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The SUV Caucus
Shifting to the new reality
Administrators, Leadership and management, Parents, School heads
Ask any school administrator how the job has changed during the past five years and parents will make the top three list. Today’s parents want to be involved and have many opinions on their children’s progress, as well as on the schools’ programs and operations.It seems, in fact, that this interest is growing and parents are asking even more sophisticated questions and expecting even higher standards. What I hear from teachers is that the number one topic discussed in the staff room when administrators are not around is parents. Some would argue that dealing with them is now one more responsibility to add to overburdened teachers and administrators or even that it is becoming a threat to the autonomy and professionalism of the schools.

Media descriptors for today’s parent—Helicopter Parents, parking lot mafia or the SUV caucus—only add to this negative perception. Indeed, some may be a pain and certainly some educators may be persuaded that teaching would be ideal if they would stay away. It is easy to dismiss their issues as coming from the painful minority.

The challenge is to recognize that these interfering parents are engaging in issues of education. We are fortunate to have a group of concerned people who care deeply about the same issues as we do—how well we are challenging, supporting and engaging our children. We will find that their questions illuminate real issues or they just might spark some needed change. Even if it is one or two parents, they might be on to something.

Our evolution as independent schools shows us that important shifts have been made when a brave parent asked a tough question and a bold educator listened, learned and acted.

As we look at the changes to come—what I believe to be the largest shift in education—we see the need to engage parents and to ask for even greater support. Parents have a right to be concerned about education; we want and need them to be concerned.

To track evidence of the increased involvement of parents in schools, look no further than the schoolyard in September of 2008:
How many parents drove their children?

How many lingered in the schoolyard?

How many looked worried about their child?

How many were checking their Blackberrys?

How many e-mails were sent to faculty or administrators by parents on that first day?

What kinds of questions are parents asking?

Wouldn’t it be interesting to compare current data with that of 10 years ago or even just one year earlier?
Return to that same school and collect some more data:
Does the school have an anti-idling poster in the drop-off zone?

How about an acceptable snack policy? A defibulator? A revised homework policy?

Are the doors locked?

What changes to the facilities have been made?

Does the newsletter go home as a push-page?

How many students have access to laptops? SMART Boards?

What percentage of students are involved in the arts daily?

What extra academic support is offered to students?

How many students are on financial assistance?

The numerous changes within our schools are evident. And while there may not be one single driving force behind them, the role of parents cannot be overlooked. They are the ones who often pay for necessary items—to repair the broken window, fund the additional soccer field or replace the stolen laptops. But their role extends beyond monetary support. I believe that parents have influenced three recent and major improvements in independent schools.

Support for individual learning
One of the important shifts in schools has been focusing not only on what students learn, but also on how they learn. During the past few years, there have been overwhelming developments in the areas of research-based, classroom-proven best practice teaching strategies and understanding the ways in which students learn. Furthermore, the learning needs of students in Canada have become increasingly diverse. Parents are demanding more and more that their children be given individualized treatment. Parents have significantly impacted this shift.

In 2000, Richard Wernham and Julia West gave a landmark gift to Upper Canada College in Toronto, Ontario and established The Wernham West Centre for Learning, a resource devoted to developing a school-wide understanding and reflection that students have different learning styles and needs. The faculty members in the centre help all boys to develop or hone key learning skills through reflective portfolios, agenda use and within a curriculum that is linked to developmental approaches to learning. The centre also offers small group sessions on everything from essay writing to time management and study strategies. Designed to assist a variety of learners and learning styles, it offers academic support programs that help students identify and explore specific areas of strength and challenges. Students may also arrange for individual tutoring sessions.

Mary Gauthier, executive director of the centre, explains that the Centre for Learning is focused on the school creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment. It helps faculty develop best practices by arranging professional development, sharing expertise of teachers within the school and working actively on the school’s strategic focus on teaching and learning.

What is remarkable is its mandate to reach beyond the walls of the school. The centre strives to be a site for educational research to be shared with the broader educational community.

Many independent schools have not been ignoring changes in student needs and parental expectations; in fact, they have also been active in the field of differentiating the teaching and learning process.

Parents challenge schools to focus on individual kids and individual learning. The vision of Wernham and West is that when schools develop successful strategies for individual students, schools should apply those strategies to all.

