Monday Churn: Mix housing, fix schools? Teacher Parent Synergy

What’s churning:

A report issued last week by the Century Foundation has people buzzing in national policy circles. The report, “Housing Policy is School Policy” examines the progress made by low-income students in Montgomery County, Md.’s largely affluent public schools. The foundation, long a champion of socio-economic school integration, presents Montgomery County as a model of school reform because of its strong inclusionary zoning law. That law sets aside 12 to 15 percent of units in large developments for low-income and working-class families.

While there are no schools in Montgomery County with poverty levels approaching those in Denver, Aurora or other urban districts, there are low-income families, and, according to the study, their children performed significantly better on standardized tests, especially in math, in schools with the lowest poverty rates than in schools with more low-income students.

Good reads from elsewhere:

Racial discipline gaps: The feds are probing whether African American boys are disproportionately punished.
Shallow pool: Study finds that few U.S. teachers come from top ranks of graduates.
Early truancy: New research finds that chronic absenteeism in earliest grades leads to trouble.

Teacher Parent Synergy

Effective Synergy Building Between Parents and Teachers