IMPROVE YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL: Answers to Questions that Parents Ask Most About the Public Schools

by William & the Staff of the National Committee for Citizens in Education Rioux ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1980

An authoritative handbook based on parents' everyday worries, frustrations, and confusion about public education. Though the work of many hands, the volume is carefully organized to provide easy access to an enormous amount of information; uses a question-and-answer format thoughtfully to personalize issues (""Isn't there some way I can spare my daughter the unpleasantness of being forced to play kickball with the boys in her class?""); provides clear, readable responses; and, in making suggestions for further reading, gives bibliographic information complete to price. The material is divided into seven areas: Rights (access to records, students' rights, and sex discrimination); Discipline, Rules and Safety; What Goes on in the Classroom; Special Programs (everything from hot lunches to handicapped children); the School System: How the Machinery Is Arranged and How Things Can Be Changed; People; and Changing Schools (otherwise known as moving). Sections on rights, discipline, and special programs explain what's legally due students with varying needs--from wheelchair access in a high school, to a free breakfast program, to a hearing before suspension from class--and specify the procedures parents should follow when they have questions or concerns. In addition, aspects of life in schools that are mysterious to those outside the profession--textbook selection, teacher contract negotiations, school financing--are explained clearly, with suggestions for influencing the decision-makers. The authors deal straightforwardly with touchy issues; in the case of busing, they deplore the violence and slow progress, and note that most busing plans have gone into effect with little or no trouble. The tone throughout is positive, emphasizing what citizens and parents can do in partnership with the schools to assure quality education for all students. To further this end, the extensive appendices (160 pp. of a total of 395) will be particularly useful, for they list child advocacy groups, reproduce relevant legislation, summarize landmark court cases, and set forth various state requirements--all information not previously collected in a single volume. An indispensable tool that supersedes the last best book on the subject, Kappelman and Ackerman's Between Parent and School (1977).

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION