Collaborations and partnerships among schools and community members have been described as a way to provide better educational opportunities for students. Such school-community partnerships have been described as relationships that involve exchange and engagement with mutually defined goals benefiting all participants. However, the process of…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has become a policy priority in many countries. A growing body of research recognises that it provides a wide range of benefits, including social and economic benefits, better child well-being and learning outcomes as a foundation for lifelong learning, more equitable outcomes and reduction of poverty, and…

In a nation where 42 percent of children live in low-income families, too many schools face the challenge of teaching students burdened with unmet needs that pose obstacles to learning. Community schools that align schools and community resources are a promising strategy for improving student outcomes by providing wraparound services that meet the…

Home visiting is a common method of providing early intervention services to families. The reason home visitors in early intervention programs begin working with a young child and his or her family is usually because the child has a developmental delay, diagnosed disability, or is at risk for developing a delay. It seems reasonable for a home…

As the number of students in schools receiving special education services rises, the need for advocacy for these students increases as well. Because school counselors already possess specialized training beneficial to all stakeholders in the special education process, the potential for school counselors' role in the Individualized Education Plan…

Students of color, students with language differences, and students with disabilities tend to get caught up in marginalizing institutional practices that continue uninterrupted in school communities where an anemic sense of membership is informed by technical literacy rather than moral literacy. In these schools, administrators, teachers,…

Evidence from over four decades of research affirms that family involvement in a child's learning is one of the strongest predictors of social, emotional, and academic development; however, Euro-American, middle-class families tend to be more involved in schools than minority and low-income families. A major factor influencing family involvement…

The national strategies of drug abuse prevention across Europe have come to recognise that the drug abuse problem presents a complex set of issues of which there is no simple solution. There is a considerable increase in investment in prevention, treatment and harm-reduction activities and increased focus on supply reduction. School settings are…

A lot has been learned about effective approaches to realizing intended out-of-school time program outcomes. As program practitioners consider fostering evidence-based practices, program administrators, staff, and stakeholders must keep in mind that it is difficult to change behavior overnight, even among children. Efforts to improve outcomes for…

Throughout history, parents have sought to find the ideal school environment for their children in various educational settings, including public school alternatives. African-American parents in particular have been utilizing private school options for more than 150 years, having been denied the right to a free, equal, public education. School…

This qualitative study examines the experiences of family members who participated as Family Faculty in the Families as Faculty program. All of these family members were primary caregivers for students with disabilities. Families as Faculty is a part of some of the teacher preparation programs at universities in New Mexico. Three research…

Residential programs for children and youth are increasingly implementing engagement strategies to promote family-centered and family-driven models of care (Leichtman, 2008). The practice of engagement is a fairly new area of research, especially in residential care. Driven by their goal to increase the use of state-of-the-art family engagement…

The New Zealand Ministry of Education's early childhood curriculum policy is built on a framework called "Te Whariki." This framework provides a sociocultural context for children's early learning and emphasizes a learning partnership between teachers, parents, families, and community. Besides interpersonal relationships, Te Whariki…

The two most influential environments in which young children develop are their homes and their early childhood education programs. In 2005, 60 percent of all U.S. children under age 6 spent some time in the care of persons other than their parents, including 62 percent of White children, 69 percent of Black children, and 49 percent of Hispanic…

This research entailed an ethnographic study that sought assets and resources to enrich pre-school learning in a community challenged by poverty. The aim of this research was to identify personal and environmental assets that could be used to enrich pre-school learning within this context--instead of focusing on needs and deficiencies. The assets…