This study examines blending of classroom- and family-based supports within a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS). The present study focuses on a sample of Head Start children who are both experiencing poverty and scoring below early language and literacy screening benchmarks. This study begins to explore which combination of resources are the…

The William Penn Foundation launched Philadelphia's Informal Learning Initiative (ILI) to support the development of literacy-rich programming for families with children aged 3 to 9. The initiative was designed as a network of partnerships in which a cultural organization--usually a museum--paired with one or more, community-based organizations…

Teachers are essential partners in addressing the needs of English learners (ELs), yet most professional development fails to mention the specific needs of such students who have experienced trauma and exhibit signs of toxic and post-traumatic stress. Such students are not readily identified and even so, are often hesitant to seek the professional…

The landscape of early childhood programs has evolved as a largely fractured landscape: most public early education programs such as Head Start and state pre-K have been limited to low-income children or children with identified risk factors, and most private programs charge tuition that is too low to support a well-compensated workforce but still…

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. intimated in his speech in the National Cathedral (March 31, 1968), there is sense of moving towards--of journeying--rather than arriving in the context of justice (and, I would add, equity, diversity, and inclusion). We who embark on this journey are incomplete--not fully formed, despite our amazing competence in so…

Fifty years ago, the existence of a dedicated parent/ family relations office at a college or university was a rare thing. Parents were not considered as involved a constituency as students, faculty, staff, or alumni. Freestanding parent and family relations offices are a relatively recent development. Many institutions have been working…

Karen L. Mapp--former Deputy Superintendent for Family and Community Engagement for Boston's schools and noted researcher and author on how schools can partner with families--talks with "EL" editor Naomi Thiers on the need to approach engaging family caregivers in students' learning in a new way, starting with emphasizing active…

The work of school leaders is critical in this era, and there is heightened attention on the roles of the leaders as linked to student achievement and school improvement; school culture and climate; and the variables that impact achievement, improvement, culture and climate. The demands on school leaders have significantly changed. About a decade…

Male minority students with disabilities drop out at higher rates than their white peers. Approximately 33% of American Indian or Alaskan Native, 19% of Asian or Pacific Islander, 32% of African-American, and 27% of Latino students with disabilities dropped out compared to 15.5% of White students with a disability (Grady & Bost, 2014).…

This 2-page brief presents 8 new directions drawn from the authors' report "Reflections on the Ready To Learn Initiative, 2010 to 2015" that educational media producers can take to better foster all children's school readiness and success. Since 2006, EDC and SRI have worked together on a series of efficacy studies and evaluations of…

More than 50 years of research indicate that family engagement plays a critical role in supporting children's learning, encouraging grit, determination, and will to succeed. Moreover, findings show that when families are involved, children improve in a range of areas: better grades, higher scores on achievement tests, lower drop-out rates, regular…

We designed this study with the aim to examine teachers' culturally relevant and sustaining education self-efficacy perceptions in Turkey. For this purpose, we developed a Culturally Relevant/Sustaining Education Self-Efficacy Scale. We obtained the data from 1302 teachers. Data analysis proceeded in three steps: First, we analyzed factor…

Utilizing a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design, this study investigated the impacts of the participation in a First-Year Seminar (FYS) course on student learning attitudes and behaviors. Using the sample of 1,231 freshmen students in a large, public, research university in the Southeast, the study examined if FYS participation…

Intervention to raise the literacy achievement of disadvantaged groups in society has focused on preschool literacy development because it is predictive of later educational achievement and because research has shown that key strands of literacy emerge very early in childhood. Intervention programmes to promote emergent literacy are likely to be…

Today in many countries, teachers working with children with refugee status are seeking ways to practice inclusive family engagement. In our two-year-long project, we worked with early childhood teachers serving refugee students in public schools in Turkey, which hosts the world's highest number of child refugees. Our project focused on creating…