Lesbian,gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents' experiences in preschool environments

Little research has examined the school experiences of lesbian/gay (LG) parent families or adoptive parent families. The current exploratory study examined the experiences of 79 lesbian, 75 gay male, and 112 heterosexual adoptive parents of preschool-age children with respect to their (a) level of disclosure regarding their LG parent and adoptive family status at their children's schools; (b) perceived challenges in navigating the preschool environment and advocating on behalf of their children and families; and (c) recommendations to teachers and schools about how to create affirming school environments with respect to family structure, adoption, and race/ethnicity. Findings revealed that the majority of parents were open about their LG and adoptive family status, and had not encountered challenges related to family diversity. Those parents who did experience challenges tended to describe implicit forms of marginalization, such as insensitive language and school assignments. Recommendations for teachers included discussing and reading books about diverse families, tailoring assignments to meet the needs of diverse families, and offering school community-building activities and events to help bridge differences across families.     

Effective Schools and Home‐School‐Community Partnership Roles: A Framework for Parent Involvement

The increased interest in parent involvement as a strategy for school reform stems from two bodies of parent involvement research. One set of studies examined family learning environments; the other investigated the impact on student learning of school‐initiated parent involvement programs. This article reviews these two bodies of research, which have influenced current discussions about home‐school partnerships, shows the relationship between practices of successful home‐learning environments and effective schools research, and uses this relationship to propose a typology of home‐school‐community partnership roles and activities. When the research on effective family practices is combined with effective schools research and placed within a typology of partnership roles, schools have a framework for examining current parent involvement practices and exploring strategies that will enhance student learning both at home and at school.

     

Intervening with teachers to encourage father/male involvement in early childhood programs

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the impact of an intervention program targeted at teachers and designed to encourage and facilitate father/male involvement in state-funded prekindergarten programs for children identified as being at-risk for later school failure. In contrast to other intervention programs which provide direct services to fathers/families, the nature of the current intervention was on providing support services to staff members which focussed on strategies for encouraging father/male involvement. Participants were 21 teachers at two state-funded prekindergarten programs. Evaluation data were collected which tracked the nature, content, and context of all parent involvement contacts at the treatment and control program sites over a 26 week period. Findings suggest that a significantly higher proportion of the parent involvement contacts and activities at the treatment site program involved fathers/men than that reported at the comparison site program. Results are discussed in terms of implications for future research and program development in this area.     

Maternal involvement in preschool children's education in Japan: Relation to parenting beliefs and socioeconomic status

Studies conducted in the US consistently demonstrate that parenting self-efficacy and construction of the parent role are critical elements associated with parents’ involvement in their children's elementary school education. Less is known about the dynamics of parent involvement during the preschool period, or in nations outside the US. This study examined the relation of maternal beliefs and family SES to three dimensions of parent involvement in Japan: preschool selection strategies, engagement in reading at home, and involvement in activities at the preschool. Interview and questionnaire data were obtained from 108 Japanese mothers, all of whom had a child in the last year of preschool. Consistent with theory and findings in the US, parenting self-efficacy and family role construction were associated with Japanese mothers’ strategies for selecting preschools and frequency of engaging in home reading. Findings regarding family SES demonstrated a culturally specific pattern; mothers of higher SES background were more likely to access formal sources of information and to engage in daily home reading but less likely to participate at the school site.     

Using Technology to Increase Parent Involvement in Schools

The importance of parent involvement in Parents who monitor their student’s schoolwork and daily activities, communicate frequently with teachers and help develop schools and its relationship to student achievement have been widely studied. Nevertheless, many principals and teachers report that lack of parent involvement continues to be an obstacle to increasing student achievement at school. The purpose of this study was to determine whether emerging technologies facilitate better parent-teacher communication and parent involvement. Data were collected through surveys and semi-structured focus group interviews to analyze the relationship between parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of student achievement when electronic communications are used between parents and school. The study revealed that parents and teachers both place a high value on proactive parent involvement. Because proactive involvement does not require parents to be physically at their children’s school, the question of how technology can be used to keep parents involved in their children’s academic lives becomes important. As access to technology continues to expand, the capabilities for connecting parents to schools will continue to grow. As schools invest in websites, phone calling systems, parent portals, online curriculum, and other types of technologies that connect schools to home, research needs to continue to focus on the effectiveness of these technologies to increase parent involvement.     

Confirmatory factor analyses comparing parental involvement frameworks with secondary students

Given the lack of research on measurement models used to operationalize parental involvement with secondary students, the goal of this research is to examine the measurement properties of the three‐domain conceptualization of parental involvement including school‐based involvement, home‐based involvement, and academic socialization, compared to a more nuanced six domain conceptualization school‐based (1) school/parent communication, (2) attending school activities, home‐based (3) home activities, (4) homework help, academic socialization, (5) parent–child communication about education, and (6) parental aspirations for child's education. When comparing the fit among the models, the six‐factor model had best fit indices and indicated varied correlations among the subdomains. The six‐factor model allowed for more nuanced variations among the subdomains that may be helpful when assessing parental involvement with high school students.     

The impact of a collaborative family/school reading programme on student reading rate

Student reading skills are below grade level in many schools and professionals are constantly searching for new ideas to enhance reading curricula. To address this problem in one elementary school, a parent/school reading programme was implemented. Parents were encouraged to increase the amount of time spent reading with their children at home and the school provided easily accessible reading materials, suggestions for encouraging reading at home, prizes and special activities. Programme participants demonstrated a higher increase in reading rate and accuracy than the matched peers. Prior to implementation and at the end of the reading programme, parents and students who chose to participate in the programme reported positive attitudes toward reading together. Implications of these results are discussed and an emphasis is placed on expanding research in the area.     

Home-School Relations in Hong Kong: Separation or Partnership

This article contains an analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data about the perception of both parents and school personnel on parents' participation at different levels of school activities. Findings indicated that most of the school personnel demonstrated unwelcome attitudes towards parent involvement and parents themselves did not like to become school managers either. Both of them expressed the intention of separate responsibilities in school management. It is recommended that schools should develop a school-based strategy to promote home-school cooperation. Besides, there is a need to establish parent schools to educate parents in their rights and responsibilities in participating in school education.     

Attention deficit disorders: characteristics,assessment, and interventions

ABSTRACT

In the United States, there is an increasing prevalence of children who are diagnosed with an attention deficit disorder (ADD). The essential features of ADD are developmentally inappropriate degrees of inattention, impulsivity, and motor hyperactivity. The rate of prevalence could differ in other countries depending on the definition of the condition. This article will review related research in the United States about ADD which will include the following topics: differential diagnosis and assessment, treatment, interventions, and parent training. The overlap of ADD with other handicaps will be described as well as assessment techniques such as interviews, rating scales, and observations. Studies of the efficacy of medication, educational interventions, cognitive‐behavioral strategies, and parent training are reviewed. In the conclusion, suggestions for further research are outlined which may further assist youngsters with ADD to adjust at school, in the home, and in the community.     

校本：学校教科研活动的智慧选择

学校教科研活动存在功利化、形式化、精英化等问题。形成问题原因主要是偏离了“校本轨道”,认识上存在误区,实践上组织不精。校本是学校教科研活动的智慧选择。怎样凸显校本,解决问题,提高学校教科研活动的质量？主要有两项策略,一是确立“师本”理念,即校本教科研的主体是学校的全体教师,解决是的教师教育教学过程中的问题,目标是提升教师专业化水平,促进教育教学质量的提高;二是依据学校特点,开展主题化、多样化的教科研活动,并强化精致管理．提高学校教科研活动的有效性。     

Dynamics of community participation,student achievement and school management: the case of primary schools in a rural area of Malawi

School management in many sub-Saharan African countries has been enhanced through community participation in an attempt to improve education quality. This study uses field research in a rural district of Malawi to assess how community and parent participation differs between schools, the intentions of communities and parents when carrying out activities in schools, and the mechanism promoting active participation in schools. In high-achieving schools, but not in low-achieving schools, communities and parents were actively involved in events aimed at improving student achievement. Communities and parents considered most highly prioritised activities that directly influenced student achievement, including hiring volunteer teachers, arranging extra classes and holding mock examinations. Community participation did not directly improve student achievement. Instead, when communities and parents actively participated in a school, school management improved, ensuring better student achievement. The implications of this finding are discussed in relation to community participation.     

