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Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Parent Involvement in the Improving America's Schools Act |
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Daniel Johnson |
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| One of the most popular education reform measures is to increase parent involvement in schools. The federal government has played a leading role in promoting the concept. The largest federal education program, Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, has required schools to involve low- income parents in school programs for nearly 30 years. The Act's latest amendments, entitled the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 (IASA), contain its most extensive parent involvement provisions to date. This Comment analyzes the IASA and draws upon the large body of research on parent involvement to argue that the law took a mistaken approach to getting low- income parents involved in schools. Instead of offering parents advisory roles in school policy-making, Title I should encourage schools to help low-income parents help their children learn. The author explains why, and proposes an alternative approach for the future. | |
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Copyright
© 1997 by California Law Review, Inc. |
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