Parents have the wonderful opportunity and responsibility for nurturing children. This digest presents resources that will enable parents to fulfill their responsibility for developing their children's abilities to do mathematics, while at the same time encouraging more positive attitudes towards mathematics. The resources are divided into three…

This digest considers quality in early childhood programs from four perspectives. The top-down perspective, or adults' perspective, on program quality takes into account such program characteristics as adult-child ratio, staff qualifications, and health and hygiene procedures. The bottom-up perspective, or the children's perspective, hinges on…

This digest explains why teacher comments on report cards are important, offers suggestions on how to construct effective comments, points out words or phrases to be cautious about using, and indicate sources of information for report card comments. Teacher comments are important in that they often convey information that is not completely…

Homework is a leading factor for improving academic performance among students who have the ability to work independently and adequate parental support to complete homework assignments. When parents are interested in children's homework, students are more likely to successfully complete their assignments. Teacher support is also necessary to…

Research provides insight into parent attributes that support partnerships with teachers. These attributes include warmth, sensitivity, nurturance, the ability to listen, consistency, positive self-image, personal competence, and effective interpersonal skills. Researchers have cited positive attitudes, continuous teacher training, involvement in…

Recent studies suggest that the involvement of parents and teachers with young children provides natural opportunities for modeling and nurturing positive cultural attitudes. Strategies that support children's multicultural learning within a context of family involvement are of three types. The first of these is parent education and support.…

Research provides insight into parent attributes that support partnerships with teachers. These attributes include warmth, sensitivity, nurturance, the ability to listen, consistency, positive self-image, personal competence, and effective interpersonal skills. Researchers have cited positive attitudes, continuous teacher training, involvement in…

Parent-teacher conferences sometimes become a cause for concern for everyone involved. This Spanish-language ERIC Digest outlines ways to improve communication during parent-teacher conferences. Suggestions are offered to help parents participate more effectively in conferences, including identifying what is being done to help a child overcome a…

Parent-teacher conferences sometimes become a cause for concern for everyone involved. This Digest outlines ways to improve communication during parent-teacher conferences. Suggestions are offered to help parents participate more effectively in conferences, including identifying what is being done to help a child overcome a problem, examining the…

The digest explores the rights as well as the responsibilities of parents of handicapped children in the special education process. Rights include a free appropriate public education, notification regarding evaluation or change in placement, informed consent, independent evaluation, review of all records, participation in the Individualized…

Parents and teachers share responsibility for creating a working relationship that fosters children's learning. This digest examines the cultural context for parent-teacher relationships, suggests some general strategies for creating a climate in which misunderstandings and disagreements between parents and teachers can be minimized through…

Teachers and other professionals providing education-related services to exceptional children from different cultural backgrounds need to be aware of unique perspectives or communication styles common to those cultures, and need to be sensitive to the different values, experiences, and beliefs about special education that may be held by members of…

Because family and school represent the primary environments in which young children grow and develop, it is important to build and maintain strong parent participation in preschool education. Teachers can plan parent participation strategies to give equal consideration to the needs of all families represented in a class. Teachers can plan for…

This digest discusses the problems that service providers and family members from different cultural backgrounds may encounter when planning for students with disabilities. It begins by identifying the following assumptions that underlie a clinical perspective of disability: disability is a physical phenomenon, disability is an individual…

This ERIC digest discusses strategies for recognizing and nurturing giftedness in young children in the regular classroom. It begins by describing giftedness and providing a list of characteristics common in gifted four-, five-, and six-year-olds. The use of portfolios for identifying giftedness is discussed, along with the benefits of consulting…