DeAnn Fordham didn’t look up her neighborhood school’s test scores to find out if the school was good enough for her son, Mitchell. She didn’t think she needed to.
“The word on the street is that it’s a very good school,” DeAnn says. “It seems like all the kids go there, and they seem to do well.”
Still, she acknowledged she should do some homework on East Side Elementary in the Atlanta suburbs before Mitchell, her four year old, starts kindergarten in 2008. DeAnn wants her only child to be exposed to the arts, have recess every day, and be challenged academically. “And obviously I want him to find learning enjoyable,” she says.
If only she knew where to start.
Parents have never had more access to data on public schools. An online search can yield an overwhelming amount of information on test scores, absenteeism, how much experience teachers have, and how many kids qualify for free and reduced-price lunches.
But a school with high test scores may not offer everything a parent wants. Some schools have cut recess to focus on academics (See: “Losing Recess”.) About forty percent of elementary schools have dumped recess or are considering doing so, according to the national Rescuing Recess campaign.
Other schools have scaled back or dropped art, music, and foreign language due to budget constraints and pressure to focus on reading and math. For example, in California, enrollment in elementary school music programs fell eighty-five percent over the past six years, explains Bob Morrison, spokesman for Music for All, an advocacy organization. Legislation in many states is slowly bringing some arts programs back, he says.
To get a sense of a school, parents need to visit, look for cues, and ask key questions, advises Anna Weselak, president of the National PTA. And parents should do so before their children start kindergarten, so they will have time to lobby for programs their school doesn’t have. “Our public schools are governed by local control,” Weselak says. “If there are elements of the curriculum parents think are missing, they have an avenue. They can go to their local school board.”
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