Largely missing from debates about family values, childcare, education, and the future of children is the complex vocation called "parenthood." This book examines parenthood in the home, the community, and in society, and identifies parental stressors that have increased since the 1960s, calling on stakeholders to provide help with…

Examines the question of crossing cultures in early childhood education settings. Suggests that parenting education should focus on clarifying parents' values and goals rather than on socializing them into the standard early childhood perspectives. Suggests that early childhood educators help people clarify their cultural values and examine how…

Describes a collaborative in which graduate students who were learning about participatory research and cultural diversity in the classroom worked with middle school students who were learning about research. The paper examines the stories of six middle school research clubs, focusing on collaborative interactions between researchers and students.…

Asserts that, although minority groups have made progress in educational attainment, they still face barriers to higher education. Reviews statistical data from two national studies. Finds that, once background characteristics are held constant, minority parents make as much, if not more, effort to save money and support their children as do white…

Maintains that negative stereotypes of Arabs permeate U.S. popular culture. Discusses Arab stereotypes among educators and the effects of stereotyping on Arab American students. Describes efforts used in the Dearborn, MI, schools to eliminate stereotypes and integrate into the curriculum the study of Arab culture. (CFR)

Many disadvantaged students show incipient excellence underlying perceived errors in literacy performance. The paper examines research on helping teachers think more generatively about increasingly diverse student populations. Preservice teachers can be taught to handle multicultural classrooms by interpreting problematic student performance in…

This longitudinal case study focused on the learning trajectories of two novice bilingual education teachers in urban schools. The changes in and relationships between the teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and interactive thinking about teaching culturally diverse learners was traced. Results have implications for the design of teacher education…

Describes a school-university collaboration that developed alternative teaching strategies for motivating inner-city, African-American middle school students (effort-based grading, multiple performance opportunities, increased student responsibility/choice, and validation of cultural differences). Observations, teacher journals, and student…

Shares the personal feelings of a Navajo woman who, as a child, had to squeeze her spirituality (which permeated all she did) into the inflexible, stifling mainstream curriculum. This education had little to do with justice, peace, and aliveness and had no connection with the spirit she brought from home. (SM)

This contribution compares entries on Friedrich Froebel and the kindergarten in German and United States' histories of education from 1857 to 1933. In the American histories, Froebel appears as the great "hero" of education of the 19th century, whereas in the German histories, Pestalozzi is the "hero." This difference in the…

Arguing that globalization has been conceived of largely in economic terms this article examines the possibility of a global curriculum in the light of Touraine's assertion that the major global problem is not economic but social: can we live together? I argue that a global curriculum conceived in social terms is possible and that it will involve:…

This paper investigates the nature of the mismatch caused by culture-based differences in perceptions and expectations of L2 teaching and learning style preferences between Irish English teachers and Chinese students. A survey was conducted which included a questionnaire, interview and class observation at two language institutes in Dublin,…

This book provides an introduction to early intervention programs, focusing on programs that reflect a transactional model of family-centered services employing collaborative and interdisciplinary techniques. Chapter 1 presents the historical context of early intervention services. Chapter 2 defines the various disabilities and risk conditions.…

This book presents information on parent and family conferencing skills to assist classroom teachers in becoming involved in helping parents and families contend with the various issues they routinely confront when raising and living with a child with a disability. Part 1, "The Family of the Child with an Exceptionality," discusses the impact of…

This book presents the Contextual Systems Model (CSM), a theoretical framework for the study and education of young children at risk for failing at formal schooling. Chapter 1, "Contemporary Children and Risk," provides a demographic snapshot of the realities of children's lives and introduces formal concepts regarding risk and risk…