ENGAGING PARENTS TO HELP TURN AROUND LOW-PERFORMING SCHOOLS - —A POSITIVE MODEL

WHEREAS, real school improvement is an ongoing process that meaningfully engages parents, community, teachers, other school staff and students;

WHEREAS, educational inequities based on race and poverty continue to be the shame of our society, and the impact of budget austerity and income disparity on low-performing schools demands an urgent response from all stakeholders;

WHEREAS, the majority of states have been granted a waiver by the U.S. Department of Education from significant provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, including the requirement that low-performing schools develop school improvement plans in consultation with parents and staff;

WHEREAS, the AFT is committed to fixing, not closing, public schools and to working with all in our communities to make every school a school where parents want to send their children and educators want to teach;

WHEREAS, AFT local unions around the country are building sustained and dynamic community partnerships, including sponsoring town halls jointly with local organizations in which community-driven ideas for school improvement can come to the fore;

WHEREAS, over the past six months, several community organizations and the AFT worked together to develop a legislative template that can be used to create meaningful school improvement policies based on a shared process engaging all stakeholders:

RESOLVED, that the AFT supports the principle that parents, community, teachers, other school staff and students working collaboratively is the proper way to improve schools;

RESOLVED, that the AFT will make available the attached legislative template developed in cooperation with community groups and the AFT to all state and local affiliates;

RESOLVED, that the AFT recommends affiliates use the attached legislative template to work with community groups at a local level to tailor the language to fit the particular needs of students, parents and the school community in each local community and state.