This final report discusses the activities of the Mississippi Early Education Program for Children with Multiple Disabilities, a program designed to train Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part H service coordinators and service providers to use family centered strategies. Two levels of training activities were implemented. The first…

Noting that the involvement of parents and family members in the education of their children at school and in the home is one of the keys to children's success in school, this monograph focuses on ways to include various family members in the education of young adolescents. The monograph is intended as a guide for an effective, comprehensive…

This report describes how the Parent Services Project (PSP) is being implemented in the communities of Bushwick and Washington Heights/Inwood in New York City, focusing on the progress made and the challenges encountered in the first 18 months of the program's implementation. Information for the report was obtained through on-site observations as…

Notes that successful inclusion of children with chronic conditions in child-care facilities requires planning and care. Outlines what chronic conditions are and what they mean for the child and his or her family, the importance of working with the family to create a family-centered program, and individualizing a program to meet a child's needs.…

Presents six myths about early childhood education and care. Myths concern day care quality, the impact of day care on families and communities, academically oriented curricula, the importance of caregiver training, and parent involvement. Emphasizes that professionals need to dispel these myths, recognize the complexity of good child care, and be…

Most effective schools share a number of key characteristics, including clear-cut goals and objectives, adequate funding and financial management, quality academic programs, valid assessment programs, parent and family involvement, teacher and staff development, high expectations for students, community involvement, comprehensive support services,…

Purpose and Methods: This report is the second benchmark study to assess the system of supports for school readiness. The data for this study was collected in the fall of 2006 on 537 entering kindergarten children and their families in eight representative schools across the County. The ecological model and methods from the first study, which was…

This paper examines the cultural differences that arise because of disability, ethnicity, and social status and their impact on assessment practices, programming, goal setting, and the special education processes established by legislation, especially in light of the over-representation of minorities in special education. Suggestions for resolving…

A revision of the 1989 publication, this directory was compiled in order to help parents and professionals involved with Head Start home-based programming in meeting the needs of young children and families. The directory lists a broad range of guides and resources on topics related to Head Start home-based programs. Each listing provides the…

These two booklets (one in English and one in Spanish) are designed to help parents become more involved in their children's mathematics education. The booklets are divided into two sections. The first section explains why mathematics is an important subject for children to learn as they prepare themselves for a place in today's society. The…

This chapter on collaborating with families is taken from a guide to designing, implementing, and evaluating instruction and services for students with disabilities. The chapter provides information abut values-based, family-centered programs that will involve all families and improve education programs and student outcomes. The tone is meant to…

These activities for handicapped preschool children in the Washington, D.C. school district can be used by all parents interested in developing a structured home development program for their children. A calendar format offers daily activities ranging from brief discussions and exercises to day-long family excursions. Each month's activities cover…

This casebook on parent and community participation is part of a series of resource booklets to be developed in conjunction with each of the eight characteristics of effective schools used in the Illinois Quality School Index (IQSI). The resources identified are derived from computer searches in the ERIC database, contact with national…

The 11 papers assembled in this volume reflect the readiness of professional social work to develop practice approaches for working with parents of children in foster care. The papers were written from different perspectives, emphasize diverse aspects of foster care, and disagree on many issues. A unifying theme exists, however, in the shared…

This investigation was undertaken to determine if economically deprived students' behavior, attendance and achievement would improve as a result of teacher-parent dialogue and contact through Family Involvement-Communication System (FICS) training. The procedures developed as FICS training were based upon the following assumptions: (1) low-income…