Answer:"When it comes to the education of our children, failure is not an option.”
President George W. Bush
5
Foreword
At the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a promise to raise standards for all
children and to help all children meet those standards. In support of this goal, President
George W. Bush is committed to promoting the very best teaching programs. Welltrained teachers and instruction that is based on research can bring the best teaching
approaches and programs to all children and help to ensure that no child is left behind.
However, the hours in a school day are few and the time a teacher can spend with any
one child is limited. For children to be successful in school, parents and families need to
be actively involved in their children’s learning. They need to become involved early and
stay involved throughout the school year. In fact, many studies show that what the family
does is more important to a child’s school success than how much money the family
makes or how much education the parents have.
By showing interest in their children’s education, parents and families can spark
enthusiasm in them and lead them to a very important understanding—that learning can
be enjoyable as well as rewarding and is well worth the effort required.
We hope that you will use the information and activities in this booklet to get involved
and stay involved and help your child to read better, to take on challenging math and
science classes, to value the study of history, the social sciences, art and music—and to
prepare for a rewarding life of continuous learning.
Let’s get started.
Every child has the power to succeed in school and in life and every parent, family
member and caregiver can help. The question is: How can we help our children succeed?
The answer comes from a combination of common sense and research about how
children learn and about how to prepare them to learn.
We know, for example, that children tend to do the same things as their parents do. What
we say and do in our daily lives can help them to develop positive attitudes toward school
and learning and to build confidence in themselves as learners. Showing our children that
we both value education and use it in our daily lives provides them with powerful models
and contributes greatly to their success in school.
As our children’s first and most important teacher, it’s important that all parents build
and keep strong ties to our children’s schools. When parents and families are involved in
their children’s schools, the children do better and have better feelings about going to
school. We help our children to succeed by working with teachers to make sure that they
provide curricula and use teaching methods that are based on strong scientific evidence
about what works best in helping students to learn.
The purpose of this booklet is to make available to you information that you can use to
help your child to succeed in school. The booklet includes
ß information about things that you can do at home to contribute to your child’s
school success;
ß activities that you can use to help your child acquire the skills to succeed in
school;
ß answers to often-asked questions about how to work with teachers and schools;
and
ß tips on how to help your child with test taking.
Explanation:
