Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Getting Involved

I'm new to advocacy. My child is in first grade. I'm in a gifted friendly state. A district that is high achieving. And an elementary school ranked in top five of our state. Of course we still have tons of opportunity with gifted education.

I'd like to be more involved. I'm curious how everyone became influential (or even participatory) in advocacy. Whether your influence is at the school level or state level (or in between). I am not well versed in how the public school bureaucracies work but would like to learn how to become more involved!

Thanks!

I'm also in a state with gifted-friendly legislation, and our school district is high-performing for the state... though in my case, that's like being the skinniest kid in fat camp.

We became advocates when our DD's school and district demonstrated that, despite the legislation and employing teachers with certifications for gifted education, they really had no idea what they were doing, and their bad ideas were affecting our DD in alarming ways.

That is a pretty compelling reason to get involved!!! Have you built relationships/connections beyond the school?

If I understand correctly, you're asking how to become an insider in your local bureaucracy, yes?

Well, two things to know--

1. They may not accept you because you're an outsider (if this is true), and

2. If you don't already have a clear agenda, and some reason for wanting to change things in a particular direction, be prepared for a LOT of nosy questions and suspicion. Rightly so, probably. Anyone who simply wants to be influential... probably deserves some of that scrutiny.


I serve on a couple of different county and state boards-- for other things, but similar structurally to the school way of doing things, and many of my colleagues/peers are teachers with an educator-mindset. My advice to you is to wait and keep your ears open-- learn the insider language and thinking that you'll need to have to "pass" as one of them. They won't trust you enough to let you in the door otherwise. Heck, our school has not trusted ME enough to let me in the door, and frankly... I pass as one of them. Educators are a highly insular lot, generally speaking, and many of them have negative experiences with people who have NEVER actually done their jobs trying to tell them HOW to do them... so they do tend to only want people with that background and experience in the door, because most other people are in it for... well, other reasons, and often are operating from a position of relative ignorance as well. Crusaders, basically.

They may not let you in anyway, if you seem to have ideas that are too radical, too alarming, etc. If you're too aggressive, too smart, or too willing to call things out that everyone else prefers to ignore... Honestly, your odds probably aren't very good unless you have a history of advocacy in similar systems. It takes a lot of persistence and a certain amount of political savvy to get insider status. It causes alarm when outsiders get into the lounge with them, and the gatekeeping is pretty significant as a result.

I guess my question for you is-- your child is in first grade, and presumably things are going reasonably well or you'd have asked for something more specific about advocacy. Why do you WANT in at this point? Is it so that you will have a handy way to "fix" things as they come up? To improve things in general? If so, how do you know what needs fixing? To maintain a position of authority in this (new to you) venue?

What is it that you see as being in desperate need of change-- and needing YOU in particular?

Being honest about your reasons might shed some light on the course of action. If your reasons are undefined, my recommendation is for you to do some research to find out what IS needed at a regional/state level, and to define what you think you have to contribute to solving that problem (or those problems). Your initial post leads me to think that one of two things is true locally; either you haven't had enough experience (yet) to know where the problems are locally, or there are not major issues locally.

My advocacy is focused on the school and district. I started by developing a positive relationship with teachers and administrators built on respect. I talk to teachers to understand their perspective and the pressures they're under. In the last year, I started having more in depth discussions with the director of special education services both about my kids' specific needs as well as my view of the needs of gifted ed as these children enter college. I back everything with data and evidence based practices.

It looks like some of my suggestions have been adopted whole sail into the next revision of gifted services.

Our school is ranked very high in the state, I have to say that it's a pretty low bar here, too. From what I've observed and learned through friends, I think our district is more focused on keeping high-achieving upper middle class kids from fleeing to private than it is on actually serving the gifted population. There are other districts nearby that do a much better job of serving the gifted. OK, there's one. That said, I still think our school is a viable choice given the cost savings and very little actual curriculum difference over private.

I became involved through the PTA. It may seem to some that bake sales are not the best way to directly influence educational practices, but over time it's given me access to teachers, to the administration and even to a school board member who is a former member of our PTA. Because of my work for the PTA I was invited to volunteer directly for the school, which has led to even more access and communication opportunities.

I'd like to get more involved at the district level, as we are in a very large district, and pretty much all policy is made on that level, and am still working on getting more access there.

I think there are many avenues that work, this just happens to be the route that opened up for me, so I'm following it.

Good luck to you!

Generally speaking, when there is a parental involvement program, what it really means is, "Just bring punch and treats for the party, we'll do the real thinking here."

We've sought others at the district level, but found out quickly that they wouldn't be of any help. The general trend we've discovered is that the less direct experience they have with my DD, and the less expertise they have in gifted education, the more resistant they are to reasonable and appropriate accommodations beyond the cookie-cutter solution. This means most resistance occurs at the principal level, which is the minimum level of support necessary to change DD's daily schedule, and only gets worse above.

I would say at this point we have zero influence, and are seen primarily as troublemakers. We only got DD the final accommodation we sought (whole grade acceleration) by finding the loophole and exploiting it.

And really, it says a lot about this district that they're so resistant to whole grade acceleration, and haven't done one in eons, when it's such a basic tool in the toolbox of gifted services. It's like saying you're going to open a restaurant with a particular specialty in baked goods, but you're not going to have an oven.

However, as DD progresses, she may become the shining example of how acceleration works, and we may find ourselves having some influence in the end.

Yeah-- on the pragmatic front-- to gain influence for real is a slow process that can't be rushed. The key is this:

Respect the time of the educators you encounter.

NEVER ask for something that costs money or time unless you have something of equal value (preferably MORE value) to exchange for it.

Be the first person with your hand up when anyone asks for volunteers-- and don't just volunteer for the photo-op and "fun" gigs, volunteer for the behind-the-scenes unpleasant or dirty jobs, too. That communicates that you're not showboating or ego-stroking, but looking to actually be HELPFUL.

So only rich parents or parents who don't work full time should ask for anything? It's wrong for parents to ask the school to pay for an online course when their child has exhausted the in-person offerings? As a practical matter, I would be willing to pay, since we are well off. But what if we weren't?

Inflation-adjusted spending per student has risen substantially over the decades. When I went to public school a few junior high school students were bused to high school for a morning math class. Our current school, on a larger budget, offers nothing like this. Schools have been doing less (at least in some respects) with more money, and parents should not be ashamed to ask them to do more with more, although given the structure of government monopoly schools, they are unlikely to be successful.