While others are talking about how parents need to get more involved, Rolanda Chambers, president of the New Town Parent Teacher Student Association in Owings Mills, is putting talk into action.

Sun columnist Milton Kent writes in today's Sports section about Chambers, who recently launched a program to help student-athletes boost their SAT scores.

Here's an excerpt from Milton's column:

"If the kids master the SAT, they can get into college even if they don't get scholarships," said Chambers, whose son is a sophomore on the junior varsity football team. "We just have to get them to pay more attention to the test."

Chambers said the disparity in standardized test scores between black students and those of other ethnicities may have a number of causes, but require a more intense effort by parents to prod their children to improve those scores.

"I just think that, overall, other parents put into play other things that are available, and African-American parents just usually don't," Chambers said. "So, where other kids are getting that boost that they need, our students don't. This is why such a program is necessary. It's doing what other parents are doing for their students, giving them that push outside the classroom for the SAT."

Read the rest of Milton's column and find out more about the SAT prep program.