Despite the problems facing Catholic schools today, many parents feel that these schools can be preserved and even strengthened if Church leaders will accept parents as real partners in education, and if parents will accept this challenge. Describes an attempt at this partnership in New York State. (Author/RK)

Describes how a parent evaluation of a school program came about, how it operated, and what was achieved by it. (IRT)

Reflections on what is and is not popular knowledge about education, including widespread misinformation about open education, testing, and nonschool influences on students. (IRT)

Successful educational programs depend on strong involvement of parents. (Author)

Examines programs for babies, i.e., children under two years of age, that are offered by public libraries. Highlights include separate storytimes; inclusion in family or older children's storytimes; welcome packets for parents of newborns; and the benefits of bringing children and parents into the library. (LRW)

A strong home-school connection is crucial for students' success, and honest, open dialog during parent-teacher conferences can play an important role in strengthening this connection. This article presents research findings on parent-teacher relationships and practical suggestions for improving parent-teacher conferences. (EV)

Describes and evaluates the IMPACT Project, a British curriculum-based scheme to involve parents in their children's mathematics instruction. Unlike regular homework, IMPACT activities must be shared, require parents to support their child's learning, and enable teachers to integrate home results into classroom instruction. Parent participation is…

Examines parent and teacher roles in elementary science instruction. Advocates involving parents as part of the community of learners in elementary science and mathematics education because they are critically important to the overall quality of education. Parent recommendations included receiving specific information from teachers through…

Outlines a working definition of school community, traces connections between definitional components of community and children's learning, and suggests ways to measure school community components to establish a school-improvement indicator. Results of a parent/teacher survey explore community components such as shared educational values,…

Analyzes public school bureaucracy and ways to reform institutions into learning communities that value shared knowledge and learning experiences. Describes how a bureaucratic organizational structure impairs learning. Proposes the "learning organization" in which adults learn alongside students, planning is decentralized, families are…

Contains an annotated bibliography of literature that addresses understanding the family-learning process. The material relates to the definition of family, why families visit museums, how they behave in museums, how they learn in museums, and how this type of learning is measured. Contains 39 references. (DDR)

Reflects on John Ogbu's explanations for the wide academic achievement gap between black and white students, explaining Ogbu's view that black students' poor performance reflects their incorporation of the beliefs of white society and their subsequent academic self-doubt leads to self-elimination. Notes the importance of telling black children…

Study examined the effects of different aspects of parenting, father absence, and affiliation with delinquent peers on delinquent behavior in a cohort of Black male adolescents. Study suggests that Black male adolescents are less likely to engage in delinquent behavior if they are closely monitored and supervised by their parents. (Contains 38…

Offers 10 suggestions for parents to support their children's teachers, including: create a smooth takeoff each day; fill the child's lunchbox with healthy snacks and lunches; include calm, peaceful times in the child's afternoons and evenings; fill the child's life with a love for learning by showing off one's own curiosity and respecting the…

Examines the effect of parental attachment and supervision on fear of crime among adolescent males. The results indicate that boys who are most attached to their parents are less fearful of criminal victimization and feel safer in their environment. Additionally, those boys whose parents supervise them closely are more fearful of criminal…