Examining the Parent Trigger as a Strategy for School Reform and Parental Engagement

Autor/inn/en	Rogers, John; Lubienski, Chris; Scott, Janelle; Welner, Kevin G.
Titel	Examining the Parent Trigger as a Strategy for School Reform and Parental Engagement
Quelle	In: Teachers College Record, 117 (2015) 6Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0161-4681
Schlagwörter	Parent Participation; Educational Change; Politics of Education; State Legislation; Educational Policy; Educational Improvement; Change Strategies; Public Policy; Economic Factors; Governance; Empowerment; Educational Legislation; School Choice; Charter Schools; Parent Role; Educational Quality; Disadvantaged Youth; California + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Elternmitwirkung; Bildungsreform; Educational policy; Bildungspolitik; Landesrecht; Politics of education; Teaching improvement; Unterrichtsentwicklung; Lösungsstrategie; Öffentliche Ordnung; Ökonomischer Faktor; Education; Financing; Steuerung; Bildung; Erziehung; Finanzierung; Bildungsrecht; Schulgesetz; Choice of school; Schulwahl; Charter school; Charter-Schule; Parental role; Elternrolle; Quality of education; Bildungsqualität; Benachteiligter Jugendlicher; Kalifornien
Abstract	Background: Purpose: This analysis considers the emergence, evidentiary basis, and potential of parent trigger policies. In particular, we focus on the policy, political and social circumstances in which parent trigger legislation emerged in California, the efficacy of the school improvement levers on which it draws, and the underlying assumptions about democratic engagement that inform the approach. Research Design: This policy analysis draws on multiple forms of evidence to examine the efficacy of the parent trigger approach for school improvement and community engagement. The initial examination of the emergence of parent trigger considers public policy positions, media statements, and press accounts to trace the nuances of this policy landscape. Then, in lieu of useful research evidence on parent trigger itself, we turn to the research literature on the remedies that parent trigger tends to adopt, including studies in school choice, charter schools, and various school improvement strategies, as well as the implications for parental empowerment. Findings: Reviews of extant evidence on policy remedies implicit and explicit in parent trigger indicate that, although parent trigger may have emerged from a deep-seated desire to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, it is unlikely to actually improve the educational quality of schools, given that the overall effects of these policy interventions are mixed, at best, and parent trigger adds another element of instability to already unstable school communities in disadvantaged areas. Conclusions/Recommendations: Our analysis suggests that parent trigger tends to assume an aggregative model of democratic action drawn from a market-style economic premise. Unless policy makers promote a more deliberative model of community engagement, empowerment, and school governance, it is likely that parent trigger could contribute to continual corruption of democratic institutions and avenues for school governance. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01