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Education

Does Your Child's School Make the Grade?

Posted: 11/16/2011

Evaluate your community's school to confirm your children are receiving the best possible learning experience.

(NewsUSA) - Parents send their children to school hoping and trusting that teachers and school systems are providing a well-rounded, holistic education that's personalized and supportive.

Now, thanks to an initiative by ASCD, one of America's leading education associations, anyone interested in preparing today's youth for success can check whether schools make the grade.

Using the "Grade Your School" tool (www.wholechildeducation.org/gradeyourschool), a resource presented as part of ASCD's Whole Child Initiative, parents and communities can confirm whether their schools meet the five tenets of ASCD's Whole Child approach to education. Those tenets are:

1. Each student enters school healthy and learns and practices a healthy lifestyle.

2. Each student learns in an environment that is safe.

3. Each student is actively engaged in learning and connected to the school and broader community.

4. Each student has access to personalized learning and is supported by qualified, caring adults.

5. Each student is challenged academically and prepared for success in college or further study and for employment and participation in a global environment.

"The Grade Your School resource really gets you thinking about what an effective, even ideal, learning environment should be. I will use this tool to open the conversation with my child's school on how parents could work collaboratively with school officials and others to create an even better learning community," says Sioban Maslar, Silver Spring, Md.

Composed of 14 short multiple choice questions, the Grade Your School tool helps anyone quickly find out how well a school and community are doing to prepare children for the future. ASCD then provides a report card and some tips on how to use the results.

"Each community has educators, families, administrators and counselors working hard to support the success of each learner," says Molly McCloskey, managing director of Whole Child Programs at ASCD. "The Grade Your School tool is a starting point for anyone to check how these groups are working to support the whole child approach to education, and open a dialogue about how to work together."

Visit the Whole Child Initiative homepage at www.wholechildeducation.org to learn more.

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