This report presents data on students in the United States attending kindergarten through grade 12. The main focus of the report is on parent and family involvement in the students' education during the 2011-12 school year as reported by the students' parents. It also includes the percentage of students who participated in family activities, as…

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…

Parent involvement in schools--what do you believe about it? Disparate groups, like front office staff at a school, preservice teachers, teachers, school administrators, and parents respond quite differently to focus questions, which might include: What do you see as important aspects of parent involvement? What parents do you think would probably…

The research is clear that a family's involvement in their child's early education improves outcomes in areas such as the child's language, self-help, social, and motor skills. The more frequent the contact between home and school, the more the child benefits. While traditional forms of home-school partnerships (for example, parents participating…

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…

In the 1990s, the developing field of early intervention with young children with disabilities and their families adopted family-centred practice as its philosophical foundation. Family-centred practice includes three key elements: (1) an emphasis on strengths, not deficits; (2) promoting family choice and control over desired resources; and (3)…

The authors describe how the participation of Family as Faculty parents in case-based instruction influenced 16 beliefs of 89 special education teacher candidates about the value of partnering with parents. The parents, who all had children with disabilities, participated in a simulated individualized education program meeting that was embedded in…

The theme for the 60th annual conference of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) was Literacy: The Critical Role of Teacher Knowledge. This Yearbook provides a snapshot of the highlights of the meeting and sampling of some of the proceedings. The focus is on three questions surrounding the conference theme: (1) What do…

Participation in the natural settings of home and community is one of four major goals for families receiving Part C early intervention services. While participation has been formally recognized as an important service-related outcome, there is a need to build knowledge about its key features to adequately apply the concept in practice. The need…

Nearly every reform effort espouses the importance of "parent involvement." This research-based guide is essential reading for teachers and administrators who want to make welcoming classrooms a reality. With a focus on literacy instruction, it showcases stories of "what works" when teachers in elementary school classrooms throughout the country…

Family involvement contributes to student success, and family-school communication (FSC) is intended to promote parent involvement; however, little is known about the communication processes that enlist that involvement. There are unanswered questions about how elementary educators perceive, prepare for, and engage in communication with families.…

The authors used data from the National Household Education Surveys (NHES) Program 2007 Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey (National Center for Education Statistics, 2007) (N=10,681) to examine household income, gender, and race of parents, and their importance in shaping parental involvement in children's education. The study finds…

Using data from the National Early Head Start (EHS) Research and Evaluation Project (N = 1851), the current study examined relations among cumulative family and social risk, assessed during infancy and the preschool years, and children's prekindergarten achievement, self-regulatory skills, and problematic social behavior, testing if these…

Home visiting is a common method of providing early intervention services to families. The reason home visitors in early intervention programs begin working with a young child and his or her family is usually because the child has a developmental delay, diagnosed disability, or is at risk for developing a delay. It seems reasonable for a home…

Collaborations and partnerships among schools and community members have been described as a way to provide better educational opportunities for students. Such school-community partnerships have been described as relationships that involve exchange and engagement with mutually defined goals benefiting all participants. However, the process of…