Parents play a vital role in influencing their children's outdoor recreation participation. Families can enjoy nature and stay active in state parks, which provide abundant opportunities for outdoor recreation and education. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parents' experiences with, and attitudes toward, outdoor…

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of parents and educators after the implementation of an immigrant parent program in an urban middle school that lacked parental involvement support. This qualitative study used multiple data collection methods to triangulate the data. Study participants provided their contributions through…

This ethnographic study explores the crucial role of family engagement in educational systems and the impact a human-centered design team has on students' success at an elementary school. The research addresses the historical impact of racism and colonization on student outcomes alongside the ongoing challenge of narrowing the opportunity gap.…

Young children learn best through hands-on, authentic experiences that motivates, stimulates and supports their growth in all areas of development. This includes the skills necessary to enhance their literacy and language acquisition, physical and cognitive development in addition to their social-emotional development and approaches to learning.…

Student teaching offers a potentially rich yet underutilized space for teacher educators to support elementary teacher candidates (TCs) in developing dispositions and practices consistent with culturally responsive teaching (CRT). In this study, we found that a cohort of TCs who engaged in a hands-on anti-bias family/community engagement module…

In October 2023, a new deaf student, "Zuri," showed up in my second grade classroom. This often happens. Parents move into and out of the district for work, and it is common to get a new student in the middle of the year without warning. Zuri's eyes were wide when she came into the classroom, and she looked scared. Who were all these…

The transition to kindergarten is one of the significant transition steps for children in early childhood. The family, being the closest circle of the child, supports the development of the child in the transition and affects the transition process with its resources and needs. In this regard, this study examined the experiences and participation…

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the Family Check-Up initiated during kindergarten on teacher-report of children's emotional and behavior concerns in fourth grade. Participants were 57 primary caregivers, along with their children and teachers. Participants were randomized to a Family Check-Up condition or school-as-usual…

Humanizing family engagement practices seek to foster the community cultural wealth and funds of knowledge to working with and for immigrant families and communities. In this manuscript we explore asset-based theories for working alongside families and communities in our schools, with a focus on classroom examples for involving parents and…

Many school districts provide one-time transition events to help students prepare for the rigors of kindergarten; yet, research shows families desire additional information and opportunities to help their children thrive once school begins. Researchers for this study interviewed 39 parents whose children participated in a three-week structured…

This study was a companion study, modeled after a 2013 study that explored the relationship between secondary teachers' self-efficacy beliefs, their family involvement self-efficacy beliefs, and the frequency and type of parental involvement practices. This study explored the same relationship between elementary school teachers and parental…

Family involvement has been shown to have positive effects on the academic and socio-emotional and behavioral outcomes of school-aged children across all age ranges, but most especially among elementary-aged students. The Family Involvement Questionnaire-Elementary (FIQ-E) has been validated for use with students in grades 1-6 across public and…

This article tells the story of a teacher and a teacher educator as they grappled, together and apart, with the same question: What does it mean to work well with families as elementary school teachers? Specifically, it interrogates what it means to partner with families. To do so they investigate how partnering with families has led to…

Background/Context: We lack a nuanced understanding of the potentials and needs of multilingual families, particularly those with forced displacement histories, in contributing to children's mathematics learning. As educators seek to increase refugee students' access to powerful mathematics learning, an understanding of how refugee families view…

This paper presents a small-scale Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) study, investigating school leaders' efforts to enhance families' engagement in their children's learning, through classroom teachers' use of social media. The study occurred within three Australian primary schools, situated within a culturally and linguistically…