the ability to ensure proper clothing, school supplies etc. What is considering proper clothing? Designer labels or clean, appropriate clothing from the Thrift Store? Who makes that determination - the teacher? Who will provide school supplies to those parents that cannot afford them? Further in the proposal it mentions "which may be obtained through various organizations if needed" - but who is going to direct the parents to those organizations? Adequate sleep - defined by who? What if the family lives in a small home, has a 7 year old and a new baby who cries every two hours - no-one gets adequate sleep. Again - the proposal is not taking the various family dynamics into consideration.

(b) is a little dicier to refute - but how many Moms on here have ever battled their child at homework time? I can make my son sit at the kitchen table with his homework spread out before him, but I cannot force his hand to paper nor force him to memorize his vocabulary. I can encourage and cajole and threaten, but the actual learning is in his head. So if the child comes to school without "adequate" preparation for a test and the parent has done everything possible to get that child to study the parent "fails". Again, the state will not be in their home every night and it is going to become a "he said/she said" battle of words.

(c) Communication is often written - Um, what is wrong with that? Most parents work while their children are at school. Many parents cannot take off work to go the school at the risk of losing their job. Teachers do not keep late hours and are often unavailable after the parent gets off from work. Written communication is now not good enough?

K., I think Florida is seeing a "need" for this bill to address the at risk youth mentioned in the proposal. However, by sheer definition at risk youth do often have uninvolved parents - making them at risk youth...it is a vicious circle. I get that the state would like to see a reduction in at risk youth but there are other, better ways, to do this. Improved after school programs, improved social programs for parents, especially low income parents who traditionally have less resources and less education themselves - many of these programs are already in place.

It is a statistical fact that children who are not reading on grade level by grade 3 are most likely to not complete high school - hence the focus in this proposal on grading parents of children in K-3 grade. This is a form of early childhood intervention, which I get, and think is needed. But, again, there are other ways to do this - programs already in place and strategies that have been proven to work.

As a parent I believe I believe I am accountable for my son's success - I do not want the state legislating HOW I raise my child. The tactics that work for my son and me may not be "state approved" by this proposal, but he is doing well in school and developing into a successful, productive adult.

Okay, so I could go on, but this has gotten very long already. One last thought - what are the repercussions if a parent "fails" - keeping in mind this is according to the teacher grading the parent. Then does the state step in and help the parent find the appropriate, existing programs to help them? Does the child get removed from the home after repeated failures?

I don't know, smacks of "Big Brother" to me.

So, what happens if you do get a bad grade as a parent? I don' t need my child's school handing out grades to me! I don't think they have any right to tell me how my parenting skills are lacking in any way! Yes, parents need to be more involved with their children and their children's education- but I think that it is up to the school to decide how to do this without the government mandating that the parents be involved and be graded. I,personally, would not have my kids attend a school where I was graded as a parent. I try to teach my kids responsibility. We have a set time for homework- but if they don't bring the work home, I can't make sure they complete it. Also, with 6 kids- I can't spend an hour a day with each one after school making sure they get their work done because then dinner doesn't get fixed and bed would be past 11pm!
If the teacher is having problems with the child at school, or notices that the child is not improving in grades- it is up to the teacher to contact the parent to see what steps can be taken to help the child. And if the parent just doesn't care(which in most cases would not be the issue)then the teacher should step up and see what they can do to help this child- including holding him/her back to make sure this child passes grade level.
A law like this seems to imply that most parents do not know how to parent or be involved with their child. I think that the opposite is true. But most parents have something called LIFE they have to deal with also! Many homes have both parents working full time, or it's a single parent household where mom/dad has to work. There are illnesses, disabilities, or other children to take care of.
Thanks for posting this!
~C.

I work in a school, and while I agree with every point that bill made, it seems like some politician has too much time on his hands. I can't see that this would ever me made law.

As for the lady who said that this is why she doesn't vote....That is why bills like this one become law. It is upon informed voters to make sure that they know what bills are on the ballot, and use the right to vote as a voice rather than letting things just happen.

