Apodixis Press

Progress is our Most Important Product

By: Randy Soffer, Director of Special Education, Conroe ISD

Progress is our most important product. This was the slogan of the General Electric Company in the 50’s & 60’s. I remember this slogan well for several reasons. First, I am old enough to remember it. Second, the slogan was often mentioned by Ronald Reagan, host of the General Electric Theater that was a Sunday night TV mainstay in the early 60’s. Finally, I grew up in Schenectady, New York, then home of GE. And, since many of the customers in my father’s clothing stores were GE employees, I partly owe my college education to the company.

You might be asking yourself, what does the old GE slogan have to do with the ‘90’s and special education? In my opinion, everything. Quite simply, children’s progress is the common underlying theme for parents and professionals today. You as a parent and I as a professional are thrilled when we see children learning and growing. We have a common belief that this is what schools and education are supposed to be all about.

How can we best achieve our mutual goal of progress? Of course, we can best achieve it by working together. You don’t need a Ph.D. to know that, if parents and educators work as a team, we can accomplish much more than we can separately. Unfortunately, although all educators and parents have their sights on the same target— student progress, the partnership never emerges or, worse yet, breaks down. Why? The answer, I believe, is one that we all know but do little about. It is largely a problem of communication.

All married or formerly married couples know that communication takes work. This is especially true for educators and parents who see the child from different perspectives. Parents see the past, present, and future of their children. This is not the case for educators. Educators, on the other hand, strive for objectivity which often clashes with parents’ subjectivity when it comes to their child. For example, a realistic career objective often puts parents and educators at odds with one another. Is there hope for improved communication between educators and parents? I believe so. My hope is based on strengthening and expanding the following efforts:

Improving the active listening of parents and professionals alike so that each understands the other’s intent, point of view, and feelings. This, more than anything else, will enhance parent-educator communication and relationship building.

Engaging in trust and rapport building activities together. There are hundreds of proven techniques from the group dynamics literature that can be used in this context.

Communicating informally and routinely outside the admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) committee process. This could include phone calls and notes between home and school as well as face to face meetings.

Providing opportunities for meaningful parent involvement in school. This could involve everything from helping to produce instructional materials to accompanying your child’s class on community based instruction excursions.

And finally, addressing the needs of the whole child by designing reinforcing home follow-through learning activities. The challenge for educators in this area is to come up with meaningful activities that fit into the flow of natural family activities. For example, counting out money for purchases is one type of meaningful activity.

What strikes me about the above list is that it is not new. It seems to me that our challenge at this time is to redouble our efforts in each area listed. As a result, educators and parents alike will be able to truly say — PROGRESS IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCT.