References to "parent" may be interpreted broadly to include parents/guardians/legal custodians, the adults who play a primary role in the responsibility for a child’s education and well-being.

The most effective way for a parent to become involved meaningfully in his or her child's education is to recognize that he or she is the child's first and most important teacher. The parent should act in a manner that both sets an appropriate example and provides a support system to children, reinforcing school learning experiences.

Source:	A Workbook on Parent Involvement for District Leaders. The National Committee for Citizens in Education. Columbia, Maryland. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.
Citation:	Strategies for Increasing Parental/Family Involvement in Schools. Dade County Public Schools. 1990

"Learning to read and write starts at home, not in school...Parents, the home, the neighborhood - these are the first and most important teachers of literacy. They show the child that reading and writing are real-world events, that reading and writing make life more interesting and enjoyable."

Citation:

Behm, Richard and Mary. 101 Ideas to Help Your Child Learn to Read and Write. Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S.D.E., ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills. Bloomington, IN 47405. 1985 Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

"Parents need to set high standards for their children's schoolwork and to encourage the children to work hard to achieve those standards."

Citation:

U. S. Department of Education. Strong Families, Strong Schools: Building Community Partnerships for Learning. U.S.D.E., Washington, D. C. 20202, September 1994. p. 9 Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center

The author of this study made a review of the literature on homework assignments and identified the following seven purposes of homework:

• PRACTICE - to increase speed, master, or maintenance of skills.
• PARTICIPATION - to increase the involvement of each student with the learning task.
• PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT - to build student responsibility, honesty, perseverance, time management, self-confidence.
• PARENT-CHILD RELATIONS - to establish communication between parent and child on the importance of schoolwork and learning.
• POLICY - to fulfill directives from administrators at the district or school level for a prescribe quantity of homework.
• PUBLIC RELATIONS - to inform parents about what is happening in class.
• PUNISHMENT - to remind students of the teacher's requirements for class work or behavior.

"Most teachers say that the main reason they assign homework is to give students time to practice skills learned in class." (Becker and Epstein, 1982)

Citation:

Epstein, Joyce L. Homework Practices, Achievements, and Behaviors of Elementary School Students. Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools. The Johns Hopkins University Report No. 26, July, 1988.

"Parents can help by setting a regular time for homework each day; providing a quiet, well-lit place for study at home or encouraging children to study at a local library; and discouraging distractions from phone calls, radio, and television"

Citation:

U. S. Department of Education. Strong Families, Strong Schools: Building Community Partnerships for Learning. U.S.D.E., Washington, D. C. 20202, September 1994., p.. 9 For copies of this publication, call 1-800-USA-LEARN. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

The following suggestions on homework come from a summary on the National Report on Reading:

• Home and studying involve thinking. Thinking is easiest in a quiet, organized place, away from interruptions.
• Homework assignments will vary in complexity and length. Long-term projects are too much work for one night. Children usually need assistance with planning. Help them think through how to break a large task into manageable subtasks. This also will help them learn how to organize for future assignments.
• "Coaching may be the most useful way to help your child with homework. In coaching, you do not do the assignment, you guide your child along..."
• Homework is primarily your children's responsibility.

Let your child know that you will be reviewing his/her homework, and that it is an expectation that the homework will be done well. Some factors that should be considered in evaluating homework are:

• Does the homework paper have name, date, and subject on it when it is completed?
• Is the assignment well organized?
• Is the content reasonably correct?
• Is the work neat and spaced properly?
• Is the grammar and punctuation accurate?
• Did the completed tasks meet the intent of the assignment?

"Competency in algebra and in science at the eighth grade is pivotal...if students learn the math and science material early, they will be ready to take the sequence of courses in high school that prepares them for college and for careers."

Citation:

U.S. Department of Education. A Compact for Learning: An Action Handbook for Family-School-Community Partnerships. U.S.D.E., Washington, D.C. 20202. December, 1997., p. 7 Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

"Contrary to popular opinion, learning to read does not begin in school. Learning to read begins at home. Just as your children naturally learned to talk by following your example, they may naturally learn a great deal about reading before they ever set foot inside a school building."

Citation:

prepared by Binkley, M. et al. Becoming a Nation of Readers, What Parents Can Do. Published by D.C. Heath and Company in cooperation with the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education. March, 1988. p. 23. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

"If children are not able to read independently by the end of the third grade, their ability to succeed in school is in jeopardy. Research shows that it is hard to catch up, and that falling behind in early reading is a strong predictor of dropping out of school."

Citation:

U.S. Department of Education. A Compact for Learning: An Action Handbook for Family-School-Community Partnerships. U.S.D.E., Washington, D.C. 20202. December, 1997., p. 7 Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

"Another study indicates that 'the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children (Anderson et al. 1985)."