Adolescents' satisfaction with school experiences: Relationships with demographics,attachment relationships,and school engagement behavior

This study investigated the relationships among demographics, parent and peer attachment, school satisfaction, and student engagement behavior in a 1‐year longitudinal study of secondary‐school students. Statistically significant cross‐sectional differences in school satisfaction were observed, based on grade, but not on race, gender, or socioeconomic status. Level of school satisfaction did not moderate the relationships between parent and peer satisfaction and negative student engagement behaviors at Time 2 (controlling for Time 1). School satisfaction did account for significant incremental variance across all levels of parent and peer attachment relationships, although predicting a larger proportion of variance for withdrawal behavior than for resistance/aggression behavior. Adolescents' appraisals of their school satisfaction appear to be an independent predictor of their school engagement behaviors, regardless of the quality of their parent or peer attachment relationships. Limitations of the study as well as implications for future research and educational practice are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Teacher candidates’ opinions and experiences as input for teacher education curriculum development*

The aim of this international study was to generate recommendations for curriculum improvement in family–school partnerships (FSP) by examining teacher candidates’ understandings, attitudes and experiences. A survey of 1144 candidates in their first or final year of preparation at three universities, one each in Belgium, the Netherlands and the USA, provided qualitative and quantitative data regarding their understandings, attitudes about FSP and their experiences in their teacher preparation. The data indicated modest approval of the value of partnerships, understandings of partnerships weighted towards teacher to parent communication, preference for traditional teacher–parent activities over non-traditional choices, and, among final year candidates, mildly positive feelings of preparedness. Candidates wished more interactions with parents during field experiences and practical strategies for communicating with parents. Inferred in their responses was the need for curriculum to develop an expanded view of partnerships, enhance attitudes, especially among secondary education candidates, and cultivate skills in working with families from culturally diverse backgrounds. However, few candidates expressed a desire for exploring theory and research on partnerships or for the opportunity to develop a personal philosophy, components which are thought critical for teachers’ ability to establish partnerships with parents.     

Parent–child pre–school activities can affect the development of literacy skills

This paper considers the nature of joint (parent–child) pre–school activities in the home, and their potential to contribute to the development of early reading skills. Parents gave details of the nature and frequency of any play–based activities that they routinely completed with their children. Their children were assessed on various aspects of phonological awareness, as well as their receptive vocabulary and short–term memory at four years old. One year later they completed a similar battery that also included measures of reading and spelling ability. Children who engaged in a variety of pre–school, parent–child activities showed the best achievement in reading one year later. The frequency of joint activities was also found to impact on reading attainment, vocabulary, memory and aspects of phonological awareness. The importance of shared storybook reading for later independent reading ability was reiterated by this study.     

Social Heteroglossia: The Contentious Practice or Potential Place of Middle-Class Parents in Home–School Relations

Middle-class parents have often been characterized as individualistic in their endeavors with schools and have been shown to advocate to the cultural advantage of their own children with questionable consequences or counter results for the children of others. This research paper situates the activity, influence, and multiple perspectives of the middle class upon school activity, even within a reform effort characterized by and supportive of diversity and community. School people and parent leaders in this research operated under the mandate of promoting partnerships to increase parental involvement and school participation to encourage the social, emotional, and academic growth of children. Findings feature contrasting elements of middle-class activity influencing and structuring home–school relations within a diverse school community. The research illuminates the tensions and possibilities within this urban community, raises questions, and offers alternative interpretations of middle-class activity to a greater degree than usual. The Bakhtinian concept of heteroglossia allows interpretations of the actions and motivations among parents, providing options when parent populations comprise contrasting social groups. The conclusion not only highlights middle-class standards at work within partnership activities but also raises questions about how to best utilize leadership potential of strong cadres of parent volunteers in activities of organizations like PATHWAYS and Parent Teacher Organization.     

