At both state and federal levels, partnerships of schools, parents, and communities have become an educational priority. Are teacher education programs adequately preparing preservice teachers for these partnerships? Focus groups of College of Education (COE) faculty from five Illinois Professional Learner's Partnership universities were conducted…

Identifies keys to a successful collaborative effort aimed at introducing and attracting children to science and scientific careers at the Cleveland (Ohio) School District. Success hinged on management flexibility in meeting changing demands on members, provision of access to community resources, principal and teacher participation, and monitoring…

Summarizes a North Carolina study examining 27 homeless parents' experiences and perceptions regarding their children's education. Semistructured interview data showed that parents perceived educational continuity and stability as very important for their children. Parents were generally satisfied with their children's education, particularly…

To improve its alarming dropout rate, a southwestern Texas school district instituted the PRIDE Center, an alternative high school featuring self-paced curricula and flexible timetables for beginning and completing coursework. School social workers formed an ancillary coalition of community, business, and family forces to support prevention,…

A metaphor to guide our understanding of classroom community is weaving, where each individual strand (shared leadership, communication, responsiveness, moral unity, cooperation, shared environment and history, identification/involvement, wholeness, and interdependence) interacts with others to form an integrated whole. A classroom comprises…

Increasing diversity in the student population intensifies the need for and the difficulties of establishing culturally sensitive and meaningful communication between teachers and parents. This study examined the practices of early childhood and elementary teachers concerning culturally sensitive home-school communication. As a second phase of a…

A focus-group study recently surveyed 111 parents concerning the type, frequency, and reason for their involvement in their children's education and major barriers and facilitators to such involvement. To improve parent participation, educators must clarify how and why parents can be involved, build on parent involvement at school programs, create…

Describes a school/college partnership between the Bozeman (Montana) School District and the Montana State University, concentrating on the program documenter's role in critical analysis. The documenter helps a partnership community by summarizing activities, providing a contextual framework for activities, encouraging completion of the…

Describes a collaboration model to credential classroom aides (involving local school districts, community colleges, and a state college) that addresses identification, recruitment, education, and socialization issues concerned with teacher certification. Discusses three methods attempting to increase the number of minority students in the…

Discusses collaboration between the Research and Development Center and the Institute for Responsive Education and its national reform project called the League of Schools Reaching Out. League seeks to show how school-family-community partnerships can contribute significantly to school restructuring or reform aimed at increasing all children's…

A survey of 70 teachers working in two high schools in a midwestern university town found mixed results. Although teachers want parents to be involved in their children's education, they desire only limited communication with their students' parents. Some questioned their responsibility for involving parents. (MLH)

Teachers strive to establish partnerships with parents to support student learning. Strong communication is fundamental to this partnership and to building a sense of community between home and school. In these changing times, teachers must continue to develop and expand their skills in order to maximize effective communication with parents. This…

Although inclusion is recommended as "best practice," there is little implementation research from the parent's viewpoint. This article presents the experiences of one mother actively involved in making inclusion work for her child. Tracey's story focuses on the importance of developing parent-professional partnerships to secure a…

This article is a case study of a highly effective school leader in an urban city in Connecticut who has created a successful learning community. Through a one-year study, which involved interviews and observations on a regular basis, the author ascertained the leadership practices and patterns of this leader that have led to a successful learning…

This paper describes a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation in which graduate and advanced undergraduate students from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines partnered with local science and mathematics middle school teachers in a large, urban school district serving mostly low-income minority…