This reader-friendly guide aimed at concerned parents will help with challenges such as the sometimes-difficult transition from elementary school to junior high, the effect of peer influence on a child's behavior, and the stress caused by competition and standardized tests.

A plain-English guide to teaching phonics. Every parent can teach reading—no experts need apply! Too many parents watch their children struggle with early reading skills—and don't know how to help. Phonics programs are too often complicated, overpriced, gimmicky, and filled with obscure educationalese. The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading cuts through the confusion, giving parents a simple, direct, scripted guide to teaching reading—from short vowels through supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. This one book supplies parents with all the tools they need. Over the years of her teaching career, Jessie Wise has seen good reading instruction fall prey to trendy philosophies and political infighting. Now she has teamed with dynamic coauthor Sara Buffington to supply parents with a clear, direct phonics program—a program that gives them the know-how and confidence to take matters into their own hands.

With this Parent Guide, get parents and teachers working together to increase student achievement. This helpful guide allows parents to easily reinforce what the teacher is doing in the eighth-grade classroom and turn everyday actions into learning opportunities for their children, bridging the gap between school and home. *Quantity pricing available for schools only.

If you care about the education of a child, you need this book. Comprehensive and easy to use, it will inform, empower, and encourage you. Just as William J. Bennett's The Book of Virtues has helped millions of Americans teach young people about character, The Educated Child delivers what you need to take control. With coauthors Chester E. Finn, Jr., and John T. E. Cribb, Jr., former Secretary of Education Bennett provides the indispensable guide. Championing a clear "back-to-basics" curriculum that will resonate with parents and teachers tired of fads and jargon, The Educated Child supplies an educational road map from earliest childhood to the threshold of high school. It gives parents hundreds of practical suggestions for helping each child succeed while showing what to look for in a good school and what to watch out for in a weak one. The Educated Child places you squarely at the center of your young one's academic career and takes a no-nonsense view of your responsibilities. It empowers you as mothers and fathers, enabling you to reclaim what has been appropriated by "experts" and the education establishment. It out-lines questions you will want to ask, then explains the answers -- or non-answers -- you will be given. No longer will you feel powerless before the education "system." The tools and advice in this guide put the power where it belongs -- in the hands of those who know and love their children best. Using excerpts from E. D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge Sequence, The Educated Child sets forth a state-of-the art curriculum from kindergarten through eighth grade that you can use to monitor what is and isn't being taught in your school. It outlines how you can help teachers ensure that your child masters the most important skills and knowledge. It takes on today's education controversies from phonics to school choice, from outcomes-based education to teaching values, from the education of gifted children to the needs of the disabled. Because much of a youngster's education takes place outside the school, The Educated Child also distills the essential information you need to prepare children for kindergarten and explains to the parents of older students how to deal with such challenges as television, drugs, and sex. If you seek high standards and solid, time-tested content for the child you care so much about, if you want the unvarnished truth about what parents and schools must do, The Educated Child is the one book you need on your shelf.

Reflecting changes brought about by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s reorganization of New York City’s public school system, this Third Edition features reviews of 74 of the city’s best public middle schools. Providing everything parents need to know in choosing a middle school that is just right for their child, New York City’s Best Public Middle Schools: A Parents’ Guide features interviews with teachers, parents, and students to uncover the “inside scoop” on schools—including atmosphere, homework, student stress, competition among students, the quality of teachers, gender issues, the condition of the building, and more. “This book can save your life if you are trying to navigate the confusing world of middle school choice.” —Susan Brenna, parent “An incredible resource.” —Nancy Arno, parent “The most definitive guidebooks to the city schools.” —The New York Times “Required reading.” —New York magazine

Whether resulting from the educational fallout of the COVID-19 global pandemic or merely challenging the status quo, more schools are transitioning their grading practices away from traditional points and percentages and toward 21st century grading practices such as standards-based and proficiency-based grading. A Parents’ Guide to Grading and Reporting: Being Clear about What Matters assists parents and guardians in understanding what is involved in 21st century grading and how to become better partners with educators in efforts to understand students’ strengths and areas for improvement.