To be involved, you will need to:

1. Know what your children are doing at school. Talk with them each day about school. Look at all the work they bring home, whether they are in kindergarten or high school.

2. Expect your children to do homework or school-related work every day for approximately 10 minutes for each year in school — starting in first grade. When your children do not have definite assignments, help them get in the habit of using this time for reviewing, doing projects, reading or working on future assignments.

3. Show interest in your children's education by attending as many school functions as you can.

4. Hop on academic difficulties and behavior problems when they first appear so they can be resolved quickly.

5. Praise your children's efforts so they know you are proud of the work they are doing in school.

6. Help your children get organized so they arrive at school on time and ready to learn.

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Question: Now that students are busy applying to colleges, I wanted to add more to an earlier column on retaking the SAT. There is no reason not to retake the SAT, especially if a student does some preparation for the test. Most students improve a great deal from their first test scores. A new set of higher scores can open more doors and might improve the odds of getting into a specific college.

Also, many students do not realize and are not told that many schools have a "rolling admission" policy. Their best chance of getting into these schools is to apply as soon as applications are available. My three children all had a college acceptance in their hands by October of their senior year because they had applied before the start of their senior year. My youngest was told he was foolish to apply for everything so early, but he got accepted at his dream school by the end of October and received a full Naval ROTC scholarship to pay his way. — Early Birds

Answer: Unfortunately, not all students improve their SAT scores. According to the College Board, only 55 percent of junior test-takers improve their scores as seniors. In applying to schools with rolling admissions, it makes sense for students to apply early if they are strong candidates for admission. If they aren't, they may wish to wait in hopes of improving their college admission test scores or high-school grades.