MIPFS position papers

h3. Strategies to turn around troubled schools need to address specific local challenges and be owned by the local school and district community h4.
With the recent push to pass a bill on the Education Achievement Authority (EAA) "before the winter 2013 legislative break":http://www.miparentsforschools.org/node/205, it's more important than ever that parents start talking about real alternatives that work. For the last year, MIPFS has worked with parent groups, educational leaders and lawmakers to develop a positive program that will actually help struggling schools. This article outlines our proposal. Existing law does not provide enough assistance to local schools in diagnosing and solving their difficulties. To compound the problem, the law provides for complete state takeover as the only remedy for schools which fail to improve. The parents’ alternative is based on these core ideas: * Any effective school improvement strategy must focus on the particular circumstances of the school or district that is a candidate for intervention, and be tailored to address local needs and shortcomings. * Diagnosis of educational problems is best done by experienced and disinterested specialists, but the solutions to those problems will be most durable if they are hammered out and implemented by all relevant stakeholder groups. * Unilateral state intervention must be a last resort, and must be focused solely on implementing the changes identified as necessary in the independent review. * The goal of state intervention for school improvement is not to take over management of the school but to identify and see implemented educational and organizational changes, which are critical to the long-term growth of student achievement.