The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates parent-professional collaboration. But difficulties between parent and professional collaboration seem to persist. These difficulties do not seem to be related to a lack of mutual respect or lack of good intentions. Perhaps difficulties exist because of a lack of common ground.…

Although report cards may seem to be a clear-cut means of communication between teachers and parents, on closer examination they reveal a more complicated interaction. Parents of fourth-graders are interviewed about their children's report cards to learn their understandings of the language and discuss expectations for their children in school. A…

This article discusses how U.S. teachers can pick up on cultural cues from parents with roots in other countries and help smooth their children's transition to U.S. classrooms. In this article, the author presents a scenario where a U.S. teacher welcomed parents with roots form other countries into her classroom. Here, she discusses the importance…

This case study evaluated one site of a California teacher home visit program. Home visits have been an important means of connecting families and schooling. In 1999, California inaugurated a statewide home visit program to promote effective partnership between home and school for low-achieving schools. At this site, families in 3 kindergarten…

A primary goal of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools (CYFS) is to create, nurture, and develop an environment that builds capacity for a strong relationship between researchers and community partners for the conduct of high-quality research that translates into effective community-based practices. The…

This article presents results from a survey of faculty members from 2- and 4-year higher education programs in nine states that prepare teachers to work with preschool children. The purpose of the study was to determine how professors address content related to social-emotional development and challenging behaviors, how well prepared they believe…

The purpose of this study is to find out how public schools accommodate the growing Hispanic school population in a New Hispanic Diaspora in New Jersey, and what strategies Hispanic families and schools adopt to mitigate home-school discontinuity. This study also attempts to find out what constitutes the formation of Hispanic identity among…

This qualitative study evaluated the belief systems and professional practice of program graduates of an early childhood special education teacher preparation program regarding collaboration with families of children with disabilities. Eleven graduates were interviewed over the course of a school year to identify perceived challenges to their…

Many teachers have a cursory understanding of culturally relevant pedagogy, and a desire to see it succeed in their classrooms. The problem is that in many cases, teachers have "only" a cursory understanding, and their efforts to bridge the cultural gap often fall short. "Culturally relevant pedagogy" is a term that describes effective teaching in…

A challenge for teacher educators in special education is to impact the beliefs and attitudes of preservice teachers in ways that cultivate or strengthen dispositions and inform practice. This study investigated the impact of service-learning experiences on the development of professional dispositions by undergraduate students in two preservice…

This paper presents the findings of a study which explored teacher-family collaboration in state primary schools in Cyprus. The research strategy was one of multiple case study, with a sample of seven teachers, their pupils and the pupils' parents. The research approach was ethnographic and the data set reported in this paper includes the data…

Part of the dominant story of school involves educators entering a community, claiming the ground called "school," and designing and enacting policies, procedures, and programs for the children in the community. Most often they do this in isolation of parents and community members. Because they have professional education, knowledge and…

This article presents a story that shows the complex roles and professionalism of staff, describing ethics and fairness and the ways biases can affect relationships and perceptions. It also presents how professional staff can cross the line in a parent-child relationship. This article describes some controversial issues regarding staff's…

When families enroll in an early childhood program, it is usually the first time they have daily shared their child's basic care with anyone outside of the family. Their most basic hope is that early childhood staff will care for their child as the staff would their own. There are many ways to nurture children and assist growing families. In this…

This article examines important questions related to the use of computer technology in Catholic schools. Under consideration are issues related to how teachers use the Internet in classrooms, communicate with parents, and design lessons with technological support. Differences in computer use between high-poverty and low-poverty schools are also…