Instructions are given for conducting a workshop to enhance communication between parents of exceptional children and educators. Ten activities, designed for a day long workshop, are broken down in terms of time, description, purpose, setting, materials, and methods. Among suggestions are activities to identify and prioritize areas of common…

Parents of children in elementary and secondary school foreign language programs want to know what outcomes they can expect from the programs and how they can support and encourage their children's language study. Learning outcomes vary with program goals. Program types include immersion, partial immersion, foreign language in elementary schools…

Following mention of the literature and pioneers in the field of at-risk family involvement in education, this document discusses the history of the term "at risk" and its use, identification of children at risk, and the two major risk factors: poverty and minority status. The important connections and assets missing from the at-risk child's world…

Presenting a review of research on parent involvement, this document is intended to serve as a basis for developing policies, programs, and practices in parent involvement programs. Specifically, the review concerns (1) the role of parents, family, and home in determining children's intelligence, competence, and achievement; (2) the effects of…

Written by members of a consulting team engaged to evaluate a school district's kindergarten program and make recommendations for the future, this report chronicles the district's progress in coming to more fully understand goals and problems related to kindergarten education. Specifically, the report presents the evaluation team's examination of…

The importance of parent participation in a child's education is undisputed, and low-income urban parents can and want to help with their children's schooling, both at home and at school, as much as do middle class parents. However, most poor urban children live in single-parent, female-headed households--often Black or Hispanic--and many school…

Those who advocate for developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) do so based on the conviction that these classroom practices enhance children's development and facilitate learning. This ERIC Digest examines recent research on DAP and social-emotional and cognitive development, and describes what we have learned about DAP in early childhood…