The University of New Mexico

NEWS RELEASE

 


Media Contact: Laurie Mellas, 277-5915

Oct. 13, 2006

Appleseed/UNM Study Finds Parents Key To No Child Left Behind Success
Parental involvement necessary for students, schools

Federal, state and local officials need to do a better job of abiding by the parental involvement sections of the No Child Left Behind Act, according to a report issued by Appleseed of New Mexico. Appleseed of New Mexico was one of six states working in collaboration with the national Appleseed network on a grant from the Kellogg foundation.

Appleseed of New Mexico, in partnership with the University of New Mexico Institute of Public Law, the Center for Family and Community Partnerships at the College of Education, and the ENLACE program, contributed to the study by convening and leading focus groups of parents and community members in three public school districts.

Results in New Mexico were generally consistent with the conclusions of the national report, which concluded:

  • Too many parents fail to receive clear and timely information about their children and their schools
  • Poverty, limited English proficiency, and varying cultural expectations are among the biggest barriers to parental involvement
  • Poor communication with parents hinders their ability to exercise NCLB's choice and supplemental education services options
  • Creative, multi-faceted communication and engagement strategies can promote better parental involvement in schools
  • Parental involvement is not uniformly valued by school leaders as a key accountability strategy.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, schools must notify parents about the test results of individual students and the schools that they attend. In addition, the law obligates local school systems to adopt parent involvement policies and to actively enlist the help of parents when constructing school-wide improvement plans.

Parents from all of the New Mexico focus groups reported hearing something about NCLB and were generally aware that some consequences were attached to schools that failed to attain adequate yearly progress benchmarks (although such understanding was not always expressed in precisely those words). While some parents were aware of the availability of tutoring services, few, if any, understood the range of – or the right to – supplemental educational services available.

New Mexico research was limited to schools located within three school districts in the southeast, central and northwest areas of the state. The complete New Mexico study is available on the Web at www.AppleseedNM.com.

The Appleseed national study may be accessed at http://tinyurl.com/y5yfoz.

For more information, call Appleseed of New Mexico, 505-277-1772

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The University of New Mexico is the state's largest university, serving more than 32,000 students. UNM is home to the state's only schools of law, medicine, pharmacy and architecture and operates New Mexico's only academic health center. UNM is noted for comprehensive undergraduate programs and research that benefits the state and the nation.

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