Smart Parents

This book is a resource to guide parents in creating, choosing and advocating for powerful, student-centered learning experiences for their children. It is designed to facilitate conversation about important educational decisions parents face today. With advice on everything from picking preschools to accessing educational apps, this is the resource for parents so they can be informed, involved, inspirational and intentional. As educators and as parents, we have seen profound shifts in the way in which human beings learn-both young and old. Families face unprecedented amounts of information and education-related decisions. This often leaves parents navigating a complex maze of new learning opportunities, new standards, new assessments and new technology. We spend a lot of our time creating and sharing resources for educators and parents (who are often one and the same audience). Time and time again, we observe that families are left out of the equation when it comes to determining the primary audience for education reports, papers and articles-even though they are among the hungriest for informed opinions that can help them. This is why, in partnership with The Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Getting Smart has cultivated a popular parents' blog series, Smart Parents, to share stories for parents by parents on both GettingSmart.com and on The Huffington Post. The project, hatched around the office kitchen counter in the summer of 2014, grew out of the recognition that parents need help making informed decisions, finding quality resources and providing the best supports for kids. With the 80+ parent stories we've gathered, we have authored our newest book: Smart Parents: Parenting for Powerful Learning, publishing in August 2015.