This biweekly newsletter contains news and information about school improvement in the United States. It is designed expressly for parents and families. This issue highlights guidance, recently released by the U.S. Department of Education, on parental involvement to help states, school districts, and schools ensure that parents, as their child's…

An ever-expanding body of social science research indicates that school is the single best avenue out of poverty, and educational achievement is now the most accurate predictor of a person's future economic success. Therefore, to help school districts, schools, parents, and community leaders improve the education of disadvantaged children, a wide…

Noting that the evidence of families influence on their childrens school achievement is consistent, positive, and convincing, this report examines research on parent and community involvement and its impact on student achievement. Following an introduction, the first section of the report describes the methods used for selecting the studies;…

Drawing on information from 15 sources, this literature review discusses advantages/disadvantages of small schools and summarizes practices for both rural and urban small schools to follow to maintain educational quality despite dwindling enrollments and resources. Small school disadvantages in the areas of staff, instructional program, and…

This document tries to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the teaching and learning of science in order to provide parents and community leaders a base of information to help improve science education. Questions are posed in three major areas: science in American education; science in the classroom; and science in the home…