Customer Reviews

How To Choose The Perfect School: What 21st Century Parents Need to Know about K-12 Education

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The point of school choice is to create a market in education, in which schools compete to attract the dollars of informed consumers. It's a great theory, except for the informed consumer part. The fact is, most of us have a far better sense of what we want in a car or big-screen TV than in a junior high. We all want our kids to attend a "great school," but have no idea how to define "great." Is it a modern building and big-time sports? Strict discipline and teachers with advanced degrees? Or is it something else altogether?

Mary Lang's new book answers many of these questions. She defines school quality in terms of the latest research in brain development and teaching methods, along the way reporting some fascinating recent discoveries. A few examples: If a child learns a foreign language before the age of seven, the second language is stored in the same part of the brain as the child's native language. But a language learned after seven is stored in a different part of the brain. Learning to play a musical instrument early in life enhances a child's math and reading skills. Different kids learn via different pathways, including touch, sight, and movement. There's a lot more, but the general point is that developing brains are receptive to different things at different times. If you hit the right spot with the right material, it's more likely to stick.

Lang includes a long list of questions for parents to ask school administrators and teachers, and explains how to interpret the answers. Her writing style is clear and jargon-free; this is a very easy read. My only complaint is that it could be longer. More on teacher qualifications, the various debates now raging in education, and examples of how things work at the school Lang runs would have been welcome. But what's here is very good. This is an informative, accessible book that should be helpful for parents navigating the world of school choice.

As the parent of a teenager, I have come to understand the importance of choosing a school that will help my child fulfill her potential. The information in How to Choose the Perfect School, assisted me in choosing a successful elementary school for my child. Later, when there were no school choices in our community at the junior high and high school level, the summary of educational research contained in the book provided me with a foundation for me to evaluate the educational issues she faced and be more aware of the alternatives to the traditional school setting. This is an excellent book for parents who need to evaluate a school they are considering sending their child to or who are attempting to evaluate the school that their child is currently attending. The specific information contained in the book, is comprehensive and easy to use. I highly recommend it to parents with children in the K-12 educational system.

Choosing the right school for our daughter has always been a top priority for my husband and myself. "How to Choose the Perfect School" provides parents with a guide that includes specific features to look for when they are evaluating schools. This is an easy to read, informative book for parents who are in a position to choose between alternative K-12 programs. Besides the handy detailed checklist to take on a school visit, the book has helpful questions if parents choose to interview school administrators during their visit to potential schools. The information from this book has been helpful to us in understanding the general programming of the school that our daughter currently attends. I highly recommend it to all parents who are interested in understanding more about their child's current school, as well as alternative school programs, when they are faced with school choice.

I am a parent of a middle school student and my husband and I are choosing a school for our daughter for the third time in five years. I have found, How to Choose the Perfect School, to be a very useful book for parents like me faced with school choice during our child's very important formative years. Before reading this book, I had a feeling about what I was looking for but I was unable to verbalize it. Now when I visit a school I have a clear notion of what I am looking for based on the authors encouragement to define what I consider to be a quality education prior to starting my school search. The school report card, containing the many things a parent should look for in a school, has been especially helpful as I review school materials and visit schools. I would highly recommend this book to other parents who are feeling confused about finding the right school for their child.

Sincerely,
Maria O.

As a parent of two young children I have found the process of searching for schools in large city to be a daunting task. There are so many choices, and it's hard to know where to start. Fortunately, this book has provided me with detailed information about school features that enhance the learning ability of the students. I have learned how to identify a school that contains a curriculum that is based on research findings about what makes a high quality learning environment. The checklists and sample interview questions are especially helpful when visiting schools and comparing choices. I recommend this book to anyone who is searching for the right school for their child.

Sincerely,

Jean Powers

This is one of the most informative school choice books that I have read. It contains practical information on evaluating schools. The book is organized in an easy to read manner. The enclosed report card for evaluating schools was very useful for my wife and I. One of the best features of the book is the author's encouragement to define your own goals for your child's education and develop a definition of an educated individual. These activities were extremely helpful when my wife and I were searching for schools for our two children. I highly recommend this book to other parents who have questions about choosing the most appropriate school for their child.

couple of good tips, but really not worth the money I spent on this book. I got everything i needed from the internet and friends advice.

Dear Amazon readers,

I am a professional educator living and teaching near
Portland, Oregon. Over the years, many parents have
asked, "How can I be sure if this is the best school
for my child?" In recent years, I am happy to have
had Dr. Lang's book, How to Choose the Perfect School:
What 21st Century Parents Need to Know About K-12
Education, to recommend.

Many of the book's sections are helpful for parents.

* The checklist is a very useful tool for parents who
want to evaluate the concrete features of a potential
school.

* Parents are not always sure what they are looking
for in a school but this book also helps clarify their
educational goals for their child.

* The research findings in the book are relevant and
very important for parents to know about when
evaluating schools.

All parents will benefit from this book when it comes
to educational choice for their child. I recommend it
to parents with young children.

Sincerely,
Cathy Karten

I am a parent, and chair of a group that is the process of starting an elementary charter school in my community. Mary Lang's book, How to Choose the Perfect School, was written for parents choosing a school, but that same information is valuable to me creating one. I agree with the author that the first thing a parent needs to do when choosing a school is to create a definition of an educated individual in the 21st century. In our charter process we were required to create our definition of an educated person, and we focused on what Lang calls "deep" education--the ability to apply knowledge in real settings to solve problems. I like its approach to technology, it talks about computers as tools children program in order to learn, not machines to program our children.

I think this book will be helpful to you. The book has a section on research into learning and how that research should be applied to school design. Its school report cards distill that research in ways that can help you attend to the important features that contribute to a successful school environment. I recommend this book to parents who are actively involved in their child's education and want to understand the choices and options that are available to them.