Educon notes: What DO parents want?

So I gotta tell you that I hate keynote presentations.  I almost never go to them.  I just can’t stand any more ‘sit-and-git’ in my life.

But this morning’s keynote at Educon was different.  It featured Leroy Nunery—the Deputy Superintendent of the Philadelphia Public Schools—talking about the challenges faced by public schools and the steps that they’re taking here in Philadelphia to address those challenges.

About halfway through Leroy’s slides—you can see ’em all here—he mentioned the results of a survey given to Philadelphia parents designed to highlight what the general community regarded as “must haves” in a good education system.  As Leroy explained it, once you know what the community values, you can work to protect those components of your system.

Well, look at what the community listed as their top “must haves”:

Question: How do your school/district/state’s investment and spending decisions align with the programs identified as “must haves” by Philadelphia’s parents?

Better Question:  Would the results turn out the same if you surveyed your community?

Best Question:  Isn’t a bit arrogant to design a system that completely ignores the very programs that parents value the most?  When the choices that our schools and systems make don’t align with parent desires and interests, aren’t we setting ourselves up for an #epicfail?