Have you ever walked into your child's classroom or looked at a homework assignment and thought: “My days in school were very different from my child's experience. Is this good?” Fewer teachers stand in the front of the class lecturing as they may have when you attended school. Teachers still cover basic concepts in math, reading, science and other subjects, but now they help students learn more on their own. Increasingly, students are working together on projects rather than individually. More and more, ditto sheets with fill-in-the-blank problems are being supplemented—or replaced all together—with more challenging hands-on lessons that require students to think harder and use different skills.

Parents who attended schools with more traditional classrooms may raise their eyebrows at the new look of today's schools. What's behind these developments? Are they good for your child? What impact are these efforts having on your child's education? Is your child learning more?

This booklet is for parents who want to understand how and why schools are changing their approach. We will take you inside classrooms that are using innovative approaches to learning—with impressive results. We will find out why schools are encouraging children to work and learn from each other. We will take a look at what teachers are doing to improve their skills so they are more effective in the classroom.