According to the authors, parents have lost control not only over how and what their children are taught but over how they are treated as persons in schools they are required to attend. To counter parents' feelings of powerlessness in confronting educational problems, the authors urge parents to organize, get involved in school politics, and stand…

This paper describes the parental involvement component of Project Follow Through, a Federally funded program designed to follow up on the children who had participated in Project Head Start. Comments and impressions gathered from interviews with teachers, parents and administrators in school districts that were linked to one Follow Through…

This document examines the National Institute of Education's (NIE) Final Report on its study of compensatory education. Objectives of the NIE study and strategies used by NIE to accomplish these objectives are summarized. The five main chapters of the Final Report dealing respectively with demonstration studies, teacher training, the Instructional…

Dramatic changes in the economic and political structure of the Czech Republic in recent years have challenged schools to transform themselves from closed institutions into open organizations that collaborate with families and communities. This study explored the questions: (1) Are changes in school/family relations really occurring? (2) What are…

Designed to help members of Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title I Migrant Parents Advisory Councils in Washington to organize themselves into effective groups to assist the schools in providing good compensatory education for migrant children, this manual provides information about the two types of councils (target school and school…

This report describes and assesses a year-long effort by the Institute for Responsive Education (IRE) to support and evaluate local school advisory councils in five communities around the nation (San Diego, a suburban community in southern California, Fairfield and Calhoun Counties in South Carolina, and Yonkers, New York). An overview of the…

This document is part of a kit entitled Title I in your community, which has been redesigned to include new information about Title I and to disseminate the experiences of parent groups who have been working on Title I problems. This kit includes sample forms which can be used by parent and community groups to monitor the use of Title I funds. The…

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) supports programs in schools attended by significant numbers of children from low income families who, along with other students, may need this extra help to improve their performance. As a result of recent changes in the law, more parents will now be involved in the planning,…

Two mothers of pupils in the Holyoke School System revitalized flagging parent involvement efforts with a program, the City-Wide Parent Participation Council, that includes the following strategies: (1) membership, voting, and elections; (2) scheduling; (3) minority outreach; (4) communications staff and office; (5) publicity; and (6) special…

Violence is becoming the number one problem in United States schools. Approximately 20 percent of high school students regularly carry guns and other weapons. Several nonviolent measures are appropriate to reduce violence in schools; but only the implementation of multiple ideas and measures, not "quick fix" solutions, will curb…

There are three ways parents can be involved in school life: (1) parent change programs; (2) school change approach; and (3) parent organizations. The problem with parent change programs is that they operate on the naive assumption that children's problems are the result of their parents' inadequacies. They imply that the parent, rather than the…

The testimony and statements of various administrators and educators at the hearing regarding the effectiveness of Title I are presented in this report. Emphasis is placed on the improvements made by Title I programs in the reading and mathematics skills of educationally disadvantaged students, and numerous case studies are cited in which Title I…

This paper examines the impact of parental involvement on the overall condition of the Washington (District of Columbia) public school buildings, and then looks at the impact of various variables on student achievement. Regression analysis shows the relationship among building conditions, parental involvement, and student achievement. Although a…

This handbook for the nonprofessional provides basic information, organizational suggestions,and program ideas for operating child care programs which do not require advance registration or regular attendance. The focus is on child care provided in conjunction with "family-centered programs" (such as parent discussion groups) where…

Each of these four papers highlights findings of a National Institute of Education-sponsored project entitled "Citizen Organizations: A Study of Citizen Participation in Educational Decisionmaking." The first paper, "Class, Power, and Networking: Implications of Existing Network Patterns Among Groups," discusses the effect of inter-organizational…