Spotlights
356 - The Parental Prerogative: How ‘parent-friendly’ are school districts in North Carolina?

August 19, 2008

This report develops a system to evaluate school districts on how “parent-friendly” they are. In other words, to what extent do North Carolina’s school districts provide children a sound, basic education in a stable and safe school environment that is responsive to the needs of children and the concerns of parents?

Key facts:

• In general, North Carolina’s school districts are not parent-friendly organizations. While a handful of school districts fare reasonably well in the final ranking, the highest score was a 3.5 or a B+.



• School districts in western North Carolina generally fared very well in the ranking, while those in the Triad, Triangle, Charlotte, and northeastern regions fared poorly. Eight of the ten most parent-friendly school districts are located in western North Carolina.



• In general, smaller school districts are more parent-friendly than large school districts. Most of the top-performing school districts enroll between 1,000 and 5,000 students.



• Without the threat of losing its clientele to competitors, many schools and school districts behave like the monopolies they are — focused on strengthening the organization’s position and goals, rather than meeting the needs of students and parents. Genuine accountability to parents begins with school choice.



• Further research will be required to pinpoint the combination of factors that contribute to their success, but district size and high quality administrative or teaching staffs (or both) appear to be outstanding reasons why districts fared well in this ranking.

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