I don't understand how a teacher is going to really be able to evaluate parental involvement at home simply based on a students school approach. Not all kids are good test takers, so how will they know if the kids are adequately prepared for tests? Some parents may not have the education themselves to really be able to sit and help kids do their homework accurately. I mean personally, I like to think I'm pretty smart and I can't remember how to multiply and divide fractions without taking an hour to reteach myself. What about parents who have to work two jobs to support their family? Are they going to be punished somehow for trying to support their children the best way they can? Plus, really, giving parents grades aren't "holding them accountable" but really just a way to cause more isolation. The parents who get bad grades will be probably be pissed about it and instead of looking at their own factors, contribute the poor grade to a teacher who just doesn't understand. Not to mention the fact that several kids receive influence from people other then parents. A lot of my kids at work are actually more influenced by their peers, uncles, aunts, etc. Who is going to grade them? I just don't think a teacher can justifiably dictate how a parent is doing off of anything more then whether or not they showed up at a parent/teacher conference. They will never fully know the stressors in that families life, nor what the parent is or is not doing at home. Plus, I really think it's going to be a target where more of that "at-risk" kids parents are getting lower grades while the other kids parents are getting good grades no matter how involved either is or is not.

It would be more effective to pass a bill that actually focuses on increasing parental engagement in schools through a variety of programs/activities. Not grade them on their parenting skills.

Strongly smacks of, "We are the government. We are here to help you." Where would the money come from to pay for this? I would rather see it used to educated my child then add a layer of beauracracy. How can the state mandate the extra time it would take the teachers in both their time and hours of availability. Since it can't that would cut into the time teachers spend educating or preparing to educate my child. While I see the importance in parental involvement in my child's education it is not the place of either the teacher or the board of Ed to police this issue. Sadly I know there are parents that fail in this arena but time would be better spent ensuring quality caring teachers are present than forcing beauracracy of grading a parent. If their child's well being and success isn't an incentive does the government really think an arbitrary failing grade will make a spark in those parents? Doubtful. And our tax dollars pay for this and these officials. SAD.

The bill seems well-meaning but completely inappropriate. I doubt that teachers would look forward to being put in the position of grading parents.

We just recently moved to FL and while I've always been involved with my kids in school, this is a slap in the face to parents that are involved! Don't get me wrong, there are parents that probably need to be held to something like this but not all parents.

What about the parents grading the teachers??? I've sent emails to my daughter's math teacher asking for help because it is a different circulium here and I don't understand the material so how am I to help my child learn how to do it right? Well I never got an response! On mid term report cards I marked the box asking for a conference because I wasn't happy with her grades and I wanted to see if it was her just needing to catch up coming for a different school or if she just wasn't understanding the material-never got a response from any of her 4 teachers!!! Could I as a parent gone into the school and been like WTH? Sure, but when you child comes from an A school you wouldn't expect to have to do that.

Just my 2 cents. But I'm not going to do anything different than I already do with my kids. I help with homework, yes m my pre k child has it 1 day a week, they have more than enough school supplies at home and school, plenty of food, sleep and clothes.

this is why i dont vote politicians would rather blame the parents for the goverment short falls in education than take responsibility for it and fix it and I know from experience I had to drop my oldest out of high school to get him to graduate figure that one out. but osama said when he was campaigning that our kids who are failing and dropping out of school is the parents fault for not turning off the tv at night. I had my son tutored 3 yrs and summer school at sylavans one summer. but actually most kids who are dropping out of high school at an alarming rate are doing it cause of credit issues like my son. this is another way of him blaming the parents for the goverment shortfalls in education its so easy to point fingers instead of fixing it. how can you run a country if you dont know what is going on in our education system? and how can you continue to look the other direction when 70% of kids are dropping out of school 70% of my sons graduation class at his high school dropped out.all of them because of credit issues and I knew alot of other kids that dropped out for credit issues in other towns and states. but if you blame the parents you dont have to fix the problem. the parents do but we cant its the goverment making the rules.

Maybe this bill was just brought up to start a discussion and a debate about parenting kids in school. Some parents may just be oblivious to what they need to do to support there kids in school - perhaps they did not receive any support from home when they were kids. Or perhaps they have become too busy or to selfish to spend the time to parent. If the bill (which probably wouldn't pass) just leads to more awareness and dialog of how parents can support the educational efforts of their children, then it is probably a good thing.