With the PSSA's only a few weeks away, the time has come to contact your principal and make an appointment to review the test. My appointment is next Wednesday. I am looking forward to reviewing my son's exact PSSA test. By reading his test, I hope I will gain insight into his eventual test score. I look forward to describing that experience to all my readers.

Part of the No Child Left Behind Act expresses the need for family involvement in education so that the child's educational experience can be maximized. What chances for involvement do parents have? I have attended many PTO meetings. Trust me, "helping education" in the PTO means planning teacher luncheons, deciding on classroom parties, and raising money to purchase items for the school. Of course, there is always the "booster club" for your child's chosen sport, which does help to expand life beyond the 3 R's. While these things do enhance education in their own right, I am not sure if the NCLB ACT was eluding to events of this type. I think the NCLB Act was speaking of improving the parent/child teaching relationship by improving the parent's understanding that the process of teaching starts at home. To learn this, parents need knowledge of what their child is doing in school. (Is anyone familiar with this conversation? Parent: "What did you learn in school?" Child: "I don't know". Or how about the infamous :"Nothing".) Any attempt to fix this common problem must include direct information from the teacher to the parent.

Most schools have web sites to disseminate information efficiently. Some schools have real time student grades that can be accessed through the computer. Teachers may even be required to have a web page with basic information pertaining to the class that they teach. Yet, in our district anyway, there is no requirement for teachers to post homework assignments, give teaching tips for parents, and show daily logs of what is being taught in the classroom. School districts are paying for well designed web sites, yet they are not utilizing the sites to meet one of the requirements of the NCLB.

I recall making some of these suggestions in one meeting. Of course, I was given a look of "are you some kind of idiot", but politely told that the teachers are busy enough without adding more to their plate. The answer to that should be simple. Parents cannot help if they do not know what is happening in class. So I say, start making the teachers post their lesson plans on line. Too much work you say? How about electronic lesson planners that could be posted directly to the web site, have a copy sent to the principal, and another saved for the teacher? When I asked in yet another meeting whether this was possible, the answer was, "I don't know." Translation: "I don't know and I am not going to find out. Keep your suggestions to yourself."

Perhaps this attitude will change since the new Kindergarten parent is at an age where they can only vaguely remember life without the Internet. Hopefully, they will demand and get more information than what we "older parents" are getting today. Their educational interaction with their children will benefit as more classroom details are given. Perhaps this communication will actually aid in a decreased need for the PSSA!