Introduction: This article investigates an early STEM family engagement program offered during the pre-kindergarten (pre-k) year. Pre-k is an important juncture for community organizations to support children's STEM engagement and parental involvement in informal STEM learning. We evaluated a program called Teaching Together STEM, which offers a…

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' (CMS) Parent University is an innovative, collaborative initiative designed to engage parents in their children's education. Working with community partners, Parent University offers unique courses and workshops such as Parenting Awareness, Helping Your Child Learn in the 21st Century, Health and Wellness, and…

The purpose of this article is to share results of an exploratory qualitative research study designed to shed light on experiences of an interdisciplinary group of elementary school staff and graduate students in a school-based services project. A researcher conducted 20 interviews with staff and graduate students who represented the fields of…

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

The Comprehensive Early Childhood Education Network is designed to encourage increased community support and influence in schools by providing information about existing early childhood programs to community members and school staffs. Information dissemination, observation of ongoing programs, and project monitoring are planned and supervised by…

Compares the Schools Reaching Out programs at two elementary schools in Roxbury (MA) and New York City with four similar projects elsewhere. Describes how an intervenor not involved with the ordinary operation of the school can help design, direct, motivate, and assess a school outreach program. (DM)

For the first time ever, Citizen Through Sports Alliance (CTSA) convened a panel of youth sports experts from across the country to evaluate youth sports in the United States and articulate its successes and failures. The panel evaluated only community-based youth sports programs, focusing on those that serve children ages 6 to 14. The panel is…

This book addresses family literacy as a theoretically sound field of research and practice that can be used to improve literacy worldwide. The book's 14 chapters are divided into four sections. Following the "Introduction" (Andrea DeBruin-Parecki and Barbara Krol-Sinclair), under Section I--Theoretical Perspectives Related to Family…

This booklet first looks at principles in evaluating services for people with mental retardation and strategies for evaluating and monitoring community services. It then describes two programs which involve parents/families in the evaluation and monitoring of community services in New Zealand. Basic principles include the importance of written…

Describes the development and evaluation of a community-based program that provided an alternative to residential care by providing "wraparound" services to children with moderate to severe emotional difficulties. Program goals were preventing admission to residential care, maintaining children in the area, and assisting in early…

The Child First Authority (CFA) is a Baltimore (Maryland) community-wide after-school program that seeks to improve the quality of life in low socioeconomic status communities. The CFA, which is funded by local government agencies and coordinated by Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), established after-school programs in 10…

This Tennessee State policy is designed to provide positive learning outcomes for young children and promote parent involvement and the coordination of services for children and families. Introductory material underscores the importance of early learning, summarizes results of preschool intervention programs such as Head Start, and identifies…

The four initial general goals of the projects, funded under Title I of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act, are: (1) to raise the achievement level of the target group children; (2) to increase the overall participation of parents in school related affairs; (3) to attempt to influence parents' competence in dealing with their everyday…

This report is an evaluation of the Georgia Prekindergarten Program established during the 1992-93 school year. The program aimed to enhance community services, family well-being, and developmental and educational opportunities for 4-year-olds, targeting children who were eligible for public assistance or referred by a social service agency.…

Data from a stratified random sample of full-year 1967-1968 and summer 1968 Head Start programs were re-analyzed to compare centers operated by local educational agencies (LEA) and community action agencies (CAA). The analyses indicated that CAA-operated programs were more likely to report parent participation in decision making and as paid staff,…