Policy Priority 2: Empower Parents With Real Choices and Real Information
Every family should have the information and access to choose among quality schools. No student should be forced to attend a low-performing school or be taught by a low-performing teacher.
StudentsFirst believes that students and their parents need choice in order for America to have an excellent education system. Traditionally, we have taken a "one size fits all" approach to education that does not serve the learning needs of all of our children. Parents naturally put the interests of their children above the interests of the system. Therefore the more power parents can exercise over their children's education, and the greater the number of high-quality options from which to choose, the more we will build a students-first system. It will take time, perhaps years, to shift to a full-functioning choice system, but with proper accountability and government oversight, parents should decide which delivery method and which provider is best for their child.
StudentsFirst will work with states and districts to institute policies and practices that further this vision and empower parents. We will focus on the following policy objectives:
- Build a robust choice system that allows parents to choose from among multiple high-quality schools.
- Ensure parents have access to meaningful data about schools and teachers.
- Empower parents to avoid low-performing teachers and schools.
Today, wealthy families have economic school choice; they can choose neighborhoods with good schools, supplement schools with extra instruction and activities, and even choose to send their children to private schools. Students enjoying these options tend to perform quite well nationally and internationally. In contrast, low-income families historically have had limited school options and their children have been forced to attend low-performing schools. While low-income families have been held captive in failing schools, adults could count on keeping their jobs while placing their own interests above those of students — often claiming that it's simply not possible to raise the performance of low-income children to national standards. A true students-first system would give parents power to choose among several quality school options.
To fully empower parents, families must not only be provided choices, but also useful, meaningful information about those choices. Just as parents get report cards about their children's performance, parents and the public should also get "report cards" about the comparative performance of local schools and teachers. If schools are transparent about school and teacher effectiveness, then they will have more incentives to keep improving constantly, and parents will be able both to demand better for their children and to determine which school is best for each child.
