Examines ways to help boys and afternoon attenders to experience as positive a start to nursery education as girls and morning attenders. Highlights adults' key role in helping children develop personal and social skills and the need for home/school partnership. Discusses the implications of gender for play and classroom organization. (nine…

Discusses family school cooperation in Western Europe historically and today. Stresses the importance of cooperation especially at the primary school level. Attributes the swing toward parental involvement in the 1970s to social unrest linked with demands for participatory democracy, new research results revealing family influences on…

Presents a cooperative activity between home and school in which parents and students examine the growth of a variety of bulbs. Bulbs are taken home to sprout and returned to school to monitor their growth. Students gather data, hone observation and graphing skills, and communicate with their parents on the project. (MDH)

Middle school students need support in transitioning from childhood into adolescence, and a realignment of families, schools, and communities is important. The 1989 Carnegie Council Task Force report recommends re-engaging families and communities to help middle school students. The paper discusses how to enhance family and community involvement.…

Describes the social construction of parental expectations for kindergarten and first grade in a school community. Focuses on the ideas developed between home and school and between grade levels. Connections are made between these local ideas and the expectations of children as they begin their school careers. (Author)

One goal of the Success for All program is that each student in high poverty schools will achieve at or near grade level by the third grade. Describes and gives the rationale behind the program's Family Support Team component, which is concerned with attendance intervention, home visits, parent involvement, and integration with community agencies.…

Describes how parents in two communities constructed their roles in a social context shaped by economic resources, local notions of home-school relations, and information networks. Examines parenting as a social activity internalized by individuals through their daily interactions. Shows how family-role perceptions and school practices are…

Advocates further revision of the developmentally appropriate practice guidelines of the National Association for the Education of Young Children to more fully recognize the implications of cultural and linguistic diversity and racial equality for the education of young children. Focuses on culture and universality, parent-professional…

Examined mothers' and fathers' responses on the Maternal Separation Anxiety Scale (MSAS) and ability of parental characteristics to predict parents' responses. Found that mothers reported greater separation anxiety and employment-related separation concerns and more positive perceptions of separation effects than fathers. Relations between…

Describes the Elma School District (Washington) birth-to-kindergarten program. One-fourth of the 100 students in the program are developmentally delayed. Family-focus elements include parent volunteers, home visits, class visitations, parenting information dissemination, parent-teacher conferences, referral to social services, and intervention.…

Examines the relative role of selected risk and protective factors on students' achievement and affective investment in schooling with middle and high school students (N=582) involved in Communities in Schools. Teacher support was found to have a greater impact than home status and home academic culture risk on educational investment and the only…

Twenty Australian couples with a child with a disability, and 20 matched controls, were interviewed about employment status, reasons for their status, and attitudes toward parenting. More mothers of children with disabilities were engaged in part-time employment, with the medical needs of the child reported as being an important consideration.…

Reviews early education practices that respect families' effects on child development, acknowledges families as decision makers, and supports families' role in educating and caring for children. Discusses three principles for family-centered practice and describes continuing challenges and opportunities suggested in the research findings. Charts…

Describes basic issues regarding the education and counseling of Muslims. Several issues emerged for concern including home/school relations, family values, peer relations and dating, and curriculum problems. Reviews ability of school counselors to distinguish between culturally appropriate and inappropriate counseling practices in attempt to…

Analyzed data from a 1996 end-of-the-year survey that updated information on schools in the National Network of Partnership Schools, which was designed to build comprehensive programs of school, family, and community partnerships. Results indicated that five ingredients were crucial for partnership success: active and supportive action teams,…