To increase the reading achievement of a group of first grade students expected to experience reading difficulties during their first grade year, a practicum study involved the collaboration of a school psychologist with teachers, parents, and fifth graders (in cross age tutoring) to provide services emphasizing holistic, literature-based…

This document describes a practicum designed to increase elementary school parents' implementation of academic and/or social skills recommendations from a school psychologist who performed psychoeducational evaluations. It notes that, when students were referred to the school psychologist, the psychologist would perform an evaluation, interpret…

This guide describes program elements considered essential to any successful collaboration between families and schools. Initial contents offer a brief discussion of the basic types of parent involvement and the benefits of and barriers to effective parent involvement programs. The guide then focuses on ways to insure that necessary program…

This booklet was developed to assist agencies and groups in developing effective programs for single parents in rural areas. Most of the concepts also apply to urban and suburban settings, but rural parents carry the extra burden of great distances and geographic and social isolation. The handbook is organized in six sections. The first section…

In September 1985, the Prince George's County Public School System located in the Washington metropolitan area east of the District of Columbia, began implementation of a Milliken relief program to revamp its equity strategy. Initially, 10 of 117 elementary schools in the system were targeted for relief, but by September 1988, the Milliken program…

This study investigated factors that play a role in the fading effects of prekindergarten programs for economically disadvantaged children. The school adjustment of 1,284 low-income, minority children in prekindergarten and kindergarten programs funded by the government (i.e., Child Parent Center; Head Start) was traced through the third year of…

An experienced art teacher working with students in grades two through six implemented and evaluated a practicum intervention designed to improve the self-images of male black students, their academic accomplishments, and their feelings of pride in their school. Five actions were taken to attain the objective: (1) cultural materials produced by…

The involvement of 61 at-risk parents in a teacher-parent partnership project which was implemented among families of kindergarteners and first graders in three poor, rural school districts in South Carolina was assessed. Core questions were: (1) What are the parents' participation levels and patterns of home and school learning? (2) What is the…

The purpose of this practicum was to develop a program to increase high school juniors' and seniors' academic achievement by one grade level, their self-esteem by one level (as measured by the North York Secondary School Self-Concept Inventory), and to increase parent positive responses and interest in the program and its continuation. Examination…

The need to provide elementary school teachers with effective parent involvement strategies for hard-to-reach parents was addressed by designing an inservice for teachers which presented research-based strategies. Strategies included using a positive, non-threatening approach, employing personal, two-way communication, providing guidance and…

Over 12 million dollars was allocated to Delaware during the 1986/87 school year to fund compensatory education programs for educationally disadvantaged students under Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act. Chapter 1 supplemental services are targeted at low-income children; the children of migrant workers; and handicapped,…

Based on the results of a survey of administrators of exceptional student education, a Florida task force examined methods for increasing the involvement of minority parents in the education of their exceptional children and for providing outreach to parents who are isolated. The report centers on parents of exceptional students who are from low…

This paper, by the President of the Detroit Board of Education, discusses aspects of the school choice issue, providing examples from recent developments in the Detroit (Michigan) public school system. The paper argues that freedom of choice in an educational context is a critical right of parents, and that schools of choice offer the best…

Parental choice is seen as a promising approach to school improvement. This report supports choice by suggesting answers to the following questions that reformers might ask: (1) is school performance poor enough to justify wholesale change? (2) what have schools done about troubling trends in student performance? (3) what do other researchers say…

A study was conducted to address the problem of all students not learning to read in the same manner when the instruction was limited to only one approach, that of the basal reader with its phonics emphasis. The Reading Style Inventory, the Swassing-Barbe Modality Index, and the Bradway Quick Check were administered to the students attending the…