A practicum was designed to increase participation of families in home-school literacy activities. The school was located in a suburban village in the northeastern United States. Data indicated that many families of first- and second-grade minority students who were bused to the school for integration purposes were not participating in home-school…

A practicum was designed to increase parents' participation in the education of their children by involving parents and teachers in a concentrated program of experiences and activities. The setting for the practicum was an elementary school for kindergarten through third grade, where teacher surveys, parent meetings, workshop attendance, and…

This practicum was designed to meet the needs of elementary school students making the transition to middle school. Incoming grade 6 students from five K-5 feeder schools were receiving insufficient articulation from the new middle school to permit them to make a smooth transition. An intervention program was developed and instituted which…

This practicum was designed to improve communication among parents, teachers, and sixth-grade students who were housed in an elementary building due to school crowding. A telephone answering machine allowed students and parents to access information about homework, classwork, and upcoming events during evening hours. Additional parent outreach…

A practicum was designed for parents to acquire the understanding, skills, resources, materials, and wherewithal to support the emergent literacy development of their children on exiting the Head Start program to be successful in kindergarten. A simple, cost-effective, comprehensive, multidimensional project including Parent Workshops, a…

The practicum was designed to increase positive parenting skills and parental participation in American Indian pre-school classroom activities. Data collection and observations were methods employed to determine outcomes of the practicum. Twenty resources from tribal efforts across early childhood programming were cited along with periodical…

A practicum was designed to increase the lines of positive and effective communication between parents and teachers in a preschool setting. Poor parent-teacher communication (due to lack of knowledge or experience) was documented. The program sought to improve communication regarding the child's developmental and personal progress. The 8-month…

The need to provide elementary school teachers with effective parent involvement strategies for hard-to-reach parents was addressed by designing an inservice for teachers which presented research-based strategies. Strategies included using a positive, non-threatening approach, employing personal, two-way communication, providing guidance and…

This practicum focused on the problem of lack of involvement of the parents of 32 mainstreamed fifth grade students with special learning needs. Evening workshops were conducted for parents and their at-risk, mainstreamed students in fifth grade. Sessions focused on the use of computers, manipulatives, make and take home instructional games, study…

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…

A practicum was designed to address the discrepancies in educational and behavioral expectations and priorities noted on parent and staff surveys at a rural elementary school. The survey of parents (n=261) indicated parents' need and desire for education and training in helping their children at home. The goal of the project was to implement an…

An elementary school principal implemented a practicum to improve school-home communication at a school where administrators believed that a history of poor communication between parents and teachers negatively influenced the school's academic and parent involvement programs. Specific practicum goals were to improve: (1) school-home communication…

This practicum reports on the development of a support network for parents (n=34) of students with learning disabilities at a private rural elementary school. The program focuses on providing essential information to parents and increasing their involvement within the school setting. The program involved: (1) monthly meetings of parents; (2)…

The practicum reported here addressed the difficulty some newly-immigrated Spanish-speaking, limited-English-proficient high school students experience in adjusting to a new culture, putting them at risk of dropping out of school. A program was designed for this population in a suburban high school with a substantial and increasing immigrant…

Noting that many early childhood practitioners have difficulty understanding and articulating how developmentally appropriate practices in their programs contribute to students' kindergarten readiness, this report details the implementation and evaluation of practicum experiences designed to improve preschool teachers' developmentally appropriate…