This book explores the themes of citizenship, participation, and collective action in relation to education in Britain. It illustrates ways in which social class, gender, and ethnicity affect parent participation. Chapter one discusses the parent as consumer, partner, and citizen. A focus on parents as citizens in Britain reveals passivity and…

Parents of college students are often an untapped resource. Recommends developing a comprehensive, intentional plan to work with these constituents in university career centers. For University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, parents have proven to be strong allies in promoting career planning and financially supporting the many needs of the…

Children benefit academically when parents and educators work together. For this reason, parents' involvement in their children's education is a priority of the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001." But a strong connection between parents and educators does not come about automatically. Both parties may need to learn new roles and skills…

To increase the role and the participation of parents and to strengthen parent involvement in their children's education, the Board of Education of New York City provided funding for a district/or superintendency-level parent liaison pilot program for the 1992-93 school year. The project consisted of the creation of a parent liaison position for a…

This bulletin focuses on family participation in mental health policymaking and highlights state efforts to increase family involvement. Articles include: (1) "Promoting Family Member Involvement in Children's Mental Health Policy Making Bodies," which describes how different states are promoting family member involvement in various statutory and…

This study compares parent participation in a suburban New York school district with parent participation in five Chicago city schools. Section one provides an overview of the study, which was based on an examination of external innovations (such as laws, court orders, and new programs) that created new bases for parents to become involved in…

Parent involvement efforts distinguish the Holyoke Public Schools of Holyoke, Massachusetts. No other school system in the region offers as many varied opportunities for parents to have an impact on their children's school experience. The Parent Involvement Policy was developed with the help of a 15-member task force of parents in the summer of…

The Special Education Parents Alliance created an employment project seeking jobs in the business community for special education graduates and other persons with disabilities. The project serves learning disabled, educable mentally handicapped, trainable mentally handicapped, and physically disabled persons in DuPage County and portions of west…

The development of Federal requirements for parent involvement, via Title I, in cooperative education and policy making roles is reviewed chronologically. Variations in the implementation of plans to involve parents are examined for 15 local school districts in 14 states. The survey instrument and the sampling technique utilized for exploring…

This first National Indian Workshop on School Affairs provided 5 days of training and orientation for 165 Indian participants from 46 tribal groups. The areas of instruction were 1) parental involvement, including PTA, attendance at school functions, awareness of what is going on in the school, encouragement of the parents' interest and concern in…

Parents of disabled children throughout the country are organizing to find appropriate employment opportunities for their children by: writing proposals and obtaining funding for employment programs; improving in- school vocational programs for special needs students; advocating earlier vocational education; preparing work settings for supported…

Describes a wide variety of activities supported by a Connecticut grade school (four to six) parent-teacher organization, including afterschool minicourses, computer literacy assistance, school beautification, and an advanced reading program. (JBM)

Although many parents remain unfamiliar with the testing programs offered in their children's schools, recent surveys show that parent groups are becoming increasingly interested in the critical issues surrounding testing. Parents should assume responsiblity for monitoring the progress of their children and learn the facts about standardized…

Practical and well-defined solutions are presented to build effective and long-lasting partnerships among parents, educators, and community members for the improvement of schools. A step-by-step model is presented, with an outline to guide anyone attempting to involve parents in their children's schools. Chapter 1, "My Journey to Parent…

The relationship between parent participation and academic achievement in elementary schools is examined using statistics from the Chicago (Illinois) public schools and a survey of principals and presidents of local school councils. The questionnaire assesses the extent of parent participation in the schools. Data from initial or telephone…