U.S. Assistant Deputy Secretary Morgan Brown today announced the release of a new publication, Giving Parents Options. This new "handbook" for local and state administrators and educators provides strategies for informing parents of educational options for students and recommends effective ways to implement public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES) under No Child Left Behind.

"Thanks to No Child Left Behind, schools are now required to provide parents with the information and options they need to ensure their children receive the high-quality education they deserve," U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said. "Resources like this show how informing parents and increasing parental involvement is key to improving student achievement. I encourage all states and districts to read this handbook and consider which ideas and practices they can implement to help their students."

Giving Parents Options provides concrete strategies and tips, based on best practices from around the country, to help educators improve their outreach to parents and to offer families quality SES and public school choice options. The handbook includes a range of ideas, such as ensuring readability of parent notices, coordinating public school choice under NCLB with other choice programs and options and managing SES at the school level.

Giving Parents Options is part of Secretary Margaret Spellings' initiative to increase participation in the public school choice and SES options. This initiative also included an Outreach Tour of 14 school districts during the 2006-07 school year, and a National Summit on SES and Public School Choice in June 2007.

Free hard copies of the handbook are available and can be ordered from ED Pubs www.edpubs.org: Order Number ED003762P

Copies can also be downloaded free from the Department's website: www.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/options/index.html

For more information about parental options and No Child Left Behind please visit www.ed.gov/nclb/choice/index.html and www.ed.gov/nclb/choice/help/ses/index.html

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