Parents of high school students frustrated

Mary Najera's son was "failing horribly" at his Los Angeles junior high school. The principal told her he had to move on "regardless of whether he was prepared to compete" in high school, she said.

"I was a desperate mom," Najera said today at a news conference discussing a new report on parental involvement in high schools.

According to the report, parents of students in low-performing high schools say their schools don’t give them what they need to be more effective in helping their children succeed.

Najera's family found a solution in a Green Dot charter high school, where her son thrived and is now a college student. Najera credits, in part, parental involvement.

The report -- called “One Dream, Two Realities: Perspectives of Parents on America’s High Schools” -- "disproves the prevailing myth that low-income parents are not interested in their children’s academic success," said John Bridgeland, president and CEO of Civic Enterprises and co-author of the report.

"The opposite is true. Parents, especially those with students trapped in low-income or low-performing schools, desperately want to be involved and want their students to succeed,” Bridgeland said in a statement.

"Many are seething with frustration," he said today in a news conference.

According to the survey:

• Forty-seven percent of parents with students in low-performing schools said that their schools were doing a good job in encouraging parents to be involved, compared with 85% of parents with students in high-performing schools.
• Twenty-five percent of parents with students in low-performing schools say that their school informed them about academic and disciplinary problems, compared with 53% of parents with students in high-performing schools.
• Less than 20% of parents with students in low-performing schools said schools do a very good job preparing their students across four categories: preparation for college; helping students develop confidence, maturity, and personal skills; developing a special talent; and preparing them for a good job. Half of parents with students in high-performing schools said this.

Each year, more than 1 million students fail to graduate from high school on time. Research shows that when parents are involved, students perform better and are less likely to drop out.

"The good news is that schools do not have to convince parents" that their involvement is needed, Bridgeland said this morning.

The report is a follow-up to the 2006 report, “The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts” -- which noted lack of parental involvement as one of the key reasons dropouts gave for leaving school.

“Unfortunately, parents of students trapped in low-performing schools -- those who need the most support -- are the ones that are least likely to be engaged by their children’s schools," said Geoff Garin, president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, which conducted both surveys. “But we know there is a clear pathway to help improve student achievement in these low-performing schools, and that is through schools and parents working together to create opportunities where parents can play an active role in their children’s academic success.”

Among the changes parents said they want: daily communication, being integrated into academic assignments, homework hotlines, one person at school to be the contact, notification about progress and attendance.

Najera, who is from East Los Angeles, also helped found the Los Angeles Parents Union, which she said helps teach parents how to help their children and be involved in their children's schools. She noted today that the cultural background of many Latino parents keeps them from speaking out when they are dissatisfied with their child's school.

The report was by Civic Enterprises, and based on research conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates. The report was commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Garin said interviews were conducted with 1,006 parents of children 15 to 20 years old across the country who either currently attend or recently attended high school. Parents rated their schools as high, moderate or low-performing based whether many students went on to college.