With regular conversations and training sessions, Alliance organizers teach parents that accountability does not mean blaming educators and administrators, but means taking responsibility for negotiating solutions with them. Through these efforts, Alliance schools have helped families find a way to help one another to restructure the school-community relationship. Alliance schools have adopted new curriculums, spurred teachers to greater creativity, and involved parents in teacher training. At special meetings, families and educators have learned how to parse a budget and negotiate with school officials. And the Alliance has helped address special problems, ranging from establishing a health center in one school to fixing traffic problems at another.
Alliance schools have a demonstrated record of improving students' test scores.
As important as higher test scores are for any reform effort's credibility, however, the Alliance argues that schools can achieve good scores but still be unhappy and uncreative places with little relevance to a student's life. As a result, the Alliance is seeking ways to evaluate schools that go beyond test scores. Alliance leaders think they know the outlines of such a successful school reform movement. It comes when principals see themselves as leaders of an educational team, and teachers feel free to employ creative ideas in the classroom. It is a process that turns families and members of the community into educational reform leaders.