This report describes a research project designed to promote teacher professional development in order to overcome school failure and improve teacher quality, focusing on encouragement of parent participation. The project occurred in a public elementary school in a mid-sized Brazilian city. Several meetings were held between researchers and…

This action research project addressed the problem of declining parent involvement at a Midwestern, suburban elementary school. In order to document parent involvement issues at the site, parent, educator, and student surveys were administered. Surveys were analyzed for effectiveness of home-school communication, perceived barriers to and benefits…

Discussion of the role of the school and its personnel toward children from disturbed homes. Condensed from "Kentucky School Journal, XLVIII (October 1969) p. 16, 34-35. (AP)

Discusses assumptions and pressures underlying academic redshirting for kindergartners. Examines teachers' and parents' beliefs about kindergarten readiness. Summarizes research on the effects of the academic and social domains of delaying children's entry into school. Offers suggestions for early childhood educators about how to help families in…

Examined preschool and primary teachers' priorities in supporting parent involvement (PI) in their children's schooling in Brazil and parents' perceptions of PI practices. Found that teachers tended to value practices that included parents' support but these did not extend to the encouragement of parents' help in the teaching and learning…

Summarizes the results of a study of parents' perceptions of their preschool children's emergent literacy. Notes similarities and differences between the perceptions of parents with high and low literacy levels. Suggests ways in which parents' perceptions can be used to develop effective home-school partnerships. (BB)

Presents the following 10-step strategy for fostering meaningful staff-parent relationships: convey professionalism, make parent relationships a priority, be positive about each child, be personable and friendly, be proactive in interactions with parents, show passion about teaching, communicate problems tactfully, inform parents about daily…

This study considers one way to make more productive use of information in a recognised survey instrument, the "Parental Attitudes to Inclusion" (PATI) scale and, thus, to enhance inclusive classroom practice for students with special needs. The instrument, designed to elicit views about inclusion, was initially administered to a large…

This study examined ethnic and language group differences on dimensions of parent-rated and teacher-rated parent involvement after adjusting for the influence of family socioeconomic factors. A total of 179 teachers and 481 parents provided information on parent school involvement for a sample of ethnically and linguistically diverse first-grade…

Given the persistence of an achievement gap between White and Black students and the positive association between parental involvement and student achievement, a greater understanding of factors that influence Black parents to participate in their children's education is warranted. Using a qualitative methodology, this study investigated factors…

Despite reforms that argue for parental participation in schools, little is known about parents' and teachers' views on curriculum issues. This paper presents findings of a case study of a suburban high school that identified parents' perceptions of what constitutes the "ideal" English curriculum for today's high school seniors, and compared…

The focus on parent participation in the Australian school community has intensified over the last few years, but both parents and teachers still hold many erroneous notions with regard to their shared responsibilities. Rather than viewing parents and teachers as two separate camps with children in the middle, it must be recognized that…

Parent opinions about standardized tests and performance assessments were examined systematically. Mutually exclusive but randomly equivalent stratified samples from schools participating in a study of performance assessment and control schools were used to measure change in parent opinion over time. Approximately one-third of parents (n=105)…

When newly trained special education teachers begin working with infants and young children in early intervention programs, they find themselves also having to work extensively with parents. Teachers may expect all parents to become partners with them in teaching their children, and teachers often become upset or frustrated when parents fail to…

Developed by an outreach project for handicapped children 0 to 5 years of age and their parents in rural Maine, these 18 bulletins address topics related to living with a handicapped child. Directed toward parents, the bulletins touch on the following topics: parents' feelings, handicapped children's needs to be treated as normally as possible,…