It's very strange to go from the world of education wonks to the world of the parent. The debates that I read about on the education blogs, the recent research from scholars, and the speeches from the Secretary of States aren't trickling down to the public.

I often ask friends how they like their schools. They usually say that they like their schools, particularly if their child is getting good grades and if the teacher is a nice person. (People will also say that they like their particular Congressional representative, even though they say that they hate Congress. I think it's the same phenomenon. People think schools need to improve, but they like their local teachers.) If they have any criticism, they usually say that the school could use more computers.

Parents need more help evaluating their schools. If they had more information, they could be better advocates for change. They need to look beyond the experiences of their particular kids and look at the performance of the entire school.

Here are five tests for your schools:

Continue reading “Do You Have Good Schools?” →