BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Parents and guardians who want to know what their child is learning should have a new tool this school year, but it’s not clear whether all schools are offering it just yet. Parents Right to Know: Are schools doing it?
The Alabama’s Parents Right to Know Act, approved by lawmakers in the spring, went into effect in June, and that means all schools and districts are now required to post online information related to what children are being taught on their school websites in a way that parents can get to it.
It also requires schools to map out a process for parents to lodge a complaint if teachers don’t answer questions about the materials.
Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, R-Jasper, made the bill’s passage a priority and received unanimous approval in the Senate. There were only three “no” votes in the House.
“Providing meaningful opportunities for Alabama’s students to continue receiving first-class educations is a huge priority, and educators do an incredible job investing in our young students daily,” Reed told Alabama Daily News recently. “One important component of making that priority a reality is keeping parents engaged and involved with their children’s educations to the fullest extent.”
State Superintendent Eric Mackey sent a memo to all superintendents at the end of September restating the requirements under the law – post all curricula on school websites within 30 days of the start of the school year or whenever it changes – and outlining a process by which parents can lodge a complaint if a teacher refuses to comply with the law.
Mackey’s memo said superintendents must verify the information has been made available, but a count of how many districts have verified compliance was not available last week, according to department officials.
Alabama Daily News reviewed a third of the state’s 141 district websites and found that 29 districts, or just over 60% of the sample, had posted their curriculum publicly online.
The required information could not be found on 17 districts’ websites, but that doesn’t mean the information isn’t there, according to School Superintendents of Alabama Executive Director Ryan Hollingsworth.
“The information has to be available to parents or guardians,” he wrote in a text to ADN. “Not to the general public.”
The curriculum could be posted behind a login, Hollingsworth said.
The law leaves much of the details to local schools, like defining what is meant by “curriculum.”
“It is my expectation that every school system in Alabama will follow the law the Legislature passed this year,” Reed said.
One district that is up front and straightforward about the new state law is Walker County, where Reed is from. Its website has a “Parents Right to Know” button on the “For Parents” page. It takes viewers to another link to choose whether you want to see materials for K-8 or high school.
A click on the K-8 link goes to a document that shows the names of the textbooks and materials the district has adopted.
Dothan City Schools, too, has a “Parents Right to Know” button on the home page of their website.
But what exactly is posted differs among districts. Some name their textbooks or reading programs like Benchmark or Open Court, while others link to the state’s standards in the subject’s course of study.
Madison City Schools, one of the state’s top-performing school districts, posted textbooks, materials and apps students use. One district has the information posted but not specifically labeled as part of the Parents Right to Know Act.
One district gives parents a Google form to ask further questions about how materials are used but did not publicly list the currently used materials.
Whitney Miller-Nichols is the Director of governmental relations for the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools, which includes principals and other school administrators. She told ADN that CLAS supported the law’s passage and supported getting this information to parents and guardians.
“We want kids’ adults involved in their education,” she said. “Because that’s when we see better outcomes.”