Q: This summer we plan to visit colleges with our son, a rising senior and B-plus student with a learning disability. His counselor is pointing him to our community college, but he wants to go away to a four-year school that isn't a "pressure cooker." Are those college guides on Amazon.com reliable for making a list?

A: They're a good place to start. The major college guide publishers include Barron's Educational Series, College Board, Sourcebooks (e.g., "Fiske Guide to Colleges"), Peterson's and Princeton Review.

Before you invest in any of them, go to your local library or bookstore and give them a "flip-test," says Sally Reed, editor of CollegeBoundNews.com, a monthly publication on college admissions and financial aid.

"Assess their potential usefulness," she says. "Some are easy to use. Others may have information you don't need. Make sure the books are up-to-date. Librarians and major bookstores usually keep current editions on the shelves."

Each publisher offers a general guide. Some publish supplemental titles too. For example, in addition to the "Fiske Guide to Colleges," Sourcebooks publishes the "Fiske Guide to Getting Into the Right College," a book that helps students browse more than 2,000 four-year schools in the U.S.

Peterson publishes the "Four-Year Colleges" series as well as the "Scholarships, Grants and Prizes" series -- information on millions of privately funded awards available to college students.

The College Board published the "College Handbook 2015," with information on 2,200 four-year colleges and universities and 1,700 two-year community colleges and technical schools. The College Board also published the "Book of Majors 2015" to explain various majors and what graduates can do with them after graduation.

Princeton Review published the "Complete Book of Colleges, 2015 Edition" and has annual editions of "The Best 379 Colleges" and "Paying for College Without Going Broke." You might be interested in checking out its "K&W Guide to College Programs and Services for Students With Learning Disabilities or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder," which is a good resource for students who need additional support at college.

Reed recommends searching the website Colleges That Change Lives (ctcl.org) and the book by the same name (Penguin Books, 2012).

U.S. News & World Report is famous for its rankings (or infamous, depending on your perspective). Its "Best Colleges 2015" ranked schools according to different criteria and offered data on application to acceptance ratios. The U.S. Department of Education is also creating its own rankings system.

Some publishers offer digital versions, but Reed likes paperbacks because families can browse them together.

"While the ultimate decision is your son's," she says, "students benefit from family feedback in the narrowing process."

Don't overschedule college visits. Unless the colleges are very close, one a day is optimal.

"Leave time to visit the campus outside the organized tour," says Reed. "Engage students. Get a sense of the atmosphere. Encourage your son to take photos and notes and keep contact information of people you meet so he can ask questions once he returns home."

Reed advises families to keep it simple: "College visits should be fun rites of passage for families. Don't ask your son to tell you what he thinks after each visit. Let him digest all he's learning. Wait until you return home to weigh the pros and cons."

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: Four teachers I respect started a charter school that's now struggling. I'm an accountant, and they've asked me to join their board. I love their mission -- to put low-income kids on a college track -- but wonder how I can help. What are the responsibilities of a school board?

A: School boards have key responsibilities, including hiring and managing the school leaders, ensuring financial best practices, promoting the mission and overseeing student progress. Board members are central to a charter's success.

Charters operate independently from public schools, are free from most government regulations and often form teacher-union contracts. They are approved by an outside authority that differs from state to state.

The authorizer holds schools accountable for student performance and financial viability, and can close schools if they don't produce satisfactory results. Some charters are run by CMOs: for-profit or nonprofit "charter management organizations" that manage several schools.

During the 2013-2014 school year, there were 6,440 charter schools in the U.S. serving 2.7 million students. During that time frame, 640 new schools opened and roughly 200 existing charters were closed. This 3-to-1 ratio has held steady for five years, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Low enrollment, financial problems and poor academic performance are the most common reasons charters get shut down.

In the early days of charters, board selection was often an afterthought. The thinking was, "Find a good principal and teachers, and we're good to go."

As the movement matured, charter leaders began to focus on school governance to avoid pitfalls such as schools abruptly closing due to financial instability, poor test scores and crony hiring.

The late Mary Mitchell, co-founder of Girls Prep in New York (now part of Public Prep Network), said of her experience, "You can't have a successful charter without a team of energetic, informed and honest-broker board members. The board chooses the principal, helps build staff capacity, sets standards for professional development, oversees budgets and raises money to supplement public funds. It 'owns' student performance. Schools don't fail; boards fail their schools. When that happens, we fail the kids."

To promote good governance, some authorizers require or strongly encourage charters to bring on objective board members with governing experience and required skill sets.

Do your due diligence before signing on. Read June Kronholz's piece, "Boot Camps for Charter Boards," in the summer 2015 edition of Education Next (educationnext.org). She describes how nonprofit Charter Board Partners recruits, trains and places professionals willing to serve on charter school boards.

Read The Top 10 Mistakes of Charter School Boards at boardontrack.com, a website that provides guidance for board members.

Go on YouTube and watch Carrie Irvin's TEDx Talk, "The Key to Great Schools is Great Boards."

Delve into data on charter school performance at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (publiccharters.org).

Know where you stand on controversial issues. For example, should your school "back fill" seats -- admit new students whenever current ones leave? How equitable is your application process?

Visit charter schools in your community, including the one whose board you may join. May 3-9 is National Charter Schools Week, and many schools plan special events for parents and visitors during this time.

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: Parents are starting a testing "opt out" movement in our district. Some are against Common Core. Others feel their kids are test-stressed. Don't we need measures to know what kids are really learning? Why can't those who mandate the tests explain this better?

A: Several issues fuel the opt-out movement; too many tests is one of them. Others include contradictory policy decisions, political posturing, misinformation about the Common Core (no, it's not a federal mandate), parents' fears that kids are being pushed too far and teachers' worries that over-testing drains the joy from school.

One Florida educator told me recently, "Testing and the prep that goes with it will eat up 80 out of 180 school days this year. That's just crazy."

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has acknowledged these concerns. He favors limits on testing, but told Florida civic leaders that when parents refuse to let their kids take statewide exams, "it robs educators of a means to measure progress and understanding of what our children know and don't know."

If your district has too many tests, it could choose well-designed ones that provide good data and use that information to improve teaching. Some states and districts are even starting to cut back. Palm Beach County, Florida, for instance, eliminated 55 tests this year.

Parents should push lawmakers and districts to take a good look at which tests matter and drop those that don't, says Bill Jackson, founder and president of GreatSchools, an organization that helps parents get a solid education for their children.

"Parents are smart," he says. "They know that test scores can't capture many of the qualities of a good school. But scores from a well-designed standardized test do tell you if the school is focused on the basics of reading and math. They offer a very simple, objective way of comparing two schools that may not have much else in common. If a parent finds that their school has a high percentage of students who are meeting state standards, that gives them something very valuable: peace of mind."

States also need to prepare parents if the test scores based on new assessments are likely to be lower than previous years, notes Jackson. The new tests "are a more accurate reflection of what students know and can do than past exams, and the results are more useful to classroom teachers."

Jackson applauds Kentucky, an early adopter of higher standards and new tests, for doing a good job of getting these messages out.

It's worth noting, says Jackson, that a "new report from the American Institutes for Research shows that students in Kentucky are making faster progress than students in states that haven't adopted the Common Core."

He advises parents to do their own homework. Start with the online resources below and those created by your state.

-- Common Core State Standards Initiative: corestandards.org/what-parents-should-know

-- Student Achievement Partners: achievethecore.org

-- Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers: parcconline.org

-- Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: smarterbalanced.org

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)