The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve (Hardcover)

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The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve (Hardcover)

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Award-winning education journalist Peg Tyre mines up-to-the-minute research to equip parents with the tools and knowledge necessary to get their children the best education possible

We all know that the quality of education served up to our children in U.S. schools ranges from outstanding to shockingly inadequate. How can parents tell the difference? And how do they make sure their kids get what's best? Even the most involved and informed parents can feel overwhelmed and confused when making important decisions about their child's education. And the scary truth is that evaluating a school based on test scores and college admissions data is like selecting a car based on the color of its paint. Synthesizing cutting-edge research and firsthand reporting, Peg Tyre offers parents far smarter and more sophisticated ways to assess a classroom and decide if the school and the teacher have the right stuff. Passionate and persuasive, The Good School empowers parents to make sense of headlines; constructively engage teachers, administrators, and school boards; and figure out the best option for their child—be that a local public school, a magnet program, a charter school, homeschooling, parochial, or private.

Peg Tyre is the author of the "New York Times "bestseller" The Trouble with Boys." She was awarded the prestigious Spencer Research Fellowship at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism where she began work on this book. Her writing about education has appeared in "Newsweek," "The New York Times," "Family Circle," and iVillage.com. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Product Details ISBN: 9780805093537
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: August 16th, 2011
Pages: 256

"Peg Tyre lays out the fundaments of a good school--and a good education--clearly and without bias. How I wish I'd had this book when my husband and I were choosing an elementary school for our daughter!"--Peggy Orenstein, author of the New York Times-bestselling Cinderella Ate My Daughter

 "[Tyre] wields research like a scythe, slicing through the thick growth of deeply rooted beliefs about education, forging a path for bewildered or frustrated parents."--The New York Times

"Journalist Peg Tyre's new book...condenses decades of education research to help parents make better choices about selecting schools for their children."--USA Today

"Tyre offers solutions. With a splash of history, the author discusses pedagogies, as well as what to look for in a good preschool teacher...[and] provides respectful ways for approaching—or changing—the system...This is not an indictment of teachers, but rather an eye-opening tool for parental involvement."--Kirkus

"With research and news reports documenting a range in school quality from glorious to horrendous, how is a parent to know where their child's school fits in that range? Education journalist Tyre analyzes the factors that contribute to a good school, giving parents practical advice on how to evaluate schools...An engaging and valuable resource."--Booklist   "If you have young children or have children who have young children, I hope you will [read this book]-- it's a chatty, non-theoretical story of how our schools got to be testing-machines-so-the-states-get-federal-education-money and how, despite that, you can help your offspring acquire some book learning...[Tyre is] as much of a resource as a great librarian or that teacher you'll never forget. Use her."--Jesse Kornbluth, The Huffington Post