This qualitative study examined preservice special education teachers' (PSETs) movement toward critical consciousness and humility in working with families of children with disabilities using a Freirean lens grounded in three phases of consciousness: intransitive, transitive, and critical consciousness. The authors expanded upon a Family as…

In this research article, the authors examine the intersections of culturally sustaining pedagogy and critical family engagement to explore the possibilities for equitable family-school partnerships in urban schools. Based on the common values of trusting and caring relationships and power disruption within those fields, as well as data from a…

Teachers' engagement practices with Hispanic families are contributing to the continuing disparities in academic achievement between Hispanic and other students. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore secondary teachers' perceptions about the challenges of building engagement with Hispanic families. The conceptual framework…

Home-school partnership is key to students' success at schools. Japanese schools have attempted to invite families to participate in school educational activities. However, these efforts are embedded into Japanese school cultures and were not studied empirically. This study aimed to explore teachers' attitudes and actions toward home-school…

Introduction: This paper provides a report of social validity and its usefulness in understanding study effects. Social validity data were drawn from a larger single-case study designed to investigate the effectiveness of the Matrix Approach in the practice of early intervention visual impairment professionals. Methods: Qualitative measures were…

Family-school partnerships are crucial for promoting positive outcomes and serving as a protective factor for children at-risk for poor school outcomes (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001). This may be particularly important for autistic children, who are at increased developmental risk (Garbacz et al., 2016). However, little research has examined…

Background/Context: There is a growing need for schools to examine the best ways of working with immigrant and multilingual families, as it is ever more likely that all teachers will work with multilingual newcomers and their children during their career. However, teachers often view multilingual families in deficit ways, and many teachers lack…

As an informal teacher-leader at my elementary school, I set out to investigate the prevailing attitudes and beliefs about family involvement and engagement among stakeholders at Phoenix Charter School (PCS). I came away with three major findings: 1) There is no collective definition of family involvement, but almost all agreed that families must…

Family engagement benefits children's development and contributes to student academic success. However, educators feel that they are unprepared to engage families in the educational process, although they are encouraged to do so. The purpose of this basic qualitative study with interviews was to explore educators' and parents' perceptions of…

Research Findings: Teaching is a highly stressful profession due to many stressors that teachers experience. To understand how early childhood teachers internally handle work climate-related stressors, we examined associations between teacher-perceived work climate, teachers' use of emotion regulation strategies, and the degree of stress that…

The COVID-19 pandemic widened existing educational inequities for Black and Latino students, students who are English learners, and students with disabilities. Research shows that family engagement has a positive impact on student outcomes; therefore, forging connections between schools and families as enrollment rebounds will be especially…

Infants and toddlers with disabilities (ages birth to 2 years) and their families receive services under IDEA Part C, and children and youth with disabilities (ages 3-21 years) receive special education and related services under IDEA Part B. IDEA mandates the provision of opportunities for parent involvement in early intervention (Part C),…

Today in many countries, teachers working with children with refugee status are seeking ways to practice inclusive family engagement. In our two-year-long project, we worked with early childhood teachers serving refugee students in public schools in Turkey, which hosts the world's highest number of child refugees. Our project focused on creating…

When families are engaged in their education, children's academic, behavioral, and social-emotional development is indirectly supported. Many teacher-training programs (TTPs) focused on preparing teachers to communicate and work with families have been developed, although inconsistencies regarding their effectiveness exist. The current…

Access to high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) is important for developmental outcomes and school success. The first years of life are a critical period for learning and the quality of early experiences can have a significant impact later in life. Parenting is one of the primary influences on children's development and family…