In a recent conversation with a parent who is sending her only child to kindergarten, we heard her concerns about the school district in which she lives. Although including a small middle class neighborhood, over 80% of the district's student population are on free and reduced lunch, a key indicator of poverty. For several months this young mother tried to make an appointment to visit the school but she received no follow up with an appointment time.  Finally, on kindergarten registration day, she was able to meet and talk with some of the teachers. She felt the teachers were welcoming and well informed about teaching little ones. But, the teachers also openly expressed the challenges they faced with their students. They identified the main source of frustration as parent involvement.  In fact, one teacher shared that this was a great year because she had a class of kindergarteners whose parents remained connected and involved. Another teacher commented that she hadn't been so lucky.  She added that one of her students told her should stop calling the house because her mom was not going to talk with her.  What a message for that young child to carry.  And, here was a young mother learning about school, about teachers and about expectations for parents and children living in poverty. We have all heard that new teachers learn the culture of a school in conversations with other faculty and sometimes those are faculty room stories. Here was a young parent learning about the culture of her 5 year old's school from causal faculty conversations on the day she was registering her child. The power of the impact on her was so strong she couldn't help but repeat them. Read more...