Arne Duncan Appointment: Parents to Play New Role
GreatSchools, the non-profit one in three parents turn to for advice and community about how to improve their child’s education, applauded the appointment of Arne Duncan as President-Elect Obama’s choice for Secretary of Education. “The importance of parents and the essential role they play in a child’s academic success was once again reinforced by President-Elect Barack Obama during his news conference this morning announcing the appointment of Arne Duncan,” said GreatSchools founder and former teacher Bill Jackson.
“Arne Duncan’s leadership in executing President-Elect Barack Obama’s vision of renewed parental engagement as a way to dramatically improve school performance is a strong vote of support for the 33 million parents who visit GreatSchools every year to improve their child’s education.
“We look forward to helping President Elect Obama and the incoming Secretary of Education leverage the media of our time to help parents play their role as partners and advocates for their children’s education,” added Jackson.
More than 33 million parents—one in three—visit a website called www.GreatSchools.net every year. It serves as the largest “virtual” meeting place for America’s parents to learn more about their children’s school and how they can improve their child’s academic performance. It has more ratings, facts and figures on schools: pre-K through 12th grade, both public, private and charter, than any other single resource as well as helpful hands-on guidance for parents.
Launched ten years ago by former teacher and tech entrepreneur Bill Jackson, GreatSchools was founded with the mission of empowering parents with deep information about individual schools and the ability to communicate together to fundamentally change the face of education in America today.
Parents remain the last free untouched resource to change schools and Web 2.0 or social media holds the key to unlock that potential. Recently awarded a $20M investment from the nation’s leading education foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, GreatSchools is poised to launch an ambitious web. 2.0 initiative to dramatically increase college attendance.
“We intend to use the Web to transform the relationship between parents and schools in the same way that the Obama campaign changed the way voters interact with their candidate.”#
