Examines the design and execution of parent orientation programs in higher education that meet the needs and expectations of today's diverse families. Includes a variety of examples from institutions that have developed effective programs that complement their institutional missions. (GCP)

The Parental Bonding Instrument was used to examine the relationship between parenting styles and the psychological distress and offending patterns of a group of young male offenders in Scotland. High levels of psychological distress were linked with low parental care, but there was no association between psychological distress and parental…

Study of high school, family, and community partnerships is based on reports from 11,000 high school parents and 1,000 high school principals. Findings revealed that regardless of students' background and prior achievement, various parenting, volunteering, and home-learning activities positively influenced student grades, course credits completed,…

The current study explores the relationship between perceived teacher efficacy and specific practices of family involvement exhibited by 110 elementary school teachers from a large urban school district. Bandura's construct of self-efficacy provided the theoretical framework for examining teacher efficacy. The study investigated the predictive…

Research and clinical experience both indicate that parents are excellent observers of communication in their children who rely on augmentative and alternative communication. However, parents and professionals may find themselves in conflict about how to interpret and support children's communication. This article outlines strategies for…

This article identifies themes of continuity and change related to the well-being and development of infants and toddlers. The author describes several particularly striking changes over the last 25 years of research and practice in early childhood development. (1) The infant-family field has grown in many professions from a marginal area to a…

The National Academy of Education, Commission on Reading, emphasized that the best way to make children successful readers is to read aloud to them. This can be difficult for teachers and parents of deaf children. This article describes a program called Family Fun Night created by the Capital Area Intermediate Unit (CAIU) in Summerdale,…

Working with families is one of the most important aspects of being an early childhood professional, yet it is an area in which many educators have received little preparation (Nieto 2004). Teachers spend hours learning about child development, developmentally appropriate practices, health and safety, playgrounds, and play. At times it seems that…

Parents and families who are homeless need positive communication experiences with early childhood programs. This article provides several examples of ways to connect with families who are homeless and to meet their needs through continuous communication. Staff development ideas, parent and family involvement, and school-community support…

Positive behavior support (PBS) offers schools a structured approach to address children's behavior from the individual level to the schoolwide level. Professionals are encouraged to include all relevant stakeholders, especially families, in actively planning, implementing, and evaluating the supports provided (Carr et al., 2002). However,…

Home-school partnership is one of the important contributors to every child's learning. The changing demographics of the United States present an urgent need for home-school partnership with culturally diverse families. Traditional family involvement practices are challenged when working with multicultural families. The authors propose an…

This study described and compared the reading of sixth and eighth grade students both in and out of school using a unique data set collected with the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). On average, students read forty minutes a day out of class and seventeen minutes a day in class indicating that reading is a common leisure practice for…

Quality early childhood programs produce beneficial outcomes for children and the community in which they live. The Colorado Preschool and Kindergarten Program (CPKP) provides funding to establish early childhood education programs that serve preschool and kindergarten children with the toughest educational challenges. Over the last eighteen…

This book brings together the wisdom and experience from over 50 schools that have been categorized as "high performing, high minority, high poverty." It shows the reader how the leaders of those schools succeeded--in their own words. The book shows how one can be a turnaround specialist. Included are actual examples and real life stories which…

Three social contexts--family, neighborhood youth centers, and peer relationships--were examined in relation to several measures of adjustment among 1,406 mostly minority, inner-city adolescents. Family and center involvement were directly related to 3 of the 4 adjustment measures (i.e., achievement orientation, emotion regulation, attitudes…