Let's Read Them a Story! The Parent Factor in Education

         Most parents know instinctively that spending more time with their children and being actively involved in their education will give their children a good head-start in life. But since most parents have to juggle competing demands at work and home, there never seems to be enough time or they feel ill-equipped to help.         This book from OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has some good news for concerned parents: it does not require a Ph.D or unlimited hours for parents to make a difference in their children's education. In fact, many parent-child activities that are associated with better reading performance among students involve relatively little time and no specialised knowledge. What these activities do demand is genuine interest and active engagement.         "I enjoyed reading Let's Read Them a Story! The wide sample of countries shows the universality of the conclusions - conclusions which reassure parents that it is important to simply transmit the pleasure of reading to our children. No need to exhaust oneself finding the latest trendy children's books or educational toys parents should simply read to children, enjoy reading themselves, and make family time to discuss what we've read."                                                                                                -Kristine Minski, mother of two      