This practicum was designed to improve communication between the mostly low-income, Hispanic parents and the non-Hispanic staff of a school-based preschool program. Parents of the program's 20 children were surveyed to determine what factors might encourage their participation in school functions. Parents were also interviewed by telephone and in…

This practicum was designed to address declining parental participation in school functions and activities at a middle school, along with a low level of parental involvement or interest in their children's education. A year-long parental involvement program was developed that encouraged parents to: (1) interact with their children and their…

A program implemented in a rural elementary school in Florida had the goal of increasing parental involvement of students in grades 1, 4, and 5. The majority of students in the school were black, came from single-parent homes, and were considered low-income. Prior to program implementation, a parent survey revealed that of 53 parents, 21 read to…

This practicum was designed to strengthen preschool and elementary school teachers' abilities and commitment to working with parents and including them as active participants in the education of their children. It sought to help teachers identify beliefs about involving parents in the classroom and school, and to develop materials and activities…

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 paper reports on the implementation and results of a program that addressed the problem of aggressive behavior among students at an urban elementary school. Program objectives were to bring about a decline in the number of referrals written for students' aggressive behavior; an increase of parents' supervision of children's media consumption;…

A parent education component was planned and implemented as part of a university-based preschool program in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers-The State University. Goals of the practicum were to survey parents to identify topics of interest to them; to develop a parent education program focused on topics identified by parents; to sensitize…

A model program was designed and implemented to effectively develop and maintain communication skills in the children of an urban K-6 school. The goals of the program were to reverse a trend in under-achievement in five academic areas, to identify and develop potential in communication skills in two targeted groups of children, to create staff…

This report discusses the implementation of a parent education program in a Long Island community. A questionnaire, which addressed the community's need for information for parents on child care services, was sent to the community's child care facilities. Responses indicated that parents had difficulty in locating an early childhood program, and…

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 report describes the development and implementation of a program to increase parent participation in the planning and conducting of activities sponsored by the district-level special education parent advisory committee. Monthly meetings and social events were held to encourage the 250 special education families to be more involved…

This practicum sought to combat the problem of decreasing readiness skills and overall general knowledge of entering kindergarten students, by developing and implementing an integrated parent involvement program for regular and special education classes in preschool and kindergarten. The first phase involved parents and children in a home-based…

As a practicum project, an elementary school counselor developed and implemented a parent education program centered on the use of parents as models and peer facilitators for other parents. Based upon a survey of parents' self-professed needs, the program focused on parenting skills designed to help children avoid such high-risk behaviors as…

This practicum addresses the problem of limited interaction between physical therapists and families of developmentally delayed/physically impaired preschool-age children. A program was developed in which the physical therapist was videotaped handling and exercising a child, while explaining the purpose of the movements and instructing the parent…

This practicum was designed to increase nurturing relationships between primary caregivers and infants prenatally exposed to cocaine. Goals were to increase the general emotional well-being of the caregivers within the family unit, to increase the interpersonal competence of the caregivers in relation to the care receiving infants, and to increase…