Because parents want to be the learning heroes for their kids

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It’s back-to-school time, which means parents’ inboxes are stuffed with advice and to-do lists about how to make this a successful year for your kid.

This to-do list can look dramatically different depending on the age and grade of your student, but one thing remains universal: The need to keep the lines of communication open and honest.

That’s why I found the last set of tips on this new resource particularly helpful.

A group called Learning Heroes, which partners with some of the most prominent education and parent organizations to pool parent resources, just released an online  toolbox called The Super 5: Back-to-School Power Moves.  This is an interactive collection of actionable tips to help parents support their children’s academic success and their social-emotional well-being.

The tips were inspired, in part, by findings from a national poll earlier this year.

One finding was about the disconnect between what parents believed about their children’s achievement–and what was actually true. About 90 percent of all parents said their child was achieving at or above grade level in reading or math, but according to NAEP data, the reality is much lower (36 and 40 percent, respectively). 

That’s why there are pragmatic questions like these, with links to data about testing, standards and grade-by-grade learning goals:

What does success in school look like this year for my child?

What do I need to know about my child’s annual state test? 

What should my child be learning each year, from kindergarten through high school?

The poll also found that parents said they could use more knowledge and information about social-emotional learning, and we know from the Education Post parent poll that most parents see themselves as being most responsible for their child’s learning and they value their child’s happiness first and foremost. That’s why I found this bank of tips especially interesting:

How can I help my child overcome challenges?

Does my child have the learning habits to success in school and life?

What are the 10 things my child’s teacher needs to know?

How can I help my child express his or her ideas? 

What kinds of questions should I be asking my child?

How do I talk to my child about tragedy and violence

So dig in, and have a great school year.

What do you think?
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Tracy Dell'Angela
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Tracy Dell'Angela

Tracy loves to ask questions and write stories. She roots for the underdog, wants our nation to reimagine schools and the teaching profession, and seethes about how much school inequity she sees. She spent most of her career as a journalist covering schools and crime. She and her husband raised two daughters in a diverse suburb of Chicago. She currently runs an education foundation in her community and formerly served as managing editor of Education Post. After leaving journalism she explored her wonkier side communicating school research at the University of Chicago and the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. She is Californian by birth and a Chicagoan in spirit. She loves the outdoors and all animals, especially her spoiled "dingo" dog.

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