An Examination of Family-School Partnership Initiatives in Rural Prekindergarten Programs

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the various ways in which families become involved in state-funded rural prekindergarten programs for children identified as being at-risk for later school failure. Participants were 21 teachers/classrooms in prekindergarten programs located in nine rural Illinois communities. Data were collected over an 18-week period on the various parental involvement and family-school partnership strategies implemented by school personnel, and the patterns of parental participation that occurred in response to the different types of initiatives. Findings indicate that wide variations existed in the parent involvement and family-school partnership initiatives implemented across the nine programs. Results are discussed in terms of future research and program development efforts aimed at helping rural early childhood programs establish effective family-school partnerships.     

An Examination of Family-School Partnership Initiatives in Rural Prekindergarten Programs

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the various ways in which families become involved in state-funded rural prekindergarten programs for children identified as being at-risk for later school failure. Participants were 21 teachers/classrooms in prekindergarten programs located in nine rural Illinois communities. Data were collected over an 18-week period on the various parental involvement and family-school partnership strategies implemented by school personnel, and the patterns of parental participation that occurred in response to the different types of initiatives. Findings indicate that wide variations existed in the parent involvement and family-school partnership initiatives implemented across the nine programs. Results are discussed in terms of future research and program development efforts aimed at helping rural early childhood programs establish effective family-school partnerships.     

The National Network of Partnership Schools: How Research Influences Educational Practice

The National Network of Partnership Schools was initiated in 1996 to assist schools, districts, and states in developing comprehensive programs of school, family, and community partnership as part of their school improvement efforts. Members of the National Network are provided with tools and strategies to implement partnership activities that promote students' success. These tools and strategies are based on over 15 years of research conducted by Epstein and her colleagues at Johns Hopkins University. Through a discussion of the development of the National Network, this article illustrates how research can be used to inform and improve educational practice in schools, districts, and states. It does so by highlighting the center's research on family and community involvement conducted since 1987 with elementary, middle, and high schools; school districts; and state departments of education across the United States. This research generated the knowledge needed to establish the National Network of Partnership Schools, which presently works with over 1,100 schools, 130 districts, and 12 states to help them develop permanent and productive school, family, and community partnership programs.     

‘It should be teamwork’: a critical investigation of school practices and parent advocacy in special education

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) suggests that parents are critical members of the special education system. Through conducting interviews with parents, observing individualised education plan (IEP) meetings, and analysing the discourse between the parent and the professional, this critical qualitative research investigates the parent–school relationship when parents are fighting for more inclusive placements for their children. This study uncovers the bureaucratic processes schools utilise, which do not allow for equitable parent participation in IEP processes including: medical and deficit discourse, professionalised discourse, policy interpretations, and meeting practices. We then describe strategies that parent-advocates use in order to obtain adequate services for their children including: networking, bringing an advocate, and education. We conclude with recommendations for schools and parents which promote enhanced parent–school collaboration throughout IEP planning, with an end goal towards improving educational opportunities for students with disabilities.     

Enriching intimacy: the role of the emotional in the ‘resourcing’ of middle‐class children

This paper analyses qualitative interviews conducted with Norwegian middle‐class parents. It explores how a particular type of intimacy – an enriching intimacy – is produced as part of everyday parent–child interactions and considers the notion of the social self that spurs middle‐class parents to seek this very type of intimacy with their child. By so doing it adds to the growing field of research on middle‐class parents’ child‐rearing strategies and the role these strategies play in the ‘resourcing’ of middle‐class children. The relevance of the dimension of intimacy for studies on the parental effect on children’s school achievement is discussed.