Educators sometimes misjudge immigrant families' ability to contribute to their children's school success, especially those of English learners (August and Shanahan 2006). However, families powerfully influence the academic achievement of their children, and most take a strong interest in what happens in schools (Au 2002). Cummins (1986, 2003)…

High-quality care in the earliest years of life has been shown to relate to positive developmental outcomes for children, including improved early academic skills, social-emotional competencies, and cognitive functioning. Unfortunately, the early care experiences of many children are not always high quality; rather, research suggests that…

Parental participation and cooperation in children's educational experiences is positively related to important student outcomes. It is becoming increasingly evident that context is a significant factor in understanding academic achievement, and the setting in which a child, family, and school is situated is among the salient contexts…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Handling Bully Behavior: 3 Strategies to Make Your…

Strengthening the entire family is a fundamental goal of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Caring Across Communities initiative, administered by the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools. Many immigrant and refugee students have lived through traumatic situations, but they benefit from being part of close-knit families and caring…

National educational organizations highlight the importance of preparing preservice teachers to work with diverse families. As teacher educators in an interdisciplinary early childhood teacher education program, we developed a project using eco-maps to help students learn about children and their families. We analyzed students' written reflections…

This paper presents data collected in individual case studies that aimed to investigate children and their families who succeeded against the usual "odds" of disadvantage. Funded as an extension of EPPE 3-11 by the Cabinet Office for the Equalities Review, the study focused particularly closely upon the performance of disadvantaged…

As states, districts, and schools work to improve academic rigor so that all students graduate prepared for college and careers, it has become clear that more learning time and building additional capacity within the public education system are essential. These issues have particular implications for Latino students, especially English language…

Given expectations for higher standards teachers must find ways to improve family involvement and build a community atmosphere within the classroom. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the implementation of a family involvement program into a first grade classroom. Epstein's six types of parent involvement formed the theoretical…

The purpose of this study was to identify obstacles which prevent active participation at home and at school for economically disadvantaged families. Parental involvement has been recognized as one of the most important variables influencing student academic achievement (Henrich & Gadaire, 2008; Jeynes, 2007; Stewart, 2008). Recent history…

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) has implemented a program, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC), to help establish local community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities for children to: (1) meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects; (2) offer students a broad array of…

Just a few years ago, Boston's Clarence Edwards Middle School was on the verge of being shut down. By 2009, a renaissance at the Edwards made it one of the highest performing and most desired middle schools in Boston, dramatically narrowing and even eliminating academic achievement gaps while delivering a far more well-rounded education to its…

This edited volume presents an overview of research and policy issues pertaining to children from birth to 10 who are first- and second-generation immigrants to the U.S., as well as native-born children of immigrants. The contributors offer interdisciplinary perspectives on recent developments and research findings on children of immigrants. By…

In order to systemically improve student achievement in elementary literacy, a large urban school district partnered with a local university to develop a model for high-quality professional development that hopefully would result in long-term changes in teachers' literacy instructional/practices. Schools were selected based on their Adequate…

The central message of this report is that teachers across America understand that social and emotional learning (SEL) is critical to student success in school, work, and life. Social and emotional learning involves the processes of developing competencies, including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and…