A model is offered to encourage an alliance between home and school by promoting teacher well-being (through such activities as relaxation, visualization, and centering) and psychological comfort of parents of handicapped children. (CL)

Since both having the teacher visit the students' homes and having the parents visit the schools for conferences poses problems, the telephone is suggested as a relatively unexploited resource for solving the parent/teacher conference dilemma. (Author/JN)

The authors share their ideas on how parental assertiveness can help parents in educational planning for children with disabilities. (SB)

Suggestions are offered to teachers for strengthening the value of parent conferences. (MM)

Examines "okay" deployed as an assessment of student performance in parent-teacher conference interactions. Data drawn for 35 videotaped and audiotaped conferences are presented to demonstrate that "okay" participates as a value in two distinct metrics of assessment--one binary, one gradated. (Author/VWL)

For a successful parent-teacher conference, three main steps need to be addressed: preconference homework, communication during the conference, and followup. Each of these steps is addressed in this article, and a sample form for conference record keeping is included. (IAH)

Principals should protect their teachers from taking unnecessary verbal abuse from angry parents. Teachers should not go into a conference unprepared but should be trained in effective presentation skills and backed up by supporting documentation, a definite agenda, and adherence to proper procedures. Maintaining silence or "neutrality" is…

Presents suggestions to help teachers work with parents during conferences. Before the conference, they should document difficulties, communicate concerns, solicit support, and test out tactics. At the conference, they should welcome parents, take notes, weigh all words, allow for anger, seek parents' suggestions, have responses ready, and partner…

Details a student-led conferencing model developed by one middle school faculty that engages students as active participants in facilitating their conferences with parents and teachers. Considers conference goals, preparation, and evaluation. (JPB)

Traditional parent-teacher conferences and student-led conferences are tools schools employ to convey student progress with parents. The student-led conference offers a valuable means for increasing student responsibility which allows students to take ownership in schooling, which in turn helped improve parent involvement and student motivation.…

The Government is urging teachers to engage more closely with families and is promoting the concept of the "extended" school. This article reports on the literacy strand of the Home School Knowledge Exchange (HSKE) project, directed by Professor Martin Hughes at the University of Bristol. A selection of literacy activities developed…

This theme issue focuses on programs that promote lifelong learning through literacy education, parent empowerment, or parent leadership training. "Adult Literacy Outreach Innovations: Porque Significa Tanto" (Christie L. Goodman) describes a Texas outreach project that focuses on raising public awareness about adult education and…

Research has demonstrated that parent involvement has many beneficial effects for students. This action research project designed and implemented a program to raise the academic achievement of second-grade students by increasing parent involvement. The students attended two second-grade classrooms in a west-central Illinois school. The problem of…

A program was designed to address the problem of parents who are uninformed or misinformed about their child's reading or learning disability, resulting in frustration and the inability to interact effectively with their child in academic activities. The program was implemented at a private reading and learning center which serves about 125…

This report evaluates the Student Parent Activities Center, a program designed to involve parents in the educational process of their children, improve parental knowledge and participation in the school, and improve parental influence on student attendance. One hundred fifty students and 50 parents participated in the program. The parent…