Later in the session, Robinson and Jackson added to the list of top concerns they hear from parents: the school’s location, the kinds of extracurricular activities it offers, the accessibility of its teachers and administrators, and its hospitality toward parents. Jackson said parents prefer communication with the school to happen not as a weekly newsletter, but rather as the development of a two-way partnership for their child’s education.Responding to questions on how to assess the quality of cyber schools and private schools, Jackson pointed out that those two areas are full of potential topics for reporters to cover. For example, the amount of churn in the student population at cyber charters is an important story, he said. Data on what kinds of students those schools serve could also be analyzed.For private schools, Jackson said that student achievement data can be hard to obtain. Even though students who use vouchers to attend private schools may still be required to take state exams, policies on accessing their scores are largely nonexistent. Wisconsin requires schools that receive vouchers to release their data, and Louisiana does so partially, too. “It’s a great public policy question for stories,” Jackson said.The speakers agreed that the role of organizations like Great Schools and Inside Schools is not just to present families with data on schools, but also to develop ways to help parents better understand the data. Robinson pointed out that her organization has videos aiming to do that for parents of students with special education needs.“It’s not just teaching. It’s coaching,” Jackson said.Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.
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