Behind the Headline: It’s Time to Reconsider the Parent Trigger

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It’s Time to Reconsider the Parent Trigger
Los Angeles Times | 8/3/15

Behind the Headline 
Pulling the Parent Trigger
Education Next | Summer 2013

The editorial board of the Los Angeles Times writes that it’s time for changes to be made to California’s parent trigger law.

The law, passed in 2010, gives parents the power to force dramatic change in low-performing schools.

There have been only four schools in which parents filed petitions that succeeded in forcing a change. Parents at five more schools used the petition process as leverage to negotiate changes, a much less disruptive process, without ever filing an actual petition.

It is hard to know whether these changes have resulted in improved academic performance because the state has for the moment stopped reporting test scores during the switch to new standardized exams.

In an Education Next forum, Ben Austin of Parent Revolution argued that Empowered Families Can Transform the System

Mike Petrilli of the Fordham Institute argued that There’s a Better Way to Unlock Parent Power.

– Education Next

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