A K-8 school owned and operated by the Minneapolis-based Tesseract Group (formerly Educational Alternatives, Inc.) has partnered teachers and parents in decisions concerning curriculum and instructional strategies. Class enrollment is capped at 24, and two state-licensed teachers work in each classroom to help students complete projects for…

Thumbnail sketches of four schools in Edmonds School District (Washington) illustrate ways they have built strong parent and community relationships: parent volunteers in a parent-cooperative school; a family-oriented neighborhood school; a school offering school-based health and social services; and a Cyberschool that provides resources to…

Four family process factors (parental expectations, parental interest, parental involvement, and family communication) were assessed for their impact on grades and achievement test scores of 300 students in sixth and seventh grades in a longitudinal study. The most influential was parental expectation of students' capabilities in specific…

Reports on the views of 18 educational leaders regarding their vision on the future of education in an information age. Topics include people's diverse needs; relationships between morality, ethics, values, and technology; leadership; parental involvement; online courses from multiple higher education institutions; teachers' role; technology…

With the 1996 defeat of the Communications Decency Act, under which providing offensive material on computer systems accessible to children would have become a felony, no legal guidelines exist for library use of the Internet. Libraries can avoid becoming the center of an Internet controversy by encouraging parental involvement; by protecting…

A long-standing challenge for special education personnel is how to appropriately involve Spanish-dominant migrant parents in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process, especially in rural agriculturally based school districts. Twelve recommendations for the IEP process are presented related to parent rights, parent orientation to school…

Provides World Wide Web site descriptions and addresses for additional information related to the following six feature articles: (1) "Artful Ideas for Middle School Teachers"; (2) "A Classy Club for Kids & Parents, Too"; (3) "Motivational Fortune Cookies"; (4) "Visual Art with At-Risk Kids"; (5) "Teaching Writing: 10 Use-Right-Now Ideas"; and (6)…

Addresses moral and ethical dilemmas related to parent involvement in schools. Suggests that school administrators can build effective partnerships by fostering trust and mutual respect between teachers and parents; reeducating parents, teachers, and administrators about their roles in educating children; and ensuring that partnerships are based…

Evaluating children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in order to facilitate their transition to school is reviewed. A process-oriented approach to assessing TBI children during rehabilitation is suggested. The major areas of functioning important to school reentry are discussed. The need for families and professionals to communicate about the…

A survey of 397 parents of infants and toddlers with disabilities and 226 early intervention service coordinators (SCs) was conducted to identify necessary factors for successful SC-parent collaboration. Surveys indicated that interpersonal skills were critical for successful collaboration. A microcounseling model involving behavioral consultation…

The Road to Readiness component of the Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children's Learning focused on individual, family, and community supports and obstacles to school readiness. Several projects of the initiative are described, focusing on a chart developed to help parents encourage a child's early speech. (SLD)

School leaders are expected to transcend the confines of conventional instruction and implement effective measures to serve the growing population of language-minority students. Understanding students' backgrounds and needs for belonging, health care, and educational success is essential. Strategies for learning, avoiding stereotypes, and…

This article discusses in-service training of Swedish professionals in family-centered intervention for families with children with disabilities. The training, which has been implemented on an interdisciplinary team basis in the context of ordinary habilitation services, is described as one of several options for fostering improvement within an…

Describes two action research ethnographic studies that show different sides of a community-centered model of literacy among young children. One examined the storytelling and story reading practices low-income African American parents used with their young children. The other involved encouraging community participation by having parents share…

Describes how two rural Colorado communities, threatened by the loss of their elementary schools, established a charter school based in two existing facilities. Discusses the benefits of local autonomy, the value of networking with other rural charter schools, the role of the community in school innovations, and emphases on staff development and…