This article explores the All-Day Neighborhood Schools (ADNS) program, operated as a partnership between the New York City Board of Education and local philanthropists from 1936 to 1971. Designed to expand the resources available to children and parents, the program included after-school activities, additional teachers, professional development,…

Even though choice is not officially a feature in the German primary school system, some parents intervene in determining which school their child attends. Especially in urban contexts, the informal school market is growing. This demand is based on promises with respect to a certain quality of education as well as on issues that prevail in certain…

In this special issue exploring parents' responses to neoliberal policy changes, especially shifting notions of risk and responsibility, this article provides a historical account of local and national policy initiatives in the contemporary United States that have increased risk and placed responsibility for this risk on the shoulders of parents…

Families in deindustrialized cities with high crime rates report prioritizing school safety when opting for charter schools. Yet, very little research has investigated whether charter schools are safer than traditional public schools. This study compares charter and traditional public schools in Detroit, Michigan, on perceived school safety by…

With a qualitative approach drawing from four focus groups, this study explored what aspects of preschool are valued most by 30 low-income Latino/a immigrant parents with children enrolled in a state-funded preschool program in Texas. Beyond the push and pull factors of necessity, convenience, and supply, parents reported valuing the…

As cities across the country experience an influx of White and middle- to upper-class residents, new opportunities for the integration of urban schools emerge. Yet crucial challenges persist even when equity and inclusion are a focus for new stakeholders. This article explores the story of a largely White group of parents committed to investing in…

"How to Walk to School" is the story--from the highs to the lows--of motivated neighborhood parents galvanizing and then organizing an entire community to take a leap of faith, transforming a challenged urban school into one of Chicago's best, virtually overnight. The fate of public education is not beyond our control. In "How to…

Professional family child care providers' work with children from birth through age five can be exemplary, particularly with regard to building stable and substantive relational ties. Such long-term engagements with client children and their families offer potential for strong partnership with families and local contexts over time. This paper…

By using Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping software to combine health and crime data with data from 20 schools in one Southeastern district, the study explores whether and how neighborhood conditions affect school-community arrangements. Findings show that the nature of the relationships and the strategies principals and teachers use to…

This article poses the central question, How do neighborhoods (specifically, different public housing designs) shape parents' social interactions and social networks? To answer this question, we interviewed families residing in a HOPE VI neighborhood and an adjacent Section 8 apartment complex, all of whom had at least one child attending the…

This paper describes a research project that uses Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and cultural and social capital to penetrate how middle-class parents exercise influence and form positive relationships at the neighbourhood public school that serves various ethno-cultural groups of students. One group of white, economically privileged…

Describes successful site-based parent/community involvement program at Central School District of San Bernardino County, California. (PKP)

Implementation of the Parent Involvement Program at a low income neighborhood primary school involved training teachers; selecting and training the home-school liaison person and involving parents. Since its inception in 1979 participation of the approximately 400 parents in parent teacher conferences increased from about 0.5% to 100% and…

This article presents research on the school choice processes and practices in a large urban district on the West Coast. It shares the stories of three mothers' experiences with public school choice and tells how, through the process of choosing schools for their children, they became participants in the inequities and inequalities of the…

Neighborhood-based independent schools are more satisfactory than idealistic attempts to achieve an equitable education for minority and disadvantaged children within public institutions. Instead of assimilation, there is acute alienation from schooling for a large proportion of minority students in poor urban neighborhoods as majority-culture…