Over the past twenty-five years, independent school parents have become more deeply involved in their child’s school life. They are more conscientious, more anxious and sometimes very specific in their goals for their children. Teachers are communicating with parents more than ever, writing newsletters, keeping them updated on homework, etc.  Still, the relationship is an uncomfortable one because educators are rarely trained to work with parents and they always fear that they won’t be supported by their administrators, even when they have been strongly supported in the past.  In this talk, which is based on his new book with Dr. Rob Evans, Dr. Thompson will describe the psychology of independent school parents and teachers and analyze the dynamics of the parent-school relationship; he will also offer a “basic toolkit” for teachers and an “advanced toolkit” for administrators.