It is well documented that children of middle-class parents generally do better at school than their working-class peers and despite increases in school retention rates in Australia, this remains the case. Social reproduction theories are often used to describe this phenomenon. Social reproduction theory assumes that a family's class position is…

The National Fire Protection Association offers a quiz on fire safety designed to help people learn about the major fire dangers and change the way they respond to them. Recommends that families sit down and take the quiz together, focusing on the correct answers provided. (SM)

This paper describes the Ecological Inventory, a technique developed to document the range and frequency of literacy-related activities available in pre-kindergartners' everyday lives. This technique can be used by teachers to broaden understanding of their students' home-based experiences. Results from the Ecological Inventory can be used as a…

Research indicates that both home literacy activities and direct instruction of reading skills promote reading development. The current study investigates how parent-led direct teaching activities impact emergent literacy. Preschool children (n = 47) were administered subtests from the Test of Early Reading Ability-3 and the Kaufman Survey of…

This study investigated the effect of day care attendance on the receptive and expressive language development of nine 4-year-old children. Five children who had 2 years of day care experience comprised a day care group. A home-reared group was composed of four children who had 3 months of day care experience. Children's receptive language ability…

This practicum evaluated a psychoeducational group format developed to support children living in families affected by HIV and AIDS. The major goals were to help children cope with stressful events, with chronic strain, and with role transitions. There were five objectives for the children: (1) decrease feelings of isolation, confusion, anger and…

This study addresses three questions: (1) whether sex is related to ability and interest in computers; (2) whether a relationship exists between the presence of a computer in the home and a child's ability and interest in computing; and (3) the combination of factors that account for students' perceptions of success in developing programming…

Educational enabling occurs when school staff, social agencies, parents, or peers do things for the students they should do themselves to fully develop a work ethic and academic and coping skills. Parents and teachers must keep their roles in perspective. The article advises parents on how to minimize educational enabling. (SM)

Advocacy among primary students and lack of classroom participation was the identified problem area for this action research project report. There were 19 student participants in an afternoon kindergarten at Site A, and 20 student participants in a first grade classroom at Site B. The research team consisted of three teacher researchers. Two of…

This study looks at preservice teachers' attitudes toward children and teaching in an urban high-poverty community in relation to their involvement in two different literacy education experiences: one literacy course sequence addressed issues of cultural diversity with respect to this community, and the other did not explicitly address these…

A study assessed the usability, retest reliability, and construct validity of an instrument measuring young adults': (1) perceived attention from parents; (2) perceived "normalcy" of family interactions; and (3) perceived consistency of family interactions. The retest reliability study yielded no significant differences between 73…

The report presents findings from a survey of 243 caregiving families in Massachusetts which explored family needs and characteristics, as well as those of their developmentally disabled family members. Survey questions focused on family information, characteristics of the disabled family member, information on family needs, care-related costs…

This study investigated parents' knowledge of their child's emergent literacy development by administering parent questionnaires that examined parents' beliefs of literacy learning and the early writing and reading experiences of preschool children in their home. A total of 115 questionnaires were administered to parents with children enrolled in…

Describes a newly developed method of rating the home environment of primary school children. The method was used in a study to assess the cognitive abilities and school progress of 20 children. Results indicate environmental factors significantly correlate with children's cognitive abilities and demonstrate that not all such factors are related…

This article discusses home/family factors related to the development of emergent literacy skills in preschool-age children and presents the Home Literacy Inventory for assessing children's non-print activities, reading activities, writing activities, and current reading and writing abilities. How the information can be used to develop…