Presents vignettes from grade five, seven, and eight bilingual classrooms with a linguistically and culturally diverse student population, focusing on specific ways that teachers can aid students in constructing meaning in English, promote two-way communication between teacher and student and among students, foster social integration and…

Discusses a conceptual model for understanding the participation of families from culturally diverse backgrounds in the Individualized Education Program/Individualized Family Service Plan process. Predisposing family factors, perceptions of disability, enabling factors, family-professional collaboration, and systemic support are explored, and…

Child-care and health-care professionals joined efforts in the "Healthy Child Care America" campaign to ensure that children are cared for in environments that are safe and healthy. Goals of the campaign include raising awareness of the importance of quality child care, and involving more people in the nationwide effort to improve…

Discussion of literature-based reading programs focuses on a study that investigated the elementary school library media specialist's roles as information specialist, teacher, and instructional consultant during the implementation of a literature-based reading program. Recommendations are offered regarding parents' roles, material selection, and…

Offers guidelines for school districts planning to add computer technology, especially local area networks (LANs). Topics include electricity for laboratories, networkable software, hard drives, file servers, computer classes for parents, laboratory technicians, telephones, facilities considerations, inservice teacher training, access issues,…

Considers the effect of an integrated, interdisciplinary curriculum on student achievement, discipline, behavior, and parental involvement. Although an integrated curriculum is not an educational panacea, the results of this study were generally positive. The field site was a comprehensive high school in a lower middle class neighborhood. (MJP)

Notes that young adolescents arrive at school greatly influenced by their home environments and are then influenced by school experiences. Notes that students with risk factors at home and school have difficulty succeeding. Recounts story of a young adolescent male to illustrate impact of school and home on school performance, highlighting the…

Problem behaviors were examined for 404 American Indian and White secondary school students living on or near a rural reservation. Patterns of behavior and psychological problems differed between American Indians and Whites, between males and females, and between teacher versus parent and youth reports. Cultural considerations and potential…

A rural Missouri school district considered student records and parents' and teachers' needs in formulating changes to accommodate its increasing Hispanic population. Teachers took Spanish classes at an area college; limited English speaking students took special English classes; small group instruction, mentors, and peer helpers were used; and a…

Reports on data from national review of preschool service provision for deaf children and their families in the United Kingdom. Presents families' responses to early identification; information available after identification; perceptions of partnerships with professionals; and value of family-centered services for themselves, for their children,…

This study examines resilience among a sample of American Indian adolescents living on or near reservations in the upper Midwest. Data are from a baseline survey of 212 youth (115 boys and 97 girls) who were enrolled in the fifth through eighth grades. Based upon the definition of resilience, latent class analyses were conducted to identify youth…

In this article, the author takes an inside look at efforts in Worcester, Massachusetts to offer families the opportunities promised by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Worcester is the third largest school system in the state of Massachusetts, serving roughly 25,000 students in 46 public schools (36 elementary, 4 middle, 5 high, and one…

This study examined African American and White ninth grade students' aspirations for college attendance, utilizing the predisposition stage of Hossler and Gallegher's (1987) model of college choice as a conceptual framework. This study also introduced a measure of student perceptions of how well high school was preparing them for college. Findings…

Permanency planning for infants with prenatal substance exposure is challenging due to characteristics of the infants and the ongoing substance use or relapse of the parents. Visitation is a primary mechanism through which child welfare workers determine and support permanency planning. Productive use of visitation for permanency planning for…

Measures of Chinese character recognition, vocabulary, and interest in reading were administered to 92 second grade children in Hong Kong, while questionnaires on parental literacy practices were administered to their parents. In a hierarchical regression equation, maternal education, children's age and vocabulary skill predicted 18% of the…