Parents a key factor in student academic performance reproduced by Troy Media HERE
Few topics ignite as much debate among parents and educators as K-12 education. While both parties strive for quality, one side often advocates for increased competition, while the other pushes for more funding. However, this apparent conflict is fostering innovation and greater parental involvement, particularly in North America, where the stakes are high.
My interest in this topic deepened when I learned about the success of states like Montana and North Dakota. These northern U.S. states boast impressive academic performance despite operating with comparatively lower state funding. At the same time, a proposal in Alberta to enhance parental involvement in K-12 education caught my attention. This initiative includes helping parents become better informed about how to choose the right school for their children.
In Alberta, the discussion surrounding K-12 education frequently focuses on provincial funding levels. While adequate funding is undoubtedly essential, it is not the only factor influencing academic outcomes. Increasingly, experts argue that parental involvement, school choice, and competition among schools are equally crucial in shaping students' educational success.
Provincial funding has fluctuated over the years, impacting the resources available to schools. Well-funded schools can offer smaller class sizes, updated textbooks, and a variety of extracurricular activities, all of which enhance the learning experience. However, even in these schools, academic performance often correlates with the level of parental engagement.
Alberta’s K-12 education system faces unique challenges, particularly due to rapid population growth. As more families move into the province, schools are struggling to keep up with the rising number of students, leading to crowded classrooms and stretched resources. Despite these challenges, Alberta continues to perform well on national academic metrics, thanks in part to a strong educational framework that supports diverse needs and high standards. Yet, the strain on funding and infrastructure means that innovative solutions, such as increased parental involvement and school choice, are more critical than ever.
Research consistently shows that students with involved parents are more likely to succeed academically, have better attendance, and display more positive attitudes toward school. Parental involvement can take many forms, from attending parent-teacher conferences and volunteering at school events to helping with homework and creating a learning-friendly environment at home.
Dr. Emily Roberts, an education specialist at the University of Bangor, notes, “Parents who actively participate in their child's education provide crucial support that goes beyond what schools can offer. Their involvement bridges gaps that funding alone cannot address.”
Moreover, parental choice and competition among schools significantly impact student performance in Alberta. The ability to choose between public, separate, charter, and home schooling allows parents to select the environments that best meet their children's needs. This freedom fosters competition among schools, driving them to innovate and improve their offerings to attract and retain students.
Parents, however, face significant disadvantages as advocates for enhancing their children’s educational experiences. While teachers may be sympathetic to parents’ concerns, they are bound by union obligations and hierarchical structures that often place student interests secondary to other considerations. Unlike teachers, parents have no union to advocate for their interests. Unions often control key leadership positions such as superintendents, principals, trustees, and school boards. By law, when a student is at school, the teacher assumes a parental role—known as "in loco parentis"—which can further marginalize parents' influence.
Despite these challenges, parents are stepping up. Some are setting criteria for hiring school principals, while others are preparing to run for school board positions. The time parents spend with their children—about 3,000 hours annually, including holidays—far exceeds the 1,200 hours students spend with teachers in K-12 education. How much of this time is dedicated to education depends on various factors, including school schedules, family routines, screen time, and extracurricular activities. Teachers, managing multiple students, often have limited one-on-one time with each child, whereas parents, particularly those involved in homeschooling, can offer more individualized attention.
Most importantly, the contribution of both parents and teachers to a child's education should be complementary, not competitive. Unfortunately, this crucial collaboration is often overlooked in educational curricula. Educational leaders should ensure that parent-teacher engagement is constructive and mutually supportive, rather than competitive or combative.
Reducing K-12 class sizes from current levels to 12-15 students is necessary for personal attention to significantly impact academic performance. In communities where funding is limited, parental involvement and choice become even more critical. Parents can supplement the resources and support that schools may lack, advocating for their children and ensuring they receive the attention and help they need, especially in larger classrooms where individual attention may be scarce.
Initiatives to boost parental involvement are yielding significant benefits across Alberta. Schools are implementing programs that encourage deeper parental engagement in their children’s education. Workshops on effective parenting strategies, open communication channels between parents and teachers, and flexible event timings to accommodate working parents are all steps in the right direction.
In countries like Canada and the U.S., parents are deeply involved in decision-making and school activities. In contrast, Finnish parents tend to place greater trust in the education system and are less involved in school governance. The U.S. and Canada offer more school choice options (public, charter, private, homeschooling), while countries like Finland and Japan have more standardized systems. In Japan, parental involvement is often driven by cultural expectations for academic excellence, while in Finland, there is less pressure on parents, with stronger trust in the education system. In the U.S. and Canada, socio-economic status significantly affects the level of parental involvement, whereas in Finland, the education system is designed to minimize these disparities.
Ultimately, while increased provincial funding to accommodate rising K-12 enrollment remains essential, recognizing and fostering the invaluable roles of parental involvement, choice, and competition can create a more balanced approach to improving academic performance. A collaborative effort between schools and government, parents and teachers, across Alberta will ensure that every child receives a quality education, regardless of funding challenges. - Editor
Editor’s Note: Next week I'll address the “Covid-hangover” and its impact on students, parents and the overall education system.
