According to the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110), commonly referred to as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, Title I schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years are required to develop or revise school improvement plans aimed at boosting student achievement.…

Traditional and current parental involvement programs can be challenging, debilitating and disenfranchising for African American and Latino school-parents. This qualitative study explores the issue of parental involvement, engagement and empowerment for African American and Latino parents. It provides an overview of hegemonic underpinnings,…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational explanatory research study was to identify the relationship between lower-achieving children's standardized test scores and the low level of parental involvement in their children's education and to determine whether these variables are associated in students attending a small urban middle school…

Communication between home and school is good for kids. Keeping families up-to-date about upcoming events is important, but it's not enough to fully engage parents as partners. When schools and families really work together, that sets the stage for all kinds of benefits. The National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education reports that…

This article presents an interview with Juan Sepulveda. Sepulveda was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to the position of Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics on May 19, 2009. In this capacity, Sepulveda is responsible for directing the efforts of the White House Initiative in…

Demographic and psychological predictors of parent involvement with their children's science education both at home and at school were examined during high school. Associations between both types of parent involvement and numerous academic outcomes were tested. Data were collected from 244 high school students in 12 different science classrooms…

Wouldn't it be great if a school's administrators and teachers could sit down with parents and exchange ideas about what part each might play in supporting students' learning--especially in schools with at-risk students? Henderson, Carson, Avallone, and Whipple describe how they helped three elementary schools in Connecticut do just that, through…

There is broad conceptual consensus that the effectiveness and efficiency of early childhood intervention (ECI) for vulnerable children is correlated with the active involvement and full participation of parents. This requires a general understanding of each family's needs and desires and specific strategies for determining what each family needs…

The value of parental participation is widely accepted, but participation is difficult to promote and maintain. Schools are becoming more diverse, and a great challenge facing educators is meeting the needs of all students. Closing the achievement gap and increasing student learning requires the collaboration of various interested groups, most…

Parental involvement in education is a key focus of current policies and programs aimed at improving the academic outcomes of students at risk for academic underachievement. This study examines six forms of parental involvement in education to determine which forms of involvement have the strongest relationships with youths' academic outcomes.…

Using a sample drawn from Taiwan, this study evaluated the role of mother and father involvement in adolescent academic achievement. The participants were drawn from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS) and consisted of 8,108 adolescents who studied seventh grade in 2001. Father and mother involvement related to academic achievement was…

The development of early literacy skills is critical to children's later success in reading and reading-related activities; therefore, understanding how teachers can support early literacy development is equally important. In this article, the authors provide information on how early childhood teachers can use specific strategies and techniques as…

Parents of children with autism have played a prominent role in controversies surrounding this condition. Parental voices were critical in challenging the "refrigerator mother" theory and more recently have attracted public attention for claims that autism may be caused by childhood vaccinations and that "unorthodox biomedical" treatments may…

This pilot feasibility study provided a preliminary test of a community-partnered intervention that targeted engaging parents and improving parent functioning. This intervention was combined with the Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), allowing for a comparison of the CBITS-as-usual (CBITS) with the CBITS-plus-family…

Several factors contribute to a disproportionately lower Latino participation in college education. Foremost among those factors are policies that encourage quick job placement over career development, lack of understanding of the benefits of a college degree, lower expectations for Latino students, poor financial planning, and lack of guidance. A…