Credit: FILE PHOTO

I get a kick out of seeing young people receive recognition for their achievements, graduate, and step out on their own. These young people inspire hope for a better world. 

At the last monthly Rochester school board meeting, several dozen students received awards for outstanding athletic achievement. The presenters made a point of telling the audience that the students had high attendance and gave their grade point averages. Many of the students have averages above 4.0 and they are planning on attending colleges such as the University of Rochester and Yale.

A couple of school board members noted that good things like this do happen in the district, but they don’t get reported. One said that the media tends to focus too much on stories about how city children can’t learn because they’re poor.

The board members are partly right. A lot of good things happen in every school district, including Rochester’s, that go unreported. And a lot is written about the concentration of poverty in the city’s schools. But that’s because it’s an inextricable fact. Of course it doesn’t mean that poor students can’t learn. But does anyone seriously believe that students benefit from poverty?

It’s hard to hear that Rochester’s graduation rate remains dismally low without wondering why this group of students did so well. What’s the secret ingredient? Better teachers? Brighter students? Better managed schools? More resources? 

That’s the million-dollar question, and surely there’s more than one answer.

But there was one thing that almost every student who received an award last week had in common. Nearly every one of them was accompanied by a parent or family member. Some were teary-eyed. Some were busy taking photos and videos. And others just watched with obvious pride.

Parental engagement in most city schools is undeniably low. And there are many explanations for it — some more valid than others. Yes, it’s possible to mitigate some of the effects of poverty. It’s difficult and costly, but it can be done. But last week’s awards ceremony was a reminder that the most effective mitigation of poverty’s influence on students just might begin with parents.

This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2014.

I was born and raised in the Rochester area, but I lived in California and Florida before returning home about 12 years ago. I'm a vegetarian and live with my husband and our three pugs. I cover education,...

4 replies on “The under-reported power of parental engagement”

  1. Damn Mr. Macaluso — did it not occur to you that your idea about ” last week’s awards ceremony [representing] a reminder that the most effective mitigation of poverty’s influence on students just might begin with parents” — just might represent a quantum-leap, and perhaps an asinine assumption that ALL of the “several dozen students” live in poverty?

  2. I do wish that our local media would do a better job reporting all kinds of positive stories about Rochester city school district students. What a disservice is done to these children to see their local media–including City News–constantly reflecting such negativity. Why shouldn’t we expect students to fail when they constantly see failure reflected back at them from supposedly well-meaning journalists? There was a time when “School News” was an important part of a newspaper’s commitment to the community and the daily activities of kids in schools was exalted as important. If Tim says that parental engagement may be key, I would say that perhaps he and his colleagues could also be better engaged in the lives of our city kids if they truly want to see improvement in academic outcomes.

  4. Mr. Eagle. Mr. Macaluso made no such assumption. He merely extrapolated on the idea that parental involvement among the poor help mitigate some of the effects of poverty on students. It’s not the school’s fault that the absentee rate is so high. Parents making sure their children are in school from 8am-4pm every day all but eliminates absenteeism. It’s not teacher’s fault that some kids aren’t learning at the same pace as their peers. Parents who make sure their kids are in the house after dinner, doing their homework, encouraging learning, is the ONLY way to guarantee that children have a chance in this world. It’s too easy to blame culture or socio-economic class, or to claim that only teachers and administrators who come from the same place as oneself can effectively educate their children. No Mr. Eagle, you get the children, and then the future you create. If you aren’t involved in YOUR OWN child’s education, you are as much a failure as they will be. Put your child on the bus, walk or drive him to school. Whatever it takes. Make sure the school calls you immediately if your child is absent. Then do something about it when they do. Make sure his homework is done, and “ground him” if it’s not. It’s called being a responsible parent. Not demanding that the schools take care of your kid for you.

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