Dear Friends,

I continue to fight to improve the quality of education in our local schools. Even though the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) court decision determined that New York State has consistently and wrongfully under-funded New York City public schools, this issue is far from over. The Governor continues to appeal the court’s decision, causing unconscionable delays and threatening to further harm our city’s school children.

I urge you to join the fight for quality education.

Let your voice be heard! Write, call or fax your elected officials to let them know how important a quality education is to your family. Tell them about conditions in your child's school. Tell them our kids can’t wait any longer. Your voice can make a difference. Call me at 718-479-2333 if you need more information. I’d be thrilled to have you join our movement!

Contact Information:

Governor George Pataki
Executive Chamber, State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Phone: (518) 474-8390 NYC Phone: (212) 681-4580
Fax: (518) 486-4466 NYC Fax: (212) 681-4643

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver
Legislative Office Building, Room 932
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: (518) 455-3791 NYC Phone: (212) 312-1420
Fax: (518) 455-5459 NYC Fax: (212) 385-6719

Senator Majority Leader Joseph Bruno
Legislative Office Building, Room 909
Albany, NY 12247
Phone: (518) 455-3191
Fax: (518) 455-2448

Helping Your Child Succeed in School

Throw a stone into a pool and the circles widen and overlap. No one lives in isolation. The circles of home, community, and school also overlap. For our children to learn and thrive, they need the support and encouragement of all of the circles in which we live. But the circle in the center is the home and that's where it all starts.

We all teach our children every day, whether we realize it our not. What counts most is what we say and do at home, not how rich or poor we are or how many years of school we have finished. When children can count on getting attention at home, they have a greater sense of security and self-worth. This will help them do better not only in school, but also when they grow up.

What We Can Do To Help Our Children Learn:

• Listen to them and pay attention to their problems
• Read with them
• Tell family stories
• Limit their television watching
• Have books and other reading materials in the house
• Look up words in the dictionary with them
• Encourage them to use an encyclopedia
• Share favorite poems and songs with them
• Take them to the library - get them their own library cards
• Take them to museums and historical sites
• Discuss the daily news with them
• Go exploring with them and learn about plants, animals and local geography
• Find a quiet place for them to study
• Review their homework
• Meet with their teachers

(Adapted from KidSource.com)

Parental Involvement in Schools

Research shows that parental participation in school has a positive effect on students.

Students with involved parents are more likely to:

• Earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-level programs
• Be promoted, pass their classes and earn credits
• Attend school regularly
• Have better social skills, show improved behavior and adapt well to school
• Graduate and go on to post-secondary education

What is parental involvement?

Parental involvement in school is defined as parent participation during the school year in any of the following activities at least once: attending a general school meeting, attending a scheduled meeting with their child’s teacher, attending a school event; or volunteering in the school or serving on a school committee.

Facts for NY Parents

SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

The NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (NCLB) ACT of 2001 is a federal law to improve education for all children. It holds schools responsible for results, gives parents greater choices, and promotes teaching methods that work.

Your child deserves the best education possible. THE NCLB law gives you some new options if your child attends a Title I school that fails to meet New York's academic standards.

Public School Choice:
All schools must make adequate yearly progress - they must improve. If a school fails to make such progress two years in a row in the same subject and grade, it is identified as a school in need of improvement. Your school district or charter school must tell you each year if your child’s school is in need of improvement.

If your child attends a Title I school in need of improvement, you may ask to transfer your child to a higher performing school in your school district. This is called public school choice.

Supplemental Educational Services:
If your child attends a Title I school in need of improvement and the school fails to make adequate yearly progress for another year after being identified as in need of improvement, the NCLB law gives you another option. If your child is eligible for Title I services, NCLB generally requires the school district or charter school to offer students from low-income families extra help outside of school hours. This help is called supplemental educational services. It is meant to help students catch up if they are behind in important subjects like reading, language arts, and math. The school district must continue to provide these services until the school is no longer in need of improvement.

Supplemental educational services take place outside of school hours and in many different locations. These services are free to students. The services may include tutoring (one-on-one teaching), after-school classes, weekend classes, or summer school.

How can you learn more about supplemental educational services for your child?

• Contact your school. Your child’s teacher or the school principal can tell you if the school is a Title I school in need of improvement and required to offer supplemental educational services. If your child’s school is failing, find out what supplemental educational services are available to students in your child’s school now.
• Go online. The New York State Education Department web site lists Title I schools in need of improvement (http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/nyc) and approved supplemental educational services providers. The federal No Child Left Behind web site also has a page especially designed for parents (http://www.nochildleftbehind.gov/parents/).
• Make a choice. You have an important role in selecting a supplemental services program for your child. Schools will not make this choice for students. You can ask school officials to help you select the right program for your child.
• Be active. Together with the supplemental services provider and school staff, parents should be involved in setting specific learning goals for their child. Those goals must say how your child’s progress in the program will be measured. The program activities must be designed to help your child make academic progress.
• Find out how to help. As a parent, you can ask your child's teacher, the school principal, or a leader of your school’s parent group what steps the school is taking to improve and how you can help your child and your child’s school make progress toward academic goals.

(Adapted from the New York State Education Department'’s "Just the Facts for NY Parents" information sheet).

Resources for Parents

Alliance for Quality Education - A broad coalition of parents, teachers, education advocates, and others dedicated to ensuring every New York child’s constitutional right to a quality education
     http://www.ourkidscantwait.org

Campaign for Fiscal Equity - A coalition of parent organizations, community school boards, concerned citizens and advocacy groups seeking to reform New York State’s school finance system to ensure adequate resources and the opportunity for a sound basic education for all students in New York City.
     http://www.cfequity.org

Child Trends - Publications, reports, papers, and other resources n many social areas
     http://www.childtrends.org

Educational Resources and Information Center (ERIC) - Information related to school-family partnerships. Responsible for developing, maintaining, and providing access to the world’s largest education literature database.
     http://www.eric.ed.gov

Family Education Network - Brings local, state, and national educational resources together
     http://www.familyeducation.com

Fedstats - Over 70 agencies of the federal government that produce statistics of interest to the public
     http://www.fedstats.gov

Kidsource Online - Online community that shares ideas in raising, educating, and providing for children (mostly healthcare and education information)
     http://kidsource.com

U.S. Department of Education
     http://www.ed.gov

U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Financial Aid Information Center
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov