High-Tech Cheating

Cheating is a serious problem that strikes at the core of a child's academic success and character development. According to a recent study by our friends at Common Sense Media, kids today are using a new tool to cheat: cell phones.

The study finds that more than a third of teens with cell phones admit to storing information on them to use during a test or texting friends about answers. This is a big deal considering the pervasiveness of cell phones: More than two-thirds of teenagers in this country own a cell phone, according to US Cellular, and most 8- to 12-year-olds will own a cell phone in the next three years, says a report by the Yankee Group.

That kids cheat is not news. The real eye opener is two points made in the Common Sense study:

1. Parents don’t think their kids are cheating. While most parents are well aware of cell phone cheating (76% say that it happens at school), they don't believe their kids are doing it (only 3% say their child has ever cheated with a cell phone).
2. Children don’t think cheating is wrong. Nearly one in four kids thinks accessing notes on a cell phone or texting friends with answers during a test is acceptable.

So not only are parents in la-la land about whether their children are cheating, but also kids are failing to distinguish right from wrong. Yikes.

Is this the latest manifestation of the so-called Napster generation, which assumes that everything should be free and fully accessible? Or is it simply an example of teaching a young pup new tricks?

The answers to these questions matter less than how parents and teachers respond to this disturbing trend. As James Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, stated, “The call to action is clear: Parents and educators have to be aware of how kids are using technology to cheat and then help our kids understand that the consequences for online cheating are just as serious as offline cheating.”

We couldn't agree more. Parents play a vital role in showing children right from wrong and teaching them character traits that will last a lifetime.

Buying your child a cell phone provides a teachable moment, an opportunity to stress the wrongness of cheating and the value of learning. We encourage you to look at Common Sense Media's recommendations for parents.

How are you talking to your kids about cheating? We want to know.

Meet GreatSchools: Lisa Fung

Formerly of GoCityKids and Ziff Davis, Lisa Fung is our vice president of sales and business development, overseeing partnerships with other nonprofits and organizations for social change. On a day-to-day basis, we can hear Lisa on the phone broadcasting the GreatSchools message to various parenting and education websites.

What inspires you about the GreatSchools mission?
Lisa: The belief that parents can make a difference in education is what gets me excited to come to work each day.

Who in your childhood most inspired your love of learning?
Lisa: My parents. They encouraged me to ask questions, explore, and take risks. Sometimes these risks allowed me to make mistakes, which I took as a lesson learned. Of course, my parents shared their opinions and advice, but I understood I was responsible for the consequences and rewards for every choice I made. Watching me make mistakes must have been tough, but they knew it granted me the independence to explore the world at my own pace. It reminds me of a quote by Heraclitus: "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."

What's the best parenting advice you've heard?
Lisa: You have to go with the flow. If you think the world still revolves around your schedule, forget it! I thought I would never go to Chuck E. Cheese’s, and now I’ve been eight times. I thought I would send my kids to the school that has the highest academic performance, but when I toured it, I was so unimpressed that I didn't even apply. Parenting is like rafting down a river. You have to be flexible.

Thank you, Lisa! I love the idea of parenting as a rafting trip.
Lisa: Look ahead; have plan B, C , D, and E in your back pocket; smile; and go with the flow.

The Power of Dads

Last month I wrote a piece about the power of moms on our children’s educational development in commemoration of Mother’s Day.

This Sunday is Father’s Day so now I'd like to pay tribute to our nation’s dads — and highlight the important role of fatherhood. Fathers model the behavior, values and character traits that prepare their children for success in school, work and life.

In that spirit President Obama, who models fatherhood by balancing the role of Commander-in-Chief and Dad-of-Two with great agility, is using his first Father’s Day in office to reflect on what being a father means to him. In a letter to Parade Magazine, President Obama calls on dads everywhere to ‘step up’:

On this Father’s Day, I am recommitting myself to that work, to those duties that all parents share: to build a foundation for our children’s dreams, to give them the love and support they need to fulfill them, and to stick with them the whole way through, no matter what doubts we may feel or difficulties we may face.

So this Sunday, we hope you take the time to thank your father — and fathers everywhere — for their hard work. And fathers, let’s all recommit to being more involved parents. For me, this means putting down the laptop and spending more time with my daughter.

How are you celebrating Father’s Day? How did your father prepare you for school, work and life?

GreatSchools App on My Yahoo!

As more and more parents use new online services, we want to enable them to be involved with their kids’ education wherever they are on the Web.

That’s why we’re thrilled that Yahoo! included GreatSchools as one of its featured applications for My Yahoo! that helps people get things done, stay organized and save time on their own personalized start pages.

Through the GreatSchools App on My Yahoo!, we are bringing the breadth and depth of our school quality information to moms and dads to help them make decisions that are right for their family. Along with all of the other great productivity tools in My Yahoo!, the GreatSchools App will make it easier for parents to keep their kids’ education top of mind in their daily lives.

Not on My Yahoo!? No problem. You can find, connect and follow us throughout the social web:

• Become a GreatSchools Fan on Facebook
• Follow GreatSchools on Twitter
• Join us on MySpace

We believe that the Internet and other social media — the technology of our times — can enable parents to connect with each other, inspiring them to be involved in their children’s education every step of the way. We hope you connect with us wherever you are online.


And don’t forget: Try out the new GreatSchools App on My Yahoo! and tell us what you think.

Meet GreatSchools: Lilly Fu

We'd like to introduce you to our valued chief financial officer, Lilly Fu. Before she worked in finance, Lilly was one of the first corps members of Teach for America, where she taught second grade in Oakland, Calif. And after a stint with Sony Pictures Entertainment, she led the financial metrics and evaluation efforts at the Stupski Foundation, a private philanthropic institution dedicated to improving urban public schools in the United States. I asked her to tell us what motivates her, and here's what she said:

What inspires you about the GreatSchools mission?
Lilly: As a mother of two children and a former public schoolteacher, I have a deep appreciation for the importance of fostering effective learning environments for children. We have a full set of resources to make these tasks less daunting for parents. I believe the combination of easy-to-navigate student achievement data, expert advice on parenting topics and a lively Web community really empowers parents.

Who in your childhood most inspired your love of learning?
Lilly: My parents, like many Asian immigrant parents, placed a very high priority on instilling a love of learning and academic achievement in their children. My favorite pastime as a child was to spend whole afternoons in the public library with my mom or dad, reading up on all the fairy tales and fantasy books. My parents constantly reminded me that I can be anything I want to be if I am willing to work hard and remain open to learning.

What's the best parenting advice you've heard?
Lilly: Don't ignore your own instincts. Although the proliferation of parenting books and Web sites has given us tremendous insights on child-rearing issues, it can also make us more confused about what the right thing to do is in any given moment — especially when experts provide contradictory advice. Since no one knows my child the way I do, I try to trust my instincts when making parenting decisions.

Lilly, thanks for reminding us to listen to our intuition.
Lilly: We usually do know our kids best!

Improving Education in a Tough Economy

Last week, several of us attended the San Francisco School Alliance Benefit Luncheon where Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed the crowd. While Duncan touched on his plans for the nation and his views on education, the central message was clear: Not for decades will we have the unique opportunity that we do now to improve education. Duncan cited the current administration and Congress along with a $46.7 billion proposed Education budget and over $100 billion in ARRA funds as some of the reasons why.

Secretary Duncan is right — the time really is now. If we can’t make real strides with this kind of momentum and the resources that are available, what will it take for progress? With that said, I think it’s important to remember that money and resources simply provide us with leverage to work more effectively for change. At GreatSchools, we believe that parents are a pivotal factor in ensuring that our kids are prepared for higher education, work and life. Our hope is that parents will join us in taking advantage of the rare opportunity that we find ourselves with today.

What do you think? Is there a silver lining for education in this recession?

Meet GreatSchools: Jaime Uzeta

As our vice president of growth strategy and development, Jaime Uzeta can be somewhat of the public face of GreatSchools. He’s usually spotted away from the office, in board rooms and conference centers, where he evangelizes our mission for parental involvement and student success. Drawing from his diverse experiences at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and MTV, Jaime plays a key role in our external affairs and strategic planning. Here are our three questions for him:

What inspires you about the GreatSchools mission?
Jaime: I love being a part of this effort to improve education by inspiring parents to get more involved. As the father of two kids, I know how confusing and challenging it can be to navigate the variety of schooling options for your children. I’m delighted that we get to serve as a lighthouse for parents who are seeking the best educational path for their loved ones.

Also, our understanding of the role of parents in their children’s success in school (and career and life) is continually evolving. We know more today about how best to prepare and support our children than we knew even a few years ago, and certainly more than when I was a child. It’s incredibly exciting that we’re able to share that information with parents and provide them with a road map to parenting for educational success.

Who in your childhood most inspired your love of learning?
Jaime: My father. As someone who faced various forms of ethnic and racial discrimination as a child, he saw education as the ultimate form of empowerment. He was fond of saying that no matter what people can do to you, they can never take away the power of the information you have in your mind. He was the king of encyclopedias and loved being asked questions for which he did not know the answer, so he could look them up.

What’s the best parenting advice you’ve heard?
Jaime: As my father has told me on a number of occasions, you can do all the research you want, talk to all the experts, do all the right things, and then the unexpected happens. At the end of the day, you have to do your best to create the most positive environment for your child, but you have to accept that there are some things you can’t control. I think the poet Kahlil Gibran describes this eloquently in his poem “On Children.”

Thanks, Jaime! There really aren't any clear, perfect answers in parenting. Jaime: We can only give our children our best.

On Facebook

Hello there, involved parents! GreatSchools is now on Facebook. Our goal is to enable parents to connect with each other wherever they are on the web. With our new Facebook page, you’ll find even more GreatSchools community, more discussions and more interactivity with quizzes and polls. 

This week we’re featuring a quiz that tests your knowledge of the state of education (go ahead, see if you can stump your friends) and a ‘voice of the parent’ poll that asks whether preschool graduation should be celebrated.

But today’s post isn’t just a shameless plug. It’s a call to all parents to understand what’s happening with social media sites — like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. — because, let’s face it, today’s kids are growing up in a technology-rich environment that will have a profound impact on their success in school and in life.

Several months ago, the folks at SavvyDaddy got it right when they said the reasons to familiarize yourself with social media are:

1. safety — the more you understand social media, the better able you are to help protect your kids as they explore it;
2. connection — the more you understand social media, the better able you may be to connect with your kids in their world (though, don’t feel rejected if they do not accept your friend request); and,
3. academic growth — today’s classrooms must teach technology for kids to be able to compete in an ever-flattening world. The more you know, the better able you’ll be to guide your kids academically.

So before your kids get light years ahead of you in technology, go ahead and jump in the fun and connectedness of the social web.

And while you’re at it... [cue shameless plug]...become a Fan of GreatSchools on Facebook!

What Would You Doodle?

This week Google revealed the national finalists for its K-12 student competition, Doodle 4 Google. Thousands of logos drawn by kids across the country were accepted, with state finalists chosen based on how well they encompassed the theme "What I Wish for the World." Forty regional winners were selected, and now with your vote, Doodle 4 Google will award prizes to winners in the following age brackets: K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12.

State finalists will receive an official winner's certificate, regional finalists will be awarded a trip to the Google New York office, and national finalists will win the trip to New York and a brand, new laptop computer. The grand-prize winner will receive a $15,000 scholarship to the college of his or her choice, a laptop and a $25,000 technology grant for his or her school.

Voting ends May 18, so pick your favorite doodle now!

The Power of Moms

It’s Mother’s Day on Sunday and we are celebrating the vital role that mothers play in their kids’ lives.

Moms guide the development of their kids’ character – the importance of playing well with others, sharing and self-discipline. They also model the behaviors that lead to academic success, such as making reading an every day habit, moderating the amount of TV and videogame screen time, and keeping plugged in with what’s happening in school. All of this helps prepare kids to succeed in school, work and life.

So while you may have found it difficult — OK, annoying — when she insisted that you eat your vegetables and clean up your room, remember the important role your mother played in how you’ve turned out today.

We hope that you take the time with us this weekend to thank your mom — and moms everywhere — for the hard work they do. How are you celebrating Mother’s Day? We’re interested in your stories.

PS: Here’s a fun video sent to us from our friends at Common Sense Media — originally developed by momsrising.org. Enjoy... and don’t forget to call your mom on Sunday!