Key ingredients to successful parent meetings include planning with parents and including the children; assessing parents' needs and interests; planning the details of the meeting, such as meeting place, transportation, child care arrangements, and refreshments and activities; and planning the key elements of the meeting, such as presentations and…

The third issue of this Character Education and Civic Engagement Technical Assistance Center (CETAC) newsletter focuses on parent involvement in character education. The Partnerships in Character Education Program (PCEP), funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is currently providing support to projects that demonstrate parent involvement in…

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was created to ensure that students with disabilities receive a free and appropriate public education. One hallmark of IDEA is the promotion of collaboration between school districts and parents of children with disabilities. The letter and spirit of IDEA encourages a working relationship…

During the past three years, the author's administrative team at Milken Community High School in Los Angeles, a 7-12 school where the author is the middle school principal, has been discussing assessment. They decided that they wanted assessment to tell students what they did or did not do and enable them to self-adjust. To accomplish this, the…

Student achievement and teacher-parent collaboration are strongly correlated to teachers' attitudes toward involvement (Muller & Kerbow, 1993; Swap, 1993). However, there is very little research in China (Gu, 2006) on examining factors that are well documented to show impacts on teachers' attitudes toward parent involvement. This research…

Research in home-school communication has incorporated little, to date, about participation by English as a second language (ESL) parents. This article examines the communication processes between recent Chinese immigrant parents and Canadian teachers at secondary school Parents' Nights. Drawing from observations of three annual Parents' Nights,…

This report evaluated the Harlem Parents School Community Program designed to provide individual tutorial assistance to 80 elementary school students who were two or more years below grade level in reading and mathematics. Tutoring sessions were held at a neighborhood center Monday through Thursday afternoons and evenings. Workshops and cultural…

The experience of the University of Southern Mississippi in sponsoring "The Parenting the Gifted Children Conference" is described. Discussed are needs assessment, conference format, selection of speakers, budget, public relations, conference evaluation, and physical facilities. Included are a sample evaluation form, a conference…

Study results indicate that parents and students, working together, do try to follow suggested counselor leads, except in areas of vocational planning. (CJ)

Through naturalistic observational procedures, the study examined the dynamics of individualized education program (IEP) conferences involving parents of handicapped elementary grade students. Participants present, the nature and frequency of topics discussed, and the length of conferences were considered. (Author/SBH)

Parents, especially those responsible for exceptional children, will often attempt to change their belief system dissonance. This dissonance can be changed by altering cognitions, modifying behaviors, or by avoiding dissonance-increasing situations. By being aware of these potential reactions to the parent conference, counselors can better handle…

This annotated bibliography on parents and schools is divided into sections on parents' opinions and knowledge of schools, communication between parent and school, parent involvement in education, community involvement in school decision-making and planning, and legal issues. (JL)

It is argued that current school disciplinary policies are ineffective instruments for delivering moral messages: they are poorly justified; fail to distinguish moral violations (violence, vandalism, deception) from conventional school-limited violations (attendance, dress codes, eating venues), leaving the impression that dress code violations…

One of the most important factors in school performance is parental involvement. However, many parents do not have the flexibility in their work schedules or the leave policies necessary to attend school functions. As a result, legislators are creating policies to address this issue. School involvement leave policies provide parents with…

The National Center for Education Statistics collects data on crime and violence in U.S. public schools through the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS). This First Look report presents findings from the 2009-10 School Survey on Crime and Safety data collection. Developed and managed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)…