Quynh (pseudonym), a Vietnamese-American female, was an honor student in her K-12 education in Vietnam four decades ago. April 30, 1975, abruptly signaled the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. Many military personnel from the former regime found themselves and their loved ones in danger of being persecuted by the victorious new…

Background/Context: Recent trends suggest that middle-class parents may be a growing constituency in urban public schools and districts. Within the burgeoning literature on the middle class in urban public schools, most scholars have focused on parents' goals and orientations and/or the consequences of parental involvement in classroom and school…

On March 15, 2007, Santa Barbara residents were shocked when a baby-faced 15-year-old high school student was stabbed to death in the heart of the city's fashionable State Street shopping district. His assailant, just 14, was a member of a rival street gang and a student at the local junior high. "It was a wakeup call for the entire…

This study explored how graduate coursework can impact urban teachers' knowledge, skills, and dispositions regarding family and community involvement. (Note: California requires graduate work for teacher certification.) Specifically, the research investigated how teacher attitudes toward family and community involvement changed after taking a…

Background/Context: How do we account for the persistence of below-average math test score performance among California Hispanics who are fluent in English, as well as Spanish-dominant English learners? Recent studies have attributed the problem to an overly rigid focus on "what works" in curriculum and fluency in English to the…

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…

This guide informs parents about some instructional practices that work well for all elementary school students, in particular English learners. It includes questions parents can ask teachers and principals to help them understand how their children's school approaches teaching and learning. Both English and Spanish versions of the document are…

Wilson Riles, the state superintendent of public instruction in California, has developed the revolutionary Early Childhood Education (ECE) program, which provides for improvement and restructuring from kindergarten through grade 12. Discusses this program with the superintendent in a recent interview that covered many other elements of his early…

A NUMBER OF STUDIES RELATING TO WAYS IN WHICH INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION CAN BEST FIT INTO THE TOTAL TEACHING SITUATION HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED JOINTLY BY THE DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND STANFORD UNIVERSITY'S INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNICATION RESEARCH. AN ATTEMPT WAS MADE IN THIS STUDY TO LEARN WHETHER DIRECT PARENT PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION…

A comprehensive school management system plan that includes parent participation and staff development is described. The staff development program is influenced by parents' input through surveys and through their direct involvement on site councils. (JMF)

An ethnographic case study investigated relations between teachers and parents of minority-language students in two elementary schools in a small California agricultural community. The study examined: (1) school district policies and guidelines concerning teacher interactions with parents and parent involvement in school activities; (2) the range…

Parent/community involvement in the teacher education programs in California is provided by means of Community Advisory Committees and parent/community members involved at school sites who work with teacher candidates in the role of teacher aides. (JMF)

More than 900,000 California students during the 1983-84 school year used languages other than English as their primary home language. Of that number, approximately 470,000 were identified as limited in English proficiency. This handbook for language minority parents was developed to help new immigrant parents make better use of educational…

Reports the positive initial assessment of California's attempt to encourage individual elementary schools to assess the needs of their children, to plan appropriate instructional settings, and to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. (Author/IRT)

This case study examined the role of parents as decision-makers in the founding of an elementary (K-1) charter school serving 44 children and their families in a California metropolitan area. The study focused on the working relationship between the parents and the founding director, and the effects of this relationship on the organization's…