The Family Backpack Project provided 249 low-income, prekindergarten children and their families with opportunities to read and listen to audio recordings of 3 sets of books in their homes. Families received English or dual-language texts (English plus Spanish, Arabic, Kurdish, or Somali) matched to their home languages. Children and their…

This article, the second in a two-part series, provides an overview of the literature regarding first-generation college students (FGCS), which has been largely based on studies of students in public universities. The author shares outcomes from structured dialogues with FGCS attending Christian universities. The students described how their…

Improving early literacy is essential to increasing high school graduation rates allowing students to be successful in postsecondary education and ensuring the prosperity of all Americans, according to a report released by the National Governors Association (NGA). "A Governor's Guide to Early Literacy: Getting all Students Reading by Third…

This report presents data on students in the United States attending kindergarten through grade 12. The main focus of the report is on parent and family involvement in the students' education during the 2011-12 school year as reported by the students' parents. It also includes the percentage of students who participated in family activities, as…

The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), signed on December 3, 2004, required that, not later than one year after the date of enactment of the reauthorized IDEA, each state is required to have in place a performance plan evaluating the state's implementation of Part B and describing how the state will improve such…

The International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) is the largest international study of civic and citizenship education ever conducted. Over 140,000 Grade 8 students, 62,000 teachers, and 5,300 school principals from 38 countries participated in this study. Among these were five from Asia, 26 from Europe, six from Latin America, and…

The significance of parental involvement in their children's education, according to literature, is unquestionable. In this study the author examined the correlation between student achievement and parental involvement in public education in grade levels two through twelve. The following research will present varied aspects of obstacles that…

This research examined the role of mothers' incremental versus entity ability mindsets in the quality of their involvement in children's learning. Mothers (N = 81) of early elementary school children (mean age = 7.65 years) were given either an incremental or entity mindset. Mothers' unconstructive (i.e., performance-oriented teaching, control,…

In the past few decades there has been an increasing interest in the role of fathers within families and a growing understanding of the substantial benefits to children, as well as mothers, of their involvement. This briefing focuses on the experiences of fathers who have children with learning disabilities and the approaches that could make it…

This article proposes Hackman and Oldham's (1980) model of work group design to structure parent groups for involvement in school activities and decision making. Parent interviews from three studies of parental involvement provide examples to support this proposal. Participants in these studies described experiences working in groups. Parents'…

Three types of parent involvement--communicating, volunteering at school, and learning at home--were explored in two cultures within the United States. Immigrant Chinese parents and European American parents of young children reflect their different traditions in the ways they involve themselves in their child's academic life. European American…

In the author's early days of school librarianship, it did not take long for him to realize that this was not the time to first think of how to involve parents in support of his selections for the library. A lot of good advice exists that suggests ways for parents to be involved that will help support intellectual freedom, as well as lessons…

Preschool and kindergarten classes in the United States are entering a time of unprecedented diversity and demographic transformation. Teachers must plan and implement a curriculum that reflects, supports, and values the varieties of cultural backgrounds, religious affiliations, socioeconomic classes, and language groups that children represent.…

This article assesses the longitudinal effects of risk and resilience on unmarried nonresident fathers' engagement with children across the first 3 years of their lives. The authors used a subsample of 549 men from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study who were unmarried and noncohabiting at the time of the child's birth. They found not…

Using a sample of biological resident fathers and their children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) 9- and 24-month surveys (N = 5,300), this study examines associations and the direct and indirect pathways through which men's pregnancy intentions influence toddlers' mental proficiency and attachment security.…