By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee lawmakers are asking parents in two struggling schools to voluntarily grade themselves on report cards that are designed to encourage more parental involvement.

If they like the results, lawmakers may start applying the pilot program throughout the state.

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The parent report card legislation has been approved by the state legislature and awaits the governor’s signature. The measure follows other recently approved legislation that creates voluntary contracts to encourage parents to review homework and attend school functions and parent/teacher conferences, the Associated Press reports.

“What we’re hoping will happen with the parents grading themselves is that they will, at a minimum, become aware of either the good job that they’re doing in regard to children’s education, or possibly become aware of some areas where they may be able to make some improvements,” state Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Memphis Democrat who sponsored the legislation, told the news service.

While we believe the well-intentioned effort may help engage more parents in their children’s education, we’re concerned that union officials and education bureaucrats could use the report cards as a means to divert blame for their own professional shortcomings.

The parent report cards will undoubtedly wake some parents up to the fact that they could do more to support their children in their studies. Research has shown that help and support from home can significantly improve a student’s performance in school.

But school and union officials have also used the lack of parental involvement as an excuse for their own failure to address major systemic problems in public education, like the illogical union seniority system used for staffing decisions, social promotions for students, and misguided spending on unnecessary labor expenses.

Jerry Winters, a lobbyist for the Tennessee Education Association, told the Associated Press he believes the legislation will strengthen the relationship between parents and schools.

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“Parents don’t need to go it alone, they need support,” he said. “Schools certainly don’t need to go it alone, they need support. A parental-school partnership is the ideal environment for improving student achievement.”

Winters may be right, but nearly all of the fundamental flaws with public education can be traced back to union and school policies that put the interests of employees before students.

Parent contracts and report cards will remind some moms and dads to help the kids with their homework, but they should not distract anyone from the major issue that needs to be addressed: reforming public schools to provide better instruction for kids.