Straight Talk about Risks (STAR) is a pre-kindergarten through grade 12 curriculum designed to reduce the potential for children and teens to be injured or killed in gunfire. STAR is based on sound prevention practices developed from a pilot project in Dade County (Florida). The flexible format allows activities to fit into a 3-week classroom unit…

Over a decade ago, the Minnesota state legislature funded the Council on Quality Education to create nine exemplary and experimental pilot programs to support young children and their families. One of the early models was a family-oriented, structured preschool activity that featured weekly 2-hour sessions during which parents of 4-year-olds…

This book reports on a study of the urban poor in New York City focusing on the effectiveness of a model of service for this population. The project studied 160 families who were clients of the Lower East Side Family Union, an agency that aims to prevent foster care placement and to help clients mobilize their own coping capacities and to make…

A qualitative method for assessing the cognitive and linguistic development of bilingual children is presented, and its underlying model is discussed. The model views language learning as a concept formation process in three domains: cognitive; cultural; and linguistic. This method has been found useful in accurately differentiating genuine…

This publication reflects the philosophy and support of the Bernard van Leer Foundation for early childhood care and development. It highlights different approaches to early childhood care and development and explains why the foundation believes that investing in early childhood is one of the best ways of building a brighter, better future. The…

Kindergarten Plus, a program for disabled and non-disabled kindergarten students in an integrated classroom setting, was implemented in 5 New York City classrooms serving 99 kindergartners. The program's implementation and student outcomes were evaluated at the end of the first year. Classroom observation and staff interviews revealed that the…

This study finds that the New York City version of school-based decision making, School-Based Management/Shared Decision Making (SBM/SDM), fails to bring school-based management or shared decision making to the schools. This report begins by describing the seriously dysfunctional structure of the New York City public schools and explains the…

This manual is a resource book for organizers and leaders and parent groups who want to explore specific strategies to use in motivating children to become better learners. The guide contains material necessary to conduct a 1- or 1.5-hour session on motivational techniques that parents can use at home with children. The guide includes: (1) a…

This manual is a resource book for organizers and leaders and parent groups who want to explore specific strategies to use in helping children with home learning. The guide contains material necessary to conduct a 1- or 1.5-hour session on how parents can encourage and support children's efforts toward home learning. The guide includes: (1) a…

This manual is a resource book for organizers and leaders and parent groups who want to explore specific strategies to use in helping children become more disciplined learners. The guide contains material necessary to conduct a 1- or 1.5-hour session on how parents can encourage children's self-discipline. The guide includes: (1) a leader's guide…

This manual is a resource book for organizers and leaders and parent groups who want to explore specific strategies to use to encourage children to view math as a "user-friendly" subject. The guide contains material necessary to conduct a 1- or 1.5-hour session to help parents see the importance of: showing their children how problem-solving math…

These four issues of the English Leadership Quarterly represent those published during 1993. Articles in number 1 deal with parent involvement and participation, and include: "Opening the Doors to Open House" (Jolene A. Borgese); "Parent/Teacher Conferences: Avoiding the Collision Course" (Robert Perrin); "Expanding Human…

This report describes the development, introduction, and evaluation of the SuperStart comprehensive prekindergarten program adopted by the New York City Public Schools in 1990. By 1991, SuperStart offered 299 classes in 188 schools, providing a developmentally appropriate learning environment to foster cognitive, social, emotional, and physical…

The Wisdom Is Now (Project WIN) was designed to increase student English proficiency, native language proficiency, and academic achievement, increase parent involvement, and encourage staff development at the High School for the Humanities and the School of Fashion industries in New York City. It served a total of 349 students of limited English…

This paper examines the development, implementation, and evaluation of the LAP Reading Program. The program sought to provide low-income, inner-city kindergarten children with "lap reading" experiences (having adults read aloud to them) to increase their interest in and knowledge of books and reading. The 10-week program initially contained 25…