This final report discusses the activities and outcomes of the SPARK (Skills Promoted through Arts, Reading, and Knowledge) demonstration project, a project designed to provide inservice training and a preschool curriculum to enable professional early childhood staff to use literacy and the arts to promote the skill development of young children…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of a federally supported program to provide services for children with deaf-blindness in Missouri. The project focused on the development of partnerships to coordinate service networking and to provide systematic training to build local capacity for early intervention, educational,…

Children whose homes are filled with books, whose parents read to them, and who have begun to understand the reading process have higher levels of reading skills and knowledge when they enter kindergarten than children who do not have such rich literacy experiences before entering school. This article describes a family literacy project developed…

Hawaii's Health and Education Collaboration Project (HEC) is intended to develop a personnel preparation model that promotes working relationships among trained collaborative providers and keeps families pivotal to the process. This monograph reports on the progress of this family-professional partnership initiative. Following the preface, the…

This report describes a model designed to provide family-centered, community-based coordinated services for families and their children with chronic health care needs. The model, which was implemented to serve 208 children over a 5-year period, is based on three key concepts: families should have the choice to receive services in their homes and…

This report discusses a project designed to replicate a five-step model of inservice training which will help early intervention teams provide more family-centered, transdisciplinary service delivery. During 1995-1998, the Trans/Team Outreach program provided training and technical assistance to early intervention teams in eight states and…

This final report discusses the activities and outcomes of a 4-year federally funded project designed to provide effective practices in the delivery of educational services to Pennsylvania children and youth with deafblindness from birth through 21 years of age and to their families and service providers. Outcomes of the project included: (1)…

Suggests involving parents more fully in their child's reading, by sending books from school to be shared at home. Describes a program that groups several books by theme or author in a backpack, along with a book for parents, a response notebook, and inventory card. Suggests funding sources and management concerns for such a program, and includes…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of the 3-year federally supported Minnesota Deaf-Blind Technical Assistance Project. The project provided training and technical assistance, information sharing, and support services to families of children with deaf-blindness. Activities and accomplishments included: collaboration with…

This federally funded project was designed to develop, implement, and evaluate a best practices inservice model to train teachers to provide services in least restrictive environments for preschool children with emotional/behavioral disorders. Through collaborative planning among the University of Minnesota and selected Minnesota public schools,…

A summer parent involvement project was set up in a Chicago inner city public school in a Hispanic neighborhood. The eight-session program was intended to help parents: (1) become involved with the school program by becoming comfortable with the school setting; (2) enjoy reading and writing and replicate these experiences with their children; (3)…

This monograph has been developed as part of an intensive, 3-year study of five local school districts engaged in general and special education reform. The purpose of the study was to examine how educational reforms were being defined and implemented at the local district and school levels, particularly with students with disabilities. The…

This overview examines underlying precepts and components of family support programs. The role of the family in a child's resistance to alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse is discussed. Comprehensive prevention programs encompassing the family, school, and community have shown more promise in helping children avoid AOD abuse than programs that rely…

A family literacy demonstration project was conducted to offer family literacy classes in three public schools in Philadelphia. Instruction was offered for 2.5 hours per day 4 days per week for parents of kindergartners and first graders from January to June and for parents and children together in July. The project was designed to help adults…

Designed to help parents and teachers think beyond the ordinary ways in which parent-family involvement in education is considered and approached, this book describes 34 operational parent-family involvement programs in preschools and in elementary, middle, and high schools. It also describes programs run by school districts and communities. Among…