Educators have long recognized that parental and community supports are important underpinnings for children's success in school. With respect to the teaching of writing, however, little research has been conducted to provide evidence of effective practices teachers use to involve parents and communities. As part of a national Canadian study of…

The purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative operationalization of amenities that does not privilege certain kinds of natural resources and climatic conditions and that can be used for assessing the quality of life in small towns. The amenity inventory presented here extends previous literature by including a broad range of amenities…

Purpose: Stigma and lack of access to providers create barriers to mental health treatment for older adults living in the community. In order to address these barriers, we developed and evaluated a peer support intervention for older adults receiving Medicaid services. Design and Methods: Reclaiming Joy is a mental health intervention that pairs…

A new genus of district and school improvement models entails partnerships with other organizations and new working relationships with families, community leaders, and youths. The Ohio Community Collaboration Model for School Improvement (OCCMSI) is one such model. It enables partners to leverage family and community resources for learning,…

The paper reviews public discourses and research on the safeguarding of other people's children by adults at the neighbourhood level. There is much empirical evidence pointing to the existence of thriving informal communities of support and informal childcare for parents across the social classes. There appears to be less empirical evidence…

The aim of this study is to test the influence that social integration in the community might have on subjective well-being (SWB) beyond the influence of sociodemographic characteristics, self-esteem, stressful life events, and social support from intimate and confidant relationships. We explore this set of relationships among Latin American…

Although substantial numbers of women seeking Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) report domestic violence, few receive mandated services through the Family Violence Option (FVO). This study used transcripts of interviews between welfare caseworkers and their clients to identify and classify the responses made by workers to client…

There are 1.2 million school-age children with military parents in the United States, and approximately 90% attend public schools. On average, military children move three times more often than their civilian peers. Tensions at home, enrollment issues, adapting to new schools, and a lack of familiarity with military culture by public school…

In this paper, we model gender differences in cognitive ability in China using a new sample of middle-aged and older Chinese respondents. Modeled after the American Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the CHARLS Pilot survey respondents are 45 years and older in two quite distinct provinces--Zhejiang, a high-growth industrialized province on the…

Transitioning in to adult-hood as a special needs youth can be a challenging experience for both disabled youth and their families. IDEA 2004 legislation mandates all special needs individuals receive skill development in the areas of self-determination, self-advocacy, employment, adult service agency access and independent living. School…

Background: Active school transport (AST), school travel using an active mode like walking, may be important to children's overall physical activity. A "school travel plan" (STP) documents a school's transport characteristics and provides an action plan to address school and neighborhood barriers to AST. Methods: We conducted a pilot STP…

Family involvement in early childhood classrooms benefits children, school staff, and families. The development of a strong relationship between early childhood programs and families is a critical component of developmentally appropriate practices. What strategies enable families to be full and active participants in their young children's…

In this article the authors explore a language and literacy community mapping project carried out by public school teachers in southern California. They chronicle the knowledge produced by teachers about the depth and diversity of language and literacy resources present in the neighborhoods surrounding their various urban school sites. (Contains 6…

Counseling is an emerging profession in Latin America that offers people an opportunity to voice pain, exercise power, authentically connect with others, and experience healing within the community. Counseling reflects collaborative efforts between consultant and consultee who come together to reach mutual healing and growth through the use of…

Since 2008, classroom learning activities on the working poor and the living wage have been included in an introductory core course that focuses on community services and professions in the School of Community Resources and Development at Arizona State University. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2008 that 8.9 million people were classified as…