Citation:

U. S. Department of Education. Strong Families, Strong Schools: Building Community Partnerships for Learning. U.S.D.E., Washington, D. C. 20202, September 1994., predictor. iii For copies of this publication, call 1-800-USA-LEARN. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

Citation:

Becher, Rhoda McShane, "Parent Involvement: Review of Research and Principles of Successful Practice," Current topics in Early Childhood Education. Lillian G. Katz, ed. Vol. 6, Ablex Publishing corporation, Norwood, NH, 1985. ERIC:ED 247 032 Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

Students who earn good grades know that studying begins in the classroom. They take notes on what the teacher says because tests cover what the teacher thinks is important.

Citation:

American Association of School Administrators. Brush Up Your Study Skills: Tips for Students and Parents.AASA, 1801 North Moore Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209. 1995. p. 3 Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

• Keep a chart to track your time.
• Keep calendar of scheduled tests and due dates for major assignments.
• Set daily goals.
• Break large projects down into smaller chunks.
• Use small bits of time to review vocabulary lists, names and dates, formulas, or other facts.
• Watch out for "time robbers" that take up a lot of free time such as talking on the phone or watching television.
• Build time into your schedule for unpredictable happenings.

Citation:

American Association of School Administrators. Brush Up Your Study Skills: Tips for Students and Parents.AASA, 1801 North Moore Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209. 1995. p. 11 Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

S	Survey	Quickly look over the material to get the main idea.
Q	Question	Think of questions to answer. As you read, ask yourself Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
R	Read	Read the assignment and look for answers to the questions you developed.
R	Restate	AFter you've read the chapter, see if you can restate the main points.
R	Review	At the end of your study session, review what you've learned.

Citation:

American Association of School Administrators. Brush Up Your Study Skills: Tips for Students and Parents.AASA, 1801 North Moore Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209. 1995. p. 15-16 Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

• listing items
• writing notes in margins of a page
• underlining key points, mapping using diagrams and charts
• summarizing major ideas
• outlining

Source:

Ban, John R. Parents Assuring Student Success, Achievement Made Easy By Learning Together. National Educational Service, 1610 W. Third Street, P.O. Box 8, Bloomington, Indiana 47402. pp. 86-91. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

• Practice - It takes practice to learn how to study.
• Routine - Make it a habit to study.
• Environment - Physical environment supports mental work.
• Child's health - Schoolwork demands good vision and hearing, also proper rest, a healthy diet, and adequate exercise.
• Attitude - A child's attitude toward learning determines what kind of students they are going to be.
• Encouragement and Support - Praise and encouragement are powerful motivators.
• Memory and Thinking - Learning is not just memorizing facts, but also making sense out of those facts.

Source:

Ban, John R. Parents Assuring Student Success, Achievement Made Easy By Learning Together. National Educational Service, 1610 W. Third Street, P.O. Box 8, Bloomington, Indiana 47402. pp. 15-16. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

"Although moderate amounts of [television] viewing do not interfere with school work, academic achievement drops sharply for children who watch more than 10 hours a week... "  "Another study indicates that "the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children." (p. iii)

Citation:

U. S. Department of Education. Strong Families, Strong Schools: Building Community Partnerships for Learning. U.S.D.E., Washington, D. C. 20202, September 1994. For copies of this publication, call 1-800-USA-LEARN. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

Citation:

American Association of School Administrators. Brush Up Your Study Skills: Tips for Students and Parents.AASA, 1801 North Moore Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209. 1995. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

Assessments take place for three basic reasons:

INSTRUCTION -	to determine placement and how well a child is understanding classroom lessons and developing skills.
SCREENING -	to get an idea if students are ready to start school, ready for more advanced work, or if they need particular kinds of remedial help.
ACCOUNTABILITY -	the public wants to know how its investment in education is paying off. Districts are frequently required to "prove" how well students are doing, and are often used to illustrate school performance.

Citation:

American Association of School Administrators. Making Sense of Testing and Assessment.AASA, 1801 North Moore Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209. 1993. pp. 3-4 Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

Setting aside enough time to prepare for a test is critical to success. Cramming is the worst way to study. The student should give himself/herself plenty of time to prepare. Coman and Heavers suggest that students review test materials four to six days before an exam. They make the following suggestions:

1st day -	read through the material
2nd day -	skim again; make notes; read key points aloud
3rd day -	reread notes and study materials one more time; say aloud to yourself what they mean to you
4th day -	compose a sample test, take it, and check how well you've done.

Source:	Ban, John R. Parents Assuring Student Success, Achievement Made Easy By Learning Together. National Educational Service, 1610 W. Third Street, P.O. Box 8, Bloomington, Indiana 47402. pp. 99. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.
Citation:	Coman, M. and Heavers, K. How to Improve Your Study Skills. Lincolnwood, Illinois, VGM Career Horizons, 1990, p. 39. Available for checkout at the Norman Professional Development Center.

The following are available through the National Library of Education at 1-800-424-1616.

• Helping your child learn math
• Helping your child learn to read
• Helping your child learn science
• Helping your child learn history
• Helping your child get ready for school
• Helping your child use the library
• Como ayudar a su hijos a usar la biblioteca
• Helping your child with homework
• Helping your child succeed in school