District officials are trying other methods, too, to get parents more involved in education. Centers are to open in the fall at Broadleigh and Second Avenue elementaries, as well as Champion Middle School. The centers provide programs, including computer practice, to increase parenting skills. They also host afterschool activities such as homework clubs and tutoring sessions. Separately, Communities in Schools, a nonprofit agency working with the district to prevent dropouts and academic failure, offers social-services help to families in many schools.
Some urban districts go even further.
In Chicago, under a program scheduled to expand districtwide in the fall, one elementary gives parents their own report cards, basing their grades on how their children fare in completing homework, attending school and dressing appropriately. In Sacramento, Calif., teachers visit students' homes to develop relationships with parents and advise them on how to help their children succeed. While in the minority of school systems experimenting with ways to increase parental involvement, such urban districts are in the vanguard, she said. They are in a leadership position. I think other cities are looking closely at these programs.