A new website and mobile app aims to give parents easily accessible resources to have a greater impact on their children’s education.
Produced by NBC News and sponsored by Pearson, the Parent Toolkit will be a primer of sorts emphasizing the new Common Core State Standards but also providing guidance to help parents assure their children’s success in college, the workplace and beyond.
The Parent Toolkit was unveiled Oct. 8 during the 2013 NBC News Education Nation Summit in New York City. Education Nation, is an initiative supported by NBCUniversal News Group, to encourage dialogue among policymakers, advocates, researchers, educators, parents and the public about education in America. Education Week’s Mark Walsh wrote about the summit here.
“With fundamental changes happening to our school system, the Toolkit is designed to ensure that all parents have the support and information they need to play an active role in their child’s academic development,” Soraya Gage, general manager of Education Nation said in a news release.
Parents will be able to customize the Toolkit for each of their children where they also can:
- View key math and English/language arts benchmarks by grade level.
- Get advice about how to make parent-teacher conferences and school counseling more effective.
- Meet academic experts, teachers and parent advisers who helped create the Toolkit’s content.
- Reinforce learning at home by accessing additional resources, tips and activities that they can be used daily.
New features will be added to the Parent Toolkit in 2014, including, Spanish translation and academic benchmarks focused on social development, health and wellness.