Evaluation of parent involvement in the following ten early childhood programs in the Philadelphia school district is presented: (1) Child Care (CC); (2) Head Start (HS); (3) Parent Nursery (PN); (4) Get Set (GS); (5) Durham Child Development Center (DCD); (6) Preschool Child Development Project (PCD); (7) Original Follow Through (OFT); (8) Follow…

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…

Describes ways that teachers in schools can help parents understand how children become readers and writers in order to build support for emergent literacy programs. Discusses classroom newsletters and parent workshops. (SR)

Guidelines developed by the Austin Early Childhood Special Education Program are provided for training parents to observe and participate in the classroom. Described is a four-session program in which small groups of parents view a videotape, observe in a classroom other than their child's, and finally observe in their own child's classroom.…

Describes a toy-lending library program developed jointly by a school district and a women's club in order to aid the development of preschool children and to encourage parents' participation and understanding of their child's educational and emotional development. (JG)

This project came about after discussions with the general manager of the Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association and Jeanette Clarkin-Phillips (University of Waikato) about setting up a research partnership to support the teachers at Taitoko Kindergarten in Levin. The teachers were establishing an integrated community centre (the whanau…

The parent component of the Austin Early Childhood Special Education Program is described. Goals of the program are seen to include providing parents with emotional support, knowledge, and skill development. Intake, needs assessment, counseling, home visits, parent conferences, and training workshops for parents are considered. Nearly half of the…

Parent education at an Australian Montessori School has several levels. The early childhood level focuses on parent expectations, program philosophy, goals, and operation. Parents of six- to nine-year-olds gain trust in the curriculum through workshops, class observations, and teacher meetings. Parents of 9- to 12-year-olds appreciate the added…

This manual offers detailed guidelines for parent group trainers who conduct workshops on problem solving, math, and science for parents of young children. In addition, discussion starters, a list of hands-on activities, directions for drawing and using a poster, and learning activities for children are described. Counting books are briefly…

Containing many handouts for parents, this manual for parent group trainers provides guidelines for conducting workshops on the nature and value of young children's play and on regulating children's television viewing. In addition to the guidelines, the manual offers basic information about play, suggests hands-on activities, and provides a list…

Three papers describe parent and staff resources from the Macomb (Illinois) 0-3 Regional Project, a home based program for rural handicapped and high risk infants and toddlers. The development of toy workshops to help parents construct materials for their children is described. Two bibliographies are presented. The first, intended for parents,…

A university early childhood laboratory school was making a transition from an academic orientation to one focusing on developmentally appropriate practices. This practicum was implemented to improve parents' awareness of developmentally appropriate programs by means of workshop sessions. The goal was to increase their knowledge of what is…

This guide for leaders of parent workshops is based on the Getting Involved booklets (which suggest ways parents of children in Head Start, day care, and other preschool programs can support children's learning through everyday family activities using materials at hand). This workshop leaders' guide offers suggestions for helping parents become…

This practicum involved an effort to improve the quality of infant/toddler care and education in a family dayhome setting. An attempt was made to increase the dayhome administrator's and parents' knowledge of infant/toddler development, age appropriate curriculum/material selection and parent/school communication. Direct observation of family…

Detailed guidelines for conducting a workshop on attitudes toward learning are offered to parent group trainers. The purpose of the workshop is to help parents help their children feel good about learning. Featured are a discussion of the importance of attitudes toward learning, the relationship of attitudes to self-esteem, hands-on learning…