Acronyms are not only short and catchy, but they may also help one to quickly hone in on what's important and to set priorities. In a field that seems to bask in process, over-analysis, and repeated discussion, the acronym "cuts to the chase" and keeps everyone on the same page. The last Management Maxim column ("Exchange," March/April 2010)…

This study examines whether teachers' and parental attributions for children's school performance differ depending on the ethnic background of the child. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, real-life attributions within 54 teacher-parent conversations (15 ethnic majority; 39 minority) were examined. The results indicated that,…

Current policy guidance stresses the need for early identification of obstacles to learning and appropriate intervention. New standards for learning (Early Years Foundation Stage) place personal, social and emotional development (PSED) as central to learning and development. This paper reports a survey and follow-up interviews with early years…

This study examined the role of reading disability (RD) risk and environmental protective factors in reading fluency in grade 4. The sample consisted of 538 Finnish-speaking students. Kindergarten measures included the students' risk for RD based on poor achievement in phonological awareness and letter knowledge as well as information on the three…

Examine the pivotal role family engagement plays in student achievement, and explore in depth the process of creating and implementing a family-engagement plan. This research-based guide includes many specific strategies, handouts, and reproducibles leaders can use to make their schools family friendly and connect with those families who may be…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Homework Improvement Program, a 5-week group-formatted parent training program, in enhancing the homework performance of children experiencing homework difficulties. The study was conducted in an elementary school with a sample consisting of the parents of seven students (N = 7)…

The connection between home and school is of utmost importance. Therefore, an important concern for those educating teachers is to help teachers recognize the need for and importance of establishing parental involvement and to help them create avenues in which communication can occur. Knowing that parental involvement is important and putting that…

This guide addresses the practical aspects of managing a classroom, with suggestions and resources appropriate for grades K-12. Most of the tips are applicable to students of all ages, but the actual techniques will look different for the various grades. For instance, "build community" might mean playing name games with elementary students but…

People are busy, we all know that. Getting their attention is harder and harder all the time. That's especially true for member organizations and advocacy groups. The National PTA is both and has adapted some social media practices to reach out and maintain contact with more than 5 million volunteers in 25,000 local units. James Martinez, senior…

This article focuses on argumentation in mathematics classrooms in two different geographic contexts, the US and New Zealand. Drawing on data from a case with immigrant students (Pasifika) in NZ and a case with Mexican American students in the US, we argue for the need to study the concept of argumentation through a cultural and language lens. Our…

In this article we critically examine how teachers and administrators in an urban high school identify and consider the challenges to parent involvement without either engaging in or disrupting normative constructions of the term parent involvement. It is in this unintentional misconstruction of the notion of parent involvement that school leaders…

The U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Justice (DOJ) released joint guidance on January 7, 2015, reminding states, school districts and schools of their obligations under federal law to ensure that English Learners have equal access to a high-quality education and the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential. In this context, the…

Student academic performance and social competence are influenced positively by parent involvement; effective parent-teacher communication not builds parent reliance on a school, it enhances parent knowledge of raising children. As information technology develops rapidly, it is already a trend that e-communication is replacing traditional paper…

The goal of this study was to analyze the education-related schemas guiding teachers and highly educated, professional immigrant parents in a small southern California elementary school district, and to describe how facets of these schemas converged or diverged as parents and teachers drew upon their social and cultural backgrounds during…

This exploratory qualitative study aimed to examine the perspectives of teachers and parents of Chinese American students with disabilities regarding home-school communication in the special education field. The author recruited 2 parents and 2 teachers for this study. Different sources of data including observations, interviews, documentations,…