Maintains that children's museums provide unique opportunities that engage families in intergenerational exploration and learning. Provides criteria for selecting a museum that serves developmental needs of children and adults alike. (BB)

Explores assumptions teachers make when planning parent involvement strategies and barriers to family involvement that result from these assumptions. Presents two tools designed to help teachers plan and carry out successful activities by identifying family-related factors that could limit or prevent family participation and making modifications…

Provides highlights from the National Commission on Children's 1990 final report. Recommendations address such issues as ensuring income security, improving children's health, increasing educational achievement, preparing adolescents for adulthood, supporting families, protecting vulnerable children and their families, and making policies and…

Excellent teachers base their actions in the classroon on a system of beliefs that help them to choose logically between various posible actions. Beliefs are formed from personal experiences, education, and values. They are a major determinant of behavior as teachers respond to questions and make classroom decisions. Teachers' beliefs are often…

Proposes the home-school connection as a key solution to boost science, mathematics, and technology programs in schools. Suggests that professionals in education must find ways to make connections between school learning and children's learning outside school. Proposes appropriate strategies such as science and mathematics backpacks, minimuseums,…

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…

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…