While the research is clear that family involvement fosters student achievement, it does not clearly describe what family involvement looks like in practice. The authors of this booklet interviewed parents and other family members, teachers, and administrators at four elementary schools and two secondary schools in Oregon and Montana that are…

This took kit is part of a national campaign to help parents get more closely involved in their children's education. The campaign, "Success in School Equals Success in Life," asserts that all parents have the right to free, high quality education for their children regardless of race, gender, national origin, or disability status; all parents…

Recognizing that families have played an essential role in the Head Start philosophy since the program's inception, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is an effort to develop a descriptive profile of families participating in the Head Start program and services, as well as to develop, test, and refine Program Performance…

This study investigated whether Mississippi's Parents as Teachers (PAT) program was advancing parent involvement in children's learning at home and when children entered formal schooling. It focused on whether there were differences in frequency of school participation and in levels of engagement in home learning activities between parents who had…

This CD-ROM contains nine Web documentaries that range from approximately 4 minutes to nearly 10 minutes running time. They include: "A Video Primer" (an introduction to the George Lucas Educational Foundation); "Handhelds" (how personal digital assistants are helping students and teachers connect); "Journey North"…

The Region XI Migrant Education Program, Pajaro Valley Unified School District (Watsonville, CA) serves approximately 6,300 students during the regular school year and 4,400 students during the summer. Virtually all students are Hispanics, and 47 percent are currently migrant. As a group, these students have at least three characteristics that put…

The purposes of this project were to prepare students in rural and remote regions to receive Utah's birth-to-five preschool special education certificate and to enhance the quality of their preparation. The project proposed to: (1) support preparation for certification of at least 50 students who were residents of and serving preschoolers in rural…

One of the assumptions of the debate over parental choice is that private schools are more effective than public ones. This paper reviews the available evidence that religious schools in Europe are more effective. Available studies compare outcomes of public and religious schools in Flemish Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and…

Noting that one of the most challenging tasks educators face in improving parent involvement, particularly among parents of English as a Second Language (ESL) students, this paper describes categories of parent involvement, examines several barriers to parent involvement, and offers suggestions for improving parent involvement. Suggestions for…

The purpose of the Johnson O'Malley Act (JOM) is to provide financial assistance to meet the unique and specialized needs of Indian children attending public schools. This booklet briefly describes the history of the act, how it works (funding and requirements), the involvement of the local Indian Education Committee, the Education Plan,…

The Indian Education Formula Grant Program promotes high-quality student content and performance standards and strategies that build on Indian cultures and native languages. The purpose of the program is to support local education agencies in their efforts to provide Indian students the opportunity to achieve these high standards and meet the…

School counselors agree that for school counseling programs to be successful, parent participation is essential. Involving parents in designing a school counseling program increases the chances that the counseling objectives will be reinforced at home. One effective strategy used by the Dorchester School District in South Carolina is conducting a…

This brochure, written in Spanish, for Spanish-speaking parents of gifted adolescents discusses strategies to use to support the interests of their children and how to recognize and extend their children's talents. Parents are urged to: (1) increase their knowledge about the child's areas of interest; (2) discuss the child's present and future…

This study examined reasons for the success of eight high-performing California elementary schools with high numbers of impoverished students. Interviews with principal focused on teaching methods, curriculum, content standards, test scores, teacher professional development, safety, discipline, local decision making, parent involvement, emergency…

Although the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has provided strong incentives to improve student achievement, many schools do not have the resources needed to help their students succeed. This paper, the second in the "Community Schools in Illinois" series, addresses the role of school-family partnerships to improve the educational…