The TOP 30 Webinars and Newsletters
The three most popular topics ranked #1 - 3 of the top 30 KEI Network's newsletters and webinars underscore a collective focus on the critical evaluation of technological and institutional changes, with an emphasis on the potential consequences and challenges of implementing these broad, transformative ideas.
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Technological Disruption and its Impacts: The first webinar discusses the transformative potential of ChatGPT and other AI technologies, predicting a shift that may disrupt every profession and institution established during the Age of Reason.The second webinar addresses decarbonization and emerging technologies, which also involve significant shifts in energy usage and climate policies, driven by technological advancements.The third webinar examines "The Great Reset," which is centered around the idea of a global transformation, partially driven by technological changes and their impacts on society.
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Questioning Established Norms: Each webinar questions the current or traditional systems. The first challenges the foundation of the Age of Reason with the rise of AI.The second questions the feasibility and desirability of achieving Net-Zero carbon emissions, a goal that has been widely accepted as essential to combating climate change.The third questions the effectiveness and potential dangers of global policies and institutions like the WEF and UN in attempting to implement broad, utopian changes.
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Global and Societal Impact: All three webinars emphasize the broad, global impacts of the topics discussed, whether it's the widespread effects of AI, the global challenge of decarbonization, or the international implications of the Great Reset.There is a shared concern about how these changes will affect various regions, economies, and individuals differently, highlighting the complexity and potential unintended consequences of large-scale initiatives.
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Skepticism and Critique: Each of the webinars contains a degree of skepticism about the prevailing narratives or goals within the topics. The first webinar is critical of the blind adoption of AI, the second of the extreme pursuit of Net-Zero, and the third of the globalist agendas like the Great Reset.The tone across the webinars suggests a critical examination of the current and future directions society is taking, especially when driven by technology or global institutions.
Rank #1. HEY CHATGPT SLOWDOWN! - GPT prompts the dawning of a New Age. featuring a presentation by Jeff Krehmer. Access at KEInetwork.net May 27th, 2023. Newsletter Issue #111. Webinar's video link HERE https://youtu.be/WOs0EGVPAi0
Justa Chat. No formal presentations - a well-rounded discussion of how ChatGPT is being used and the pros and cons of its impacts.
Alert! The Age of Reason is coming to an abrupt end. Generative AI grants us an interpretive service based on immediate and free access to vast sources of knowledge. Since it's public introduction GPT and spinoff app(s) are growing exponentially. Enmasse they are anticipated to disrupt every profession, institution, and source of knowledge that for more than 500 years have been core to the Age of Reason.
Rank #2. Webinar #2. DECARBONIZATION - Emerging Technologies addressing climate change. December 12th, 2021. Access at KEINetwork.net Newsletter Issue #69. Webinar's Video link HERE https://youtu.be/6jsZD3J-Sk0
The second webinar in the DECARBONIZATION series moderated by Eddie Isaacs and featuring presentations by Axel Meisen, Oskar Sigvaldason, and Mark Summers. Decarbonization - the pursuit of Net-Zero or no green-house gas emissions in the usage of energy, is being driven by mankind's shared respect for the environment, the planet, the climate. The goal of Net-Zero - no carbon for energy, we are learning is not achievable nor is it desirable; it is being fueled by highly emotional arguments backed by various measures of climate change to save a dying planet. At the same time, the global demand for energy continues to grow particularly in India and China where coal energizes their economies. And it is clear that most agree that carbon for energy will always comprise some - albeit smaller, portion of the world's mix of energy sources.
Rank #3. Exploring the GREAT Reset. April 10th, 2022. Access at KEINetwork.net Newsletter Issue #87. HERE https://youtu.be/tTyga2OCNyc The webinar's video has been removed by YouTube. For more contact Editor@KEInetwork.net
"The GREAT Reset", on what Klaus Schwab, founder and executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), has in store as portrayed in his book Covid 19 - the Great Reset - a reset of the international order. The Network's follow-on discussion was insightful, sobering, and civil!
What is clear is that institutions with global influence/ leaders have yielded to the temptation to exercise their collective influence/ leadership for the global "public" good. Think the UN and WEF. Gathering the support of decentralized elected representatives may be comforting as a democratic process; not so comforting however can be the end results - the utopian promises. Why?
The policies derived by global gatherings of leaders may moderate the extremes but as a complex compromise, they end up fitting few - so remote from people as to make the impact irrelevant, uncertain, or - worse yet, harmful. (See the article below - Assessing the cost/benefit of Covid-19.) The histories, the cultures, the environments, the circumstances, of mankind and the social constructs are too numerous and complex for any one institution to dare understand much less rule/control. So, either reduce the numbers e.g. to 500 million, also proposed by WEF, or suffer the chaos of humanism: respect for the individual and distrust of utopian zealots.
ZOOM LINK - No password required
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84258596166?pw..
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84258596166?pw..
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