Technology to support learning
Parents have also pushed the envelope in improvements to teaching. Professional development, particularly in the area of the use of technology, has come in part from parent pressure. They ask good questions about how to support learning in the classroom and expect to see results.

When educators wanted to introduce technology into schools, the discussion initially focused around cost. How could the families afford the laptops? How could schools budget to make the initial purchases and then pay for upkeep? Parents eliminated that issue; they recognized that schools were not as cutting edge as they should be, and offered funding for resources. Many of our schools are fully equipped with SMART Boards and most kids have access to laptops on a regular basis. But parents also had concerns and asked good questions about teaching and learning.

In 2001, when I was an English teacher at Lower Canada College in Montreal, Quebec, my Grade 10 class created websites based on a scene from Macbeth that included links to their own analysis and a video.
Phone calls from parents started. Why weren’t the students writing essays? How was I going to mark these projects? Why couldn’t I just teach the regular way?

When the projects were completed, I invited their parents in to test their websites. Everyone showed up. The highlight was when one negative parent became animated, how they discussed the scene at great length and how much they learned. This parent then thanked me for taking the risk with her son.

I was motivated to develop this project, in part, to get this sort of response from this parent; was it competition or fear? Either way, students benefitted from parents’ questions.

The parents at Miss Edgar’s and Miss Cramp’s School in Montreal are partnering in terms of teaching, learning and technology. What is unique is that the kids are teaching the parents. Recognizing that parents are sometimes less technologically savvy, the girls began an iclub for parents. On a weekly basis, students and parents gather to work on projects that allow parents to develop their technological skills and gain a greater understanding of their daughters’ ability to use technology as part of their learning process.

Head of School Katherine Nikidis says, “This is all about the girls and developing a relationship with their parents in which they are the experts.”

Creativity
Perhaps the greatest change in independent schools across Canada has been in the arts. During the past 10 years, the public education system has made drastic cuts to art, music and drama programs. Recent government cuts to arts programs further demonstrate society’s lack of understanding for the value of the arts. Yet, during this same period, our schools have become leaders in the arts. Schools have built theatres, created art rooms, dance studios and music programs that make professional artists envious. Again, it is parents who often provide the main funding for these programs, resources and facilities.

And when parents voiced concerns that our schools might turn their brilliant children into starving artists instead of Harvard graduates and successful Wall Street investors? Schools embraced the challenge, listened and searched for common ground. The result? Schools have creatively managed the implementation of strong co-curricular programs and academic courses.

At St. Michaels University School in Victoria, British Columbia, you will find more than 120 kids rehearsing in the school orchestra every Tuesday at 7 a.m. You will also see many students enroled in a variety of arts courses. Many schools now offer courses in the arts in addition to the traditional courses.

“Parents have grown to see these courses and programs to be tremendous strengths for their kids,” comments Guy Mclean, Head of Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario. “It is about how to manage the change of parent perception.”
I see more and more evidence that Canadian independent schools are leading in arts education.

The Current Changes
The world is changing and schools are changing and many are feeling the pains of the process; however, I also believe this is only the beginning. If educators are feeling that change has been rapid in the past, let me quote a line, familiar to many parents of today’s students, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

The next 10 years will require educators and parents to collaborate on what teaching and learning should look like in the 21st century.

Tony Wagner, co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, argues that “in today’s highly competitive global ‘knowledge economy,’ all students need new skills for college, careers and citizenship. The failure to give all students these new skills leaves today’s youth—and our country—at an alarming competitive disadvantage.”

“Schools haven’t changed, the world has. Our schools are not failing. Rather, they are obsolete—even the ones that score the best on standardized tests. This is a very different problem requiring an altogether different solution.”
There are some big questions facing educators: What are the skills that matter most in the world of work? What are the skills that matter most in the rest of the world, the “real world?” What should graduates know and what should they be able to do? What does that look like in day-to-day and year-to-year classroom learning?

Today’s parents should be asking these questions of our schools. We don’t necessarily have the answers. So as we head into this massive global shift, schools will have to take some big risks. Students might be working in new ways. Learning might look differently; in fact, I hope it does. More than ever, educators will need to gain the trust of all parents, even the SUV caucus parents.

There is much talk about 21st century learners, skills and schools. It is the 21st century leader who will engage parents, seek to understand them and proactively address their concerns.