Discusses student-led parent-teacher conference model and demonstrates how this model can successfully meet the needs of teachers, students and parents. Discusses model's phases of preparation, implementation and evaluation. Provides a step-by-step guideline, along with a case study. (BH)

Middle school students need support in transitioning from childhood into adolescence, and a realignment of families, schools, and communities is important. The 1989 Carnegie Council Task Force report recommends re-engaging families and communities to help middle school students. The paper discusses how to enhance family and community involvement.…

The author reviews the argument that teachers, parents, and children are all interrelated and function within a complex ecology. He summarizes existing models for facilitating teacher-parent interaction and analyzes inappropriate assumptions concerning this interaction. Implications and recommendations for improving the school-community…

Suggests ways day care teachers can seek out and get help for the center from parents. (CM)

Notes importance of involving parents in their children's education and of school psychologists working actively and collaboratively with parents. Sees behavioral consultation as providing useful framework for working within and between family and school systems to involve parents and teachers in cooperative problem solving. Presents overview of…

Communication between parents and teachers is complicated, with attitudes often becoming barriers to effective communication. Factors that affect parent-teacher relationships include childhood memories, professionalization, and bureaucratization. Suggestions for parents to improve communications with teachers include examining their own feelings…

Examines the relationships between teachers and parents with respect to teaching, suggesting that classic and contemporary organizational theory can help predict key tensions and issues likely to emerge. Discusses bridging strategies used by schools to manage parent relations, and examines schools' use of buffering strategies to shield teachers…

Parents and professionals are increasingly working together to serve handicapped children; however this partnership is often marred by conflict. Most explanations for the conflict emphasize the psychological and attitudinal characteristics of individuals. Although this explanation has some validity, it precludes identification of the more basic…

This paper discusses how strengthening connections between the school and its community can help to improve a school's problem solving capacity. The paper is based on data collected by the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project of the Center for New Schools (Chicago, Illinois), from observation of nine school sites which were involved in…

Highlights the importance of home-Head Start partnerships in helping children learn and behave in optimal fashion. Provides four ideas that could help strengthen the home-Head Start partnerships already underway in center programs: (1) the play and learn system; (2) the educational display; (3) the parent-teacher communication system; and (4) the…

The study described in this summary explores school and community factors that encourage parent participation in decisions that affect the quality of children's schooling. Its primary objective was to identify and compare factors that foster parent networks around school issues in suburban and urban areas. Five groups mobilized by middle class…

This paper provides a brief review of the issues regarding families in early intervention programs for handicapped children and proposes the assessment of family needs as a first step in designing family-focused interventions. While traditional approaches to early intervention tend to be exclusively child-focused, professionals are encouraged to…

This lecture describes the legal status of parental rights pertaining to German schools, and ideas about the practical problems of cooperation between parents and schools in Germany, especially under the auspices of a multicultural society. Four legal parental rights are listed: (1) the right to decide if their child should attend private or state…

The School Community Involvement System (SCIS) is presented as a model community program that encourages educators, parents and community members to work together to meet the needs of children and society. This model is intended as a comprehensive systematic program for community involvement and communication in the school experience, as well as a…

This report traces the growth of Project Integrated Education and Community Development (now known as the Education and Community Project) in the town of Ofakim, Israel, from its conceptual beginnings in 1977 through the first three years of its development into a multifaceted community education program. The project, conducted in predominantly…