Smart Parents
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. Smart Parents is a blog series for parents, by parents who are navigating educational opportunities + making powerful decisions for and with their students. Learn more in Smart Parents: Parenting for Powerful Learning.
Graduating Self-Directed Learners Ready to Thrive in College
Summit Public Schools create rich learning experiences that allows every student to realize his or her highest potential by focusing on four key elements of college and career readiness that empowers students to drive their learning and own their success.
One Family’s Journey Exemplifies Anytime-Anywhere Learning
By: Max Silverman & Sue Wilkes. Max and Sue are currently traveling with their three school-aged children. In this Smart Parents blog post, they write about the experience of taking their kids out of school and on the road- and how their kids are keeping up with their school work and incorporating their experiences into the learning.
Parental Perfection, Reimagined
By: Bill Jackson. Reimagining parental perfection, Bill argues, includes informing parents. As founder of GreatSchools, Bill offers practical tips and tools for parenting smarter, not harder when it comes to your child's education.
You Can Thank Mom for More than the Meal Itself: Family Dinner Matters
As part of our Smart Parents series, Mary- educator and mother of 3 boys- brings us all the latest research around why those family dinners really matter, and the role moms play in their children's learning. Happy Mother's Day!
Lessons for Parents on Pink Versus Blue Tech
By: Alison Bryan. As part of our Smart Parents series, Dr. Bryant shares specific lessons learned around the ways gender plays in role in how we allow our children to use technology. Alison encourages us to be more fully aware of our tech preferences and gender biases.
What Do Parents Want from Schools? Hint: Think of Car Shopping
By: Liz Wimmer. As part of our Smart Parents series, Liz breaks down the research around how parents choose schools. It turns out, parents choose schools for a variety of reasons including diversity, achievement and test scores, and vocational and career opportunities.
Parent-Managed Learner Profiles Will Power Personalization
Online profile management is becoming important in every aspect of life, it’s a new digital literacy competency that every young person must learn to exercise. That starts with empowering students and parents to take charge of education data with a portable learning profile.
The Teenage Brain: Scaffolding the Brain for Lifelong Learning
By: Dr. Frances Jensen. Teenage brains may be hard-wired to take more risks, but it turns out teens are also wired for learning. Dr. Jensen brings us the learning research behind the teenage brain.
Why Mentors Matter
By: Sarah Vander Schaaff. As part of our Smart Parents series, Sarah writes about the impact a valuable mentor had on her life, and why mentors matter. As a parent, Sarah also acknowledges why this sometimes raises concerns for parents and discusses the real value mentors bring.
How to Keep Children From Drowning in the Device Deep End
By: Heather Staker. As part of our Smart Parents series, Heather brings expertise as a parent and author about how parents can teach their children to use technological devices responsibly. Heather's advice is both practical and guided by the "bigger picture"- devices are a highly powerful learning tool and a teaching opportunity.