Your Kid’s Education: Are You Paying Attention?

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by The Mission List. I participated in an educational focus group on advocacy and communication in high schools today.

This is a huge year for my family… we’ve got each child in a difference school. I’ll be juggling between elementary, junior high and high school, and the thought of that makes me cringe. I’m fortunate that I really do love all three schools, although transitioning from elementary (where we’ve been for 9 years now) isn’t quite as easy as I had hoped.

There is a process you go through where you get less and less information and become less involved as the grade level rises. In elementary school, I volunteered in the classroom, attended PFO meetings, knew all the parents of my child’s friends. In junior high, I rarely saw the teachers, never had a discussion with my daughter’s advisor, and heard names of friends that I had never heard before.

Since we began the climb towards high school, I feel like a fish out of water. I’m hearing things through the grapevine instead of getting emails, flyers home and those lovely recorded calls from the school. I feel like I’m missing something important… I feel like I’m back in high school myself and I’m the one who is missing out on all the fun.

I don’t know why the breakdown in communication. Sure, by the time your child gets to high school they are supposed to learn how to advocate for themselves. Sure, the school wants them to find their own voice, their own path, their own niche. But for heaven’s sake… these are still children after all. And as a parent, I think it’s important to know what classes my child is taking, what tests they have coming up, and let’s face it… what they need to do to get into a good college. High school is completely different than when I attended (way back when dinosaurs walked the earth). Now there are so many more things to worry about: who is teaching, how are they teaching, what are they teaching? Sometimes it gets a little overwhelming, but I want to be as informed in high school as I was in elementary school.

So, I want to ask you a few questions…

1. What does it take to motivate you to advocate or take action on an educational issue - either local, state or national? Is there something that would get you going? Anything that is worth fighting for with regards to your child’s education?

2. How would you improve communication channels between parents and teachers/administrators at the high school level? Do you feel like you are missing out on critical information? What do you like that has worked and what definitely isn’t working?

I want some honest answers… and your answers might even lead to more questions. Feel free to pass this post along to anyone you know who is passionate about their child’s education.