Building Citizen and Parent Support for School Reform: The Prichard Committee Experience.

N

12

Activism; Advocacy; Citizen Participation; Citizen Role; Educational Change; Elementary Secondary Education; Politics of Education; Public Education; School Restructuring; School Support; Social Action; State Action; Voluntary Agencies

Comprehensive school-reform programs under way in many states have better chances of success if they are linked to supportive external organizations. This paper describes activities of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, an independent, privately funded organization--a collection of volunteer activists that uses citizen leadership to mobilize other citizens to solve educational problems. The paper describes how the group began in the 1980s in reaction to problems in Kentucky's public-education system, which was characterized by a lack of public trust in the education community. When Kentucky passed its comprehensive school-reform legislation (Kentucky Education Reform Act) in 1990, the committee changed its focus to supporting the successful implementation of the KERA in the classroom. Requirements for creating an effective public voice include: (1) get people's attention (redefine a negative situation as solvable); (2) be credible; (3) provide thoughtful solutions; (4) select issues and focus on them; (5) form a creative alliance; and (6) be persistent. The committee is challenged to engage more people, especially parents, and to keep policy on track in a highly volatile political atmosphere. (LMI)

1996

ED386792