1.

Start a Local Education Fund (LEF), a community-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to create high-quality public schools for all children (for more information call the Public Education Network at 202-628-7460).

2.

Read a book aloud to a child every month for a year.

3.

Visit your local public school.

4.

Sit on a committee to improve your public schools.

5.

Lead a team of citizens to clean up litter on school grounds.

6.

Vote in your local school board elections and on bond referenda.

7.

Attend your local school board meetings.

8.

Donate computer equipment to a local school.

9.

Invite a student to dinner in your home.

10.

Tutor or mentor a student.

11.

Provide learning opportunities outside the school day -- take a student to the theater, to a museum, to the park.

12.

Show how reading, science, history are important in these places.

13.

Learn about school financing and how your money is spent in your schools.

14.

Teach a new skill to a youngster.

15.

Learn CPR and First Aid.

16.

Volunteer to chaperone at a public school function.

17.

Help a child with his or her homework.

18.

Support with work, wealth, and wisdom local organizations, like local education funds, that support the creation of high-quality public schools for all children.

19.

Compliment a child for their effort in working on a difficult subject.

20.

Obey traffic signals and laws around school grounds.

21.

Introduce yourself to teachers and school administrators at your child’s school, or the school in your neighborhood, and ask how you can be of service.

22.

Don’t take illegal drugs.

23.

Ask questions of your elected and appointed school officials.

24.

Report suspected abuse to the proper authorities.

25.

Write a thank you letter to a teacher who was important to you.

26.

Walk or drive a child to school.

27.

Stop for school buses.

28.

Make sure that children’s basic needs are met so that they can arrive at school ready to learn at high levels.

29.

Limit television viewing and monitor the content of what your child watches.

30.

Protect a vulnerable child.

31.

Ask any teacher how you can help them do a better job.

32.

Write letters to local, state, and national leaders demanding funds for protecting the health, education, and welfare of children.

33.

Employ public school students at your organization or business.

34.

Offer job-shadowing and summer job opportunities to public school students.

35.

Organize a community career day for middle school or high school students.

36.

Encourage intuitive, caring, and highly-motivated college students to become teachers.

37.

Make sure your child is fully immunized.

38.

Donate books to your local public school library.

39.

Treat other people’s children as if they were your own.

40.

Report any gang activity in your neighborhood.

41.

Believe that all children can learn at high levels.

42.

Support nutritious free and reduced price school lunches for children in your community.

43.

Take a child to the theater or a museum.

44.

Demonstrate fairness and consistency in your dealings with students.

45.

Teach a child to celebrate, appreciate, and tolerate differences in skin color, physical mobility, learning ability, and economic opportunity.

46.

Attend and support public school social, athletic, and artistic functions.

47.

Have your school checked for asbestos, lead, and radon levels.

48.

Make sure that a child you care about has regular visits to the doctor and dentist.

49.

Find out where your elected officials stand and have voted on the issues that influence the quality of public schools.

50.

Organize a day to paint and repair a school.