Fathers make important contributions to children's learning and development; however, schools and community organizations consistently report challenges to engaging fathers in their work. As part of a larger community-based participatory research project, a local fatherhood coalition created and distributed a survey to learn how various…

Family-focused early learning programs aim to assist parents in supporting their young children language and literacy development. This study examined program access and learning opportunities for diverse families across a wide range of community-based settings in one eastern Canadian province. As well, the study examined practitioners'…

Although researchers have found that family involvement impacts educational outcomes for children, there remains a dearth of knowledge regarding the connection between strengthening families and children's academic success. This study examined what parents' perceptions regarding the internal and external factors that strengthen families who face…

As a growing number of young children across the country are using media and interactive technology on a daily basis, the conversation has shifted from whether technology is appropriate to use at all to how it should be used to best support children's early language and literacy development. A new brief released today, Integrating Technology in…

This is the final external evaluation report prepared by SRI International for the Rural Math Excel Partnership (RMEP) project, an investing in innovation (i3) development project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Operated by Virginia Advanced Study Strategies, Inc. (VASS), the RMEP project included six rural school districts (LEAs) in…

Developed to provide assistance in the building of an effective home-based program for Head Start children and their families, this handbook may serve as a blueprint for parent-focused home visits that assist the child and family to meet their special needs. Chapter one focuses on the home visitation model for providing services to families and…

A study of nine families and three service coordinators examined whether a family's level of satisfaction improves when the service coordination they receive adheres to a family-centered model. Results indicate a high degree of family satisfaction and a low degree of dissatisfaction when the model was adequately implemented. (Author/CR)

This practicum report describes development of a system of family support services for 56 parents of preschool handicapped children (ages birth to 3) in an early intervention setting. A preliminary survey was administered to determine family needs. A family support group was then developed which met monthly for fellowship, networking, work…

A series of self-study questions is presented to examine policy and practice issues important in developing culturally competent programs for children with special needs and their families. Cultural competence refers to a program's ability to honor and respect the beliefs, interpersonal styles, attitudes, and behaviors both of families who are…

The Families Matter series of papers from the Harvard Family Research Project advances the concept of family-centered child care, advocating an approach to early childhood education that addresses the development of the child and family together. Grounded in family support principles, which build on family strengths and work from a community's…

The structure and function of family literacy programming in Illinois is examined in this two-part report. National models are reviewed to provide an understanding of research and practice in the field, and a framework is proposed for the systematic development and evaluation of family literacy programs. Based on visits to 19 sites (59% of the…

This guide assists in establishing a collaborative unit or a task group to deliver services to children and youth with serious emotional disabilities and their families. The guide is not intended to be an exhaustive manual, but does address the primary activities of professionals using interagency collaboration to establish comprehensive systems…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of Project Ta-Kos Outreach, a 3-year program to provide consultation and site-specific training for families, educators, and health care providers. Project Ta-kos, through its curriculum and training approach, was designed to increase the probability that children, ages birth through eight…

This manual on development of transition planning programs/services for high school youth with disabilities and their families is based on the premises that both youth and family members need to be actively involved in every step of the transition planning process, that empowered families can access necessary transition and adult services needed…

This final report describes the Case Method of Instruction (CMI) Project, a project to develop, field test, and disseminate training materials to facilitate the use of the Case Method of Instruction by inservice and preservice instructors in developmental disabilities. CMI project activities focused on developing a collection of case stories and…