When Parents Drop Out

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--GIVE PARENTS TALKING POINTS. TIME's High School of the Year, Stonewall Jackson, in Manassas, Va., is only one of the schools that are using Internet and voicemail systems to encourage parents to stay informed about what the kids are doing in school. Parents in Forsyth County, Ga., can log onto a website that shows everything from the levels that students must achieve on Georgia's standardized exam to what their child's next term paper is on--and when it's due. "I have to admit I don't go to PTA meetings, but I can check up on homework assignments, projects and grades while I'm at work," says Bailey Mitchell, father of a ninth-grader.

The success of all these reforms depends on the willingness of parents and schools to change. That's the mission of a weekly night class called Parent Partners held in Kings Mountain, N.C. At the close of a recent confessional-style session, Pressley Barrino, 38, a lighting technician and father of two, told how he made some mistakes with his first child, who spent time in reform school. He's doing things differently with his 8-year-old daughter Nakia--reading to her at night and helping with homework. He has even taken to dropping by her school during his lunch hour to check in with her teacher. Barrino tells the group: "A child who knows you're behind her does a lot better." So, too, does a teacher.

--With reporting by Melissa August/Washington, John U. Bacon/Ann Arbor, Amy Bonesteel/Atlanta, Dan Cray/Los Angeles, Paul Cuadros/Kings Mountain and Maggie Sieger/Louisville