"The Dual Residence Education Action Model" (DREAM) is conceptualized as an inclusive educator preparation program. "Project DREAM" intends to prepare teachers with knowledge, skills, and experience in early childhood, special education, and teaching English to speakers of other languages. English learners are a growing school…

California's schools are facing increasing complexity when it comes to educating their student populations: the next generation of children is more diverse, more likely to live in low-income families, and are majority dual language learners. Research shows that providing supportive, enriching environments for children to connect with caring adults…

Although there has been a consistent vision for multicultural education and family collaboration in teacher preparation programs for decades, collaborative partnerships between culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families and their children's educators remain elusive (Harry, 2008; Trent, Kea, & Oh, 2008). Family engagement in special…

There is a growing belief that access to academic opportunities during the summer can help close the achievement gap between low-income students and their higher-income peers. But while significant research is emerging on summer programs for school-age children, information on the preschool period is limited. The Expanding Children's Early…

The Community School Standards are designed to engage and support the community schools movement as a standards-driven, evidence-based strategy to promote equity and educational excellence for each and every child, and an approach that strengthens families and community. The standards have three objectives: (1) To help new community schools more…

This meta-analysis examined the relationship between learning outcomes of children and educational involvement of parents during a unique period of early childhood education and early elementary education based on 100 independent effect sizes from 46 studies. Learning outcomes are academic achievement, and frameworks of parental involvement…

The purpose of this article is to explore the construct of congruence, particularly with regard to school-family collaboration and partnerships. An in-depth review of the empirical and theoretical literature supporting a shift in focus from encouraging family involvement to creating effective school-family partnerships is presented, followed by an…

Parent engagement coordinators provide the foundation for family engagement by modeling shared leadership, facilitating trust, and creating space to build partnerships with parents and schools. The Children's Aid Society (CAS) partnered with the New York City Department of Education, schools, and the community to provide resources and supports to…

This book presents a simple strategy on how educators can build effective partnerships with parents. It distills complex, important ideas on effective civic participation into an easy-to-learn process that teaches parents two fundamental skills they can use to support the education of their children, monitor their progress, and advocate for them:…

Physical activity has many health, social, and academic benefits for youth (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2008). It can help children and adolescents improve cardiorespiratory fitness, build strong bones and muscles, maintain a healthy weight, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduce the risk of…

Home visiting is a primary service delivery approach to promote young children's development and support families. Early Intervention professionals are expected to partner with families to create effective learning experiences in the daily context of routine family life. Concerns about early childhood (special) educators' readiness to take on this…

In this article, we focus on interrelated mechanisms and practices that support students living below the poverty line. Addressing the needs of students living below the poverty line requires that educators consider both the inside- and outside-of-school realities of students and their families. Before discussing the recommendations, we define…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Family Leadership in Education and includes (1) IDRA Education CAFE--A Structure for Families Transforming Schools in their…

A national survey of 4,721 public school educators was conducted by YouGov between July 22, 2016 and August 26, 2016, via an email-to-online survey method. Lists of teachers and principals were sourced from Market Data Retrieval's (MDR) database of public school Pre-K-12 teachers and principals. A total of 3,694 teachers (including 76 school…

The Toolkit of Resources for Engaging Families and the Community as Partners in Education is a four-part resource that brings together research, promising practices, and useful tools and resources to guide educators in strengthening partnerships with families and community members to support student learning. The toolkit defines family and…