Despite the copious research available on science learning, little is known about ways in which the public engages in free-choice science learning and even fewer studies have focused on how families engage in science to learn about the world around them. The same was true about studies of literacy development in the home until the 1980s when…

Research suggests that first-generation college students are less likely than their non-first-generation peers to persist to graduation. Impediments to persistence in college education include a lack of knowledge regarding navigating the college system, obstacles with the campus environment, inadequate academic preparation, and lack of family…

Background: The "ITINERIS scale on the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities" (ISRPID) was developed to measure the extent to which people with intellectual disabilities (ID) exercise their rights. Method: The ISRPID was produced through a virtual Delphi group with 37 professionals and relatives of people with ID from four…

This focus group study explored the potential benefits and challenges of involving family members and significant others in a healthy lifestyle program for people with serious mental illness (SMI). Six focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 30 people with SMI, who were participants in a healthy lifestyle intervention. Separate focus…

Parental school involvement and satisfaction are unstudied in families raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To fill this gap, the current study utilized a national sample of families (N = 8,978) from the 2007 Parent and Family Involvement in Education survey (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education…

Objective: To ascertain infant feeding practices and to explore the feasibility of an in-home feeding intervention with Native American Indian (NAI) mothers in six Native American communities in the United States (US). Design: Qualitative focus group study. Setting: Six Native American communities in the Midwest region of the United States.…

Children's home and school are the most influential contexts in which learning and development occur, especially during early childhood. This paper builds on Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory and Epstein's theory of overlapping spheres of influence to examine school and family connections and their relationships to family involvement and…

For thousands of parents of children with delays or disabilities, early intervention (EI) is the start of a lifetime of personal advocacy--learning to speak up on behalf of their own child to obtain the supports and educational experiences that establish future success in school and in life. Facing severe cuts in budgets, narrowing of eligibility…

This report presents data on students in the United States attending kindergarten through grade 12. The main focus of the report is on parent and family involvement in the students' education during the 2011-12 school year as reported by the students' parents. It also includes the percentage of students who participated in selected family…

Two groups of teacher candidates completed a survey based on the Parent Teacher Association's National Standards for Family-School Partnerships at the start and end of the semester of a general methods course and corresponding fieldwork (practicum) experience. One group of participants (N[subscript "S"] = 60) completed their clinical…

The effectiveness of dual-language book reading in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms is largely uncontested. Yet there are repeated calls for more research to determine how this resource can be used more broadly and effectively by teachers, especially in emergent-literacy learning contexts. In the present study we analysed…

The purpose of this study was to determine how factors such as demographics, leadership skills, intrinsic motivation and attitudes, and life experiences contribute to the success of minority academic leaders in the American higher education system. A qualitative research method, using the phenomenological approach was selected for this research.…

For their 61st annual conference, the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) met in St. Petersburg, Florida. This year's conference theme was "Engaging All Readers through Explorations of Literacy, Language, and Culture," which was also used as the title for this year's "Yearbook." This "Yearbook"…

Each year, Austin Independent School District Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) staff develop a plan of work to describe the scope of work for the coming year. The plans that make up this document identify programs to be evaluated and services to be provided by DRE staff and provide the blueprints for evaluation that staff will follow…

Background: While end-of-life decisions in the general population have received attention in several countries, not much is known about this in people with intellectual disabilities (IDs). Therefore, the prevalence and nature of end-of-life decisions were investigated in a Dutch centre providing residential care for 335 people with IDs. Method: A…