Parent engagement is one approach to decrease the opportunity gap for Black, American Indian, and all children of color. This report from the field describes the use of the World Café participatory approach to support parent engagement in five early childhood, culturally embedded Montessori programs. Serving the Whole Child (SWC) is a…

Despite the wealth of evidence that early learning opportunities are crucial for young children in crisis, little evidence shows a commensurate commitment to early childhood development (ECD) provision in refugee and humanitarian programming. The Kyaka II refugee settlement in Uganda is a case in point. Home to over 125,000 Congolese refugees,…

Tom Loew says that East Dallas Community Schools have been creating beautiful and functional environments for decades, but developing Bachman Lake Community School was more than creating a school. They also had to establish a community center, scale up staff quickly, service a wide number of families, leverage Montessori training and related…

We describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive preschool to third grade prevention program for the goals of sustaining services at a large scale. The Midwest Child-Parent Center (CPC) Expansion is a multilevel collaborative school reform model designed to improve school achievement and parental involvement from ages…

Shifts are occurring in discourses regarding childcare, creating changes in the development of early childhood education programmes. Childcare, as an important "investment" for the future success of nation-states, is a discourse recently developed across a variety of political arenas, both globally and in local governing bodies and…

In this chapter Dr. Cochran uses an empirically based overarching conceptual framework linking historical patterns, current policy goals and intervening influences as a tool for understanding the policy and program outcomes manifested in the early education programs of representative Western countries (Australia, France, Italy, Sweden). Policy…

In late 1999, philanthropist Susie Buffett wanted to make the smartest possible investment to improve public education in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. She and her then-foundation president, Dan Pedersen, spoke with Superintendent John Mackiel regarding how he would choose to use private funds to enhance opportunities for Omaha's 46,000…

Programmatic initiatives for fathers have grown rapidly in early childhood settings during the past decade. This article reviews the research literature on attitudes about father involvement in programs, patterns of father involvement, studies about program development, outcome studies, and correlates of father involvement in programs.…

Guidelines for planning and conducting a series of parent awareness workshops are offered in this paper. Parent awareness programs consist of efforts to involve parents in the education of their children through collaboration with teachers. Phases of planning with parents as partners are discussed in the first part of the paper. Planning…

Surveyed programs for young children in six states to identify how they included fathers. Determined barriers to fathers' participation in such programs, including work schedules, sex differences in interactional styles, and power issues. Gleaned suggestions for facilitating fathers' participation in children's programs, including recognizing…

In early childhood education, there is a growing trend towards greater involvement of parents as educators, as paid and volunteer staff, as decision makers, and as resources. The purpose of this paper is to consider the origins of the trend towards parent involvement, to describe its various forms, and to present some policy implications. Parent…

This guide is designed to help parents make important decisions in the development of the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which outlines the partnership between the family with a special needs child and the practitioners who provide early intervention services. The guide begins with a definition of an IFSP, followed by discussions of:…

Article considered reasons why projects are attempting to involve parents in child development. (Author/RK)

Participants in the Dad's Day at the Center for Young Children program meet on Saturday mornings for a series of 12 sessions which combine play and discussion group activities. The first hour of each session is structured so that fathers and their 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children can spend time together experiencing new toys, foods, arts, and games…

Outlined are areas to consider when conceptualizing and planning programs and activities for parents of handicapped children as part of an early education program, and briefly described is a family involvement model for use in a demonstration program for multiply handicapped children. Five major dimensions along which an early education program…