A generation ago, going the extra mile as a classroom volunteer meant baking an extra tray of cookies.
Parents still chaperone field trips and run school carnivals.
They're on the playground supervising youngsters and in the main office photocopying class assignments. But now they advise school staff on academic decisions, including allocating money for books and hiring teachers. And they work in classrooms, helping neophyte readers sound out words or poring over math work sheets with students. Parents are being asked to help children more academically, to sit with them, read with them. The reasons for the change are many.