The author's advice on planning parent-teacher conferences to improve parent-school relations includes helping teachers develop better interpersonal skills, making sure parents know about the event in advance, scheduling with parents in mind, and taking extra care to make the school clean and attractive. (JBM)

A male kindergarten teacher spells out ways he is learning to communicate with as well as to parents. (Editor/CB)

Tells how school boards can foster report card reform through the development of wise policy. (Author)

A program to train parents of mentally handicapped children to utilize behavior modification techniques in the home is described. A system for cooperation between the parent and teacher is outlined. (CD)

A parent center supported by the Albuquerque Public School System and the University of New Mexico promotes cooperation between parents and educators to serve exceptional children. The center was based on assumptions about money, time, personnel, parent heterogeneity, and needs/strengths as delineated in the "Mirror Model of Parent Involvement."…

Relates some of the concerns parents express in regard to school reports of their children and stresses the need for reports to take account of such concerns. (HOD)

Eight teachers contribute their ideas for successfully working with parents. Included are: a parent information/resource center; guidelines for parent teacher conferences; ideas for using parents as classroom volunteers; and skill development activities that parents can use at home with their children. (SJL)

A fourth-grade teacher explains how she began planning for retention possibilities as soon as the Fall achievement test results became available by notifying parents immediately, working with them throughout the school year to help their failing children, and involving them in the promotion/nonpromotion decision. (SJL)

Offers five ways to maintain communication lines between parents and English teachers. (RL)

Three students (age 15) with emotional/behavioral disorders were taught to manage their own simulated Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting by using the Self-Directed IEP instructional program. Skills taught included introducing and closing the meeting and discussing past and future goals. Two of the students showed substantial…

Parent-teacher conferences offer an opportunity to cooperatively prevent and solve learning and behavior problems. The phases of a parent-teacher conference include: preconference phase (notification, preparation, agenda planning, and arranging environments); conference phase, which utilizes a problem-solving approach; and postconference phase,…

Describes a system by which teachers can show parents their child's academic performance in relation to other students in the class. Students are rank-ordered by date of birth and tests scores, allowing comparisons with other class members based on age and performance. (MDM)

A homework-intervention training program for parents of male children with average or better skills and ability was evaluated. A series of individual parent consultation and training sessions were used to teach specific homework interventions. A multiple baseline design across participants produced favorable results over the school year.…

This article discusses student-led conferences. Student-led conferences can be organized in many ways; most involve students following an outline or a script to share work with their parents. Although this is a seemingly simple process to follow, student-led conferences require considerable planning and organization. The benefits, however, are…

Getting along with parents can sometimes be tough, but a little tact can go a long way. Good communication skills are important in any profession, but for the successful teacher, they are essential. Drawn from their new book, "Teacher Talk!" (Jossey-Bass, 2005), the authors present some snapshots of typical conflicts with parents, paired with…