The Common Core State Standards call for students to develop digital media and technology skills. One way to help them reach that goal: incorporate gadgets they're already familiar with--cell phones, tablets, and smartphones--into their learning environment. Mobile devices are becoming essential to students' daily lives. According to a 2011 Pew…

Digital technology is providing a growing variety of methods for school leaders to connect with parents anywhere, anytime--a tactic mirroring how technology is used to engage students. Through Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, and text messages sent in multiple languages, school staff members are giving parents instant updates, news, and information…

The research is clear that a family's involvement in their child's early education improves outcomes in areas such as the child's language, self-help, social, and motor skills. The more frequent the contact between home and school, the more the child benefits. While traditional forms of home-school partnerships (for example, parents participating…

On a Wednesday morning at Giano Intermediate School in West Covina, California, 25 mothers and fathers sit in rapt attention, many taking notes, as a school counselor outlines the morning's Parent Chat. The session is devoted to exploring how well the parents know their children. Parents complete a questionnaire that asks them to answer such…

Former President Bill Clinton's 1997 State of the Union Address discusses the issue of ensuring that Americans have the best education in the world. He issued the following 10-point call to action for American education in the 21st century: (1) set rigorous standards, with national tests in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math; (2) make sure…

Designed to provide classroom teachers with activities to enhance computer equity for female students, this kit is divided into four sections which present excerpts from four other publications: (1) "The Neuter Computer: Computers for Boys and Girls" (Jo Schuchat Sanders and Antonia Stone for the Computer Equity Training Project, Women's…

This booklet provides parents with basic information about how to use the computer to find information and communicate with others. It describes what is needed to get started on the Internet and points to some of the many resources available online for parents and children. The book discusses: a brief definition of the Internet, including what the…

Describes the Department of Technology of the Houston Independent School District's program of computer literacy to prepare teachers, administrators, and parents for the integration of microcomputers into the school district's curriculum. Training tenets, questions to consider regarding program, student, teacher, hardware, and software needs, and…

An effort to foster intergenerational bilingual literacy by setting up technology-mediated partnerships between geographically distant parents of school children is described. The ethnic and linguistically minority parents who participated were from San Diego; Denver; and Caguas, Puerto Rico. This partnership between distant parents is part of a…

Deficit models of low-income parents' involvement in schools are giving way to concepts of empowerment. An after-school computer education program in an inner-city youth club kindled parent interest and participation by focusing on children's educational success and valuing parents both as parents and as adult learners. (22 references) (SK)

This report summarizes a working conference held at the Educational Technology Center in the Harvard University Graduate School of Education to explore the uses of educational technology in urban schools and offer recommendations for developing policies and programs. Participants included urban practitioners, researchers, professors, policy…

Describes an early childhood program designed to increase children's school success in attaining key math, language, and computer learning concepts and skills. Used home visits, parent training sessions, teacher-parent conferences, a home learning center, and a computer home-loan program to strengthen parent involvement in their child's education.…

Educational computing projects profiled focus on computer programing, computer literacy, an electronic bulletin board for math/science research, computer managed instruction for reading, word processing throughout the curriculum, parental participation in computer literacy, and an electronic interstate school newspaper. A list of sources for…

Unless children and parents have training and access to computers and the power they offer, computers create a barrier for them as they navigate a society that depends on computers for information and occupational advancement. This paper describes a program developed by North Shore Head Start in Beverly, Massachusetts and CAST (Center for Applied…

Project CARES (Career Awareness Resources for Exceptional Students) served a total of 137 high school students with limited English proficiency and disabilities. The Title VII (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) funded program functioned in two Bronx (New York City) schools. The program provided instruction in English as a second language, in…