Resources from Center for Law and Education

Center for Law and Education

Resource Title: Beyond the Bake Sale: An Educator's Guide to Working With Families (1986)
Price: $10.95
Author: Anne T. Henderson, Carl Marburger and Theodora Ooms
Description: 160 pp. This classic guide explains how to build partnerships that go beyond boosterism to effective schooling, with attention to high school families, and single, low-income and working parents. Often used for staff development and other teacher training.

Resource Title: Parents are Powerful
Price: $2. Bulk orders available for as low as $1 per copy.
Description: 32 pages. 1997. A full-color guide written for a general parent audience, it gives parents practical advice to guide their children from preschool through high school. It also informs them of their rights and what to expect from key federal programs like Title I, IDEA, and Vocational Education. Available in Spanish.

Resource Title: Powerful Schools Handbook: Starting and Running a Collaborative School Improvement Program
Price: $19.95
Description: 148 pp. This is a true grassroots guide to organizing in neighborhoods to make schools and communities stronger. It is based on the experience of four public elementary schools and several community groups in Seattle, Wash., but its message is universal. The Powerful Schools Handbook tells how to start an effort to improve student performance while building stronger communities; outlines fundraising and managing volunteers; describes family involvement and community involvement; and explains the role of community schools and their adult education programs in improving outcomes for children. It also includes samples of all the materials used by Powerful Schools. Published by One Court Street Press.

Resource Title: The Family is Critical to Student Achievement: A New Generation of Evidence
Price: $14.95
Author: Anne T. Henderson and Nancy Berla, editors
Description: 176pp. Softcover. (1994) Reviews 66 studies that document the positive effects of parent involvement on student achievement. A short introduction reviews the studies, major findings, and trends in the research. "Taken together, the studies summarized in this report strongly suggest that when schools support families to be involved, children from low-income families and diverse cultural backgrounds approach the grades and test scores expected for middle class children."

Resource Title: Urgent Message for Parents
Price: $3 single copy. See order form for discounts on multiple copies.
Author: Anne Henderson, Anne Lewis, Kathy Boundy, Paul Weckstein, Larry Searcy
Description: 16 pp. In English. 2000. This guide answers parents' questions about standards -- what do they mean for my child, what if my child didn't pass the test, how can I help my children learn what they need to know? It gives examples of high and low level student work, explains the difference between the new and the old tests, and tells how families can improve student achievement. This is an excellent resource for staff development, parent training and conferences.