Residential programs for children and youth are increasingly implementing engagement strategies to promote family-centered and family-driven models of care (Leichtman, 2008). The practice of engagement is a fairly new area of research, especially in residential care. Driven by their goal to increase the use of state-of-the-art family engagement…

The New Zealand Ministry of Education's early childhood curriculum policy is built on a framework called "Te Whariki." This framework provides a sociocultural context for children's early learning and emphasizes a learning partnership between teachers, parents, families, and community. Besides interpersonal relationships, Te Whariki…

The two most influential environments in which young children develop are their homes and their early childhood education programs. In 2005, 60 percent of all U.S. children under age 6 spent some time in the care of persons other than their parents, including 62 percent of White children, 69 percent of Black children, and 49 percent of Hispanic…

This research entailed an ethnographic study that sought assets and resources to enrich pre-school learning in a community challenged by poverty. The aim of this research was to identify personal and environmental assets that could be used to enrich pre-school learning within this context--instead of focusing on needs and deficiencies. The assets…

Family Partnerships for Achievement is not a course typical of most master's programs in education. The course was designed with one overriding goal: to prepare teachers to be effective in the Boston Public Schools (BPS). This goal drives every aspect of the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR), a district-based program for teacher training and…

The overarching goal of the "Supporting Best Practices in Student Success Project" is to create, enhance, or expand successful programs that are replicable and can be scaled to greatly improve the percentage of underserved students who complete postsecondary education. In doing so, National College Access Network (NCAN) aimed to build…

Children with activity limitations are often referred to as having special needs, or being disabled or differently-abled. This simply means that they are unable to participate fully in age-appropriate activities because of chronic physical, mental, emotional or behavioral conditions. This brief examines the role of afterschool programs in…

Educators as well as noneducators often question the value of family involvement. Does it really make a difference? According to the research, the answer is yes. Sometimes, results come in more traditional measures--student achievement, attendance, or behavior. Unfortunately, efforts to increase meaningful family engagement in school are often set…

There are an increasing number of students with learning disabilities attending college. Several factors and programs have been suggested as helpful to the success of students with learning disabilities in the college setting. One of the factors which has been suggested to be helpful is attendance at a two year or junior college. Little research…

As a teacher who loves to bring botany into her preschool classroom of 4- and 5-year-olds, the author makes edible plants a regular, popular feature of her students' environment. The author is fascinated when her students become increasingly adventurous in their tastes for vegetables the more they handle and understand plants. The author decided…

Ongoing, strategic family-school partnering (FSP) is an essential component of every educational community. FSP is a multi-dimensional process in which schools, families, and communities engage in shared actions to ensure a child's academic, social, and emotional success. With this text, the authors intend to offer a practical guide that…

The author brings her counseling expertise, personal experience, and compassionate perspective to this practical resource that cultivates "cultural competence"--essential for work with diverse populations. Expanding the definition of culture, this book addresses how biases have evolved in new and challenging ways, and provides strategies to help…

Because schools are the heart and soul of a community, educational leaders have a responsibility to bring the community into the school, as well as to make the school a part of the surrounding community. This volume in the "Soul of Educational Leadership" series goes beyond administrative skills to examine educators' pivotal role of leading family…

Background: Service learning can enrich students' knowledge, skills and commitment to occupational goals while positively affecting communities. Undergraduate students in a course on obesity engaged in service learning by assisting with a family-based obesity prevention program, Getting Into Fitness Together (GIFT). Purpose: The impact of GIFT on…

This qualitative study provides information on the concerns faced by parents having children with Down syndrome in a centre-based Early Intervention Programme in Malaysia and how they coped with these concerns. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of five parents and two special educators. The interview and observation findings…