Successful students frequently have teachers and parents who communicate often. With new, rigorous standards, it is vital for parents to understand policies and techniques that teachers use. This brief guide provides an overview of concepts parents will hear when they meet with teachers, attend the school board meeting, or talk with their children about what they are learning. Parents may have heard their children say they are doing close reading in social studies classes. In English courses, students might be writing an argument or analyzing one. Teachers in elementary schools are using text-dependent questions to help students grapple with complex texts. What does all that mean? This book explains the shifts in instruction that teachers and students are talking about. Close reading, writing with sources, writing arguments, literacy in the disciplines and more are all covered here. Each section includes ideas for parents who want to help their children.