Discusses guidelines for providing quality direct services to Head Start families. Suggests that nonjudgmental attitudes, empathy, instruction, reinforcement, shaping, removal of barriers, contracting referral, advocacy, and other helping skills permit effective direct services. Proposes FNA (family needs assessment) as a valuable tool with which…

Examines poverty rates among families with children in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Compares the United States' rates to each of these countries to highlight the role of sickness insurance, child allowances, child support, income-tested social assistance, unemployment…

Provides a historical overview of parents as educators in ancient times and the middle ages. Discusses influential theories of child rearing in the United States and the history of parent education, particularly the focus on parent education that emerged in federal programs in the 1960s. Notes the continuing need for school-home collaboration in…

This article proposes criteria for selecting Spanish-speaking interpreters for communicating with families of students being considered for special education placement. It discusses responsibilities of interpreters, potential problems in using interpreters, and elements of a management system and training program for interpreters and school…

Describes ways in which Hawaii's Kamehameha Prekindergarten Education Program (PREP) considers culture in developing program components. PREP makes connections to the home culture an ongoing process. Incorporating culture into educational activities for preschoolers occurs in three areas: making connections through familiar materials, language,…

Discusses circumstances that lead to a child's sudden departure from a school. Provides school administrators and teachers with suggestions for ways to ease children's sudden departure from a school. (BB)

Summarizes the results of a study of parents' perceptions of their preschool children's emergent literacy. Notes similarities and differences between the perceptions of parents with high and low literacy levels. Suggests ways in which parents' perceptions can be used to develop effective home-school partnerships. (BB)

Presents the first in a series of profiles on teachers who have attempted educational change, describing how a New Jersey elementary teacher eased the transition process for a burgeoning population of immigrant children. Her multicultural strategy involved in-class learning centers and immigrant parent mentors for new arrivals and their families.…

Low-income parents and children unaccustomed to a school environment are made to feel welcome in the Buffalo Public Schools' Parent Center. Parents are guided-through classes, discussions, and take-home computers-to be their children's teachers and to learn the school system well enough to negotiate it to their children's advantage. (CJS)

Reviews "Politics, Markets and America's Schools" by John Chubb and Terry Moe. Argues that, although a new conceptual framework for public education is needed, a free market system is not the only, nor the best, alternative. Proposes exploring the model of partnership, making education a shared responsibility of home, school, and community. (CJS)

Examined the home and school numeracy experiences of young Somali children living in the United Kingdom. Results indicated that the home numeracy experience was in a more formal setting than the majority of school learning experiences. Explored cultural conflicts and recommended that teachers take into account children's home learning experiences.…

Wolakota Waldorf School on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, finds that the Waldorf system works well with Lakota values and culture. Describes a typical day for the kindergarten-only school; its relationship to the local K-12 school; its emphasis on social skills, imagination, play, the Lakota way, and family involvement; and its…

A family literacy program used "Be Excited about Reading" bags, which contained quality children's books and family activities that extended the classroom theme to be taken home by at-risk prekindergarten and kindergarten students. The literacy bags reached all families, encouraged family/school partnerships promoting children's learning, affected…

Describes an evaluation of a home-school support project designed to improve the behavior of young children in danger of school exclusion. Concludes that, although the initiative was valued, effective operation of the initiative was hampered by problems of communication, by its single agency location, and by the short-term nature of its funding.…

Explores dynamics of parental involvement in one low-income, urban school struggling to improve student learning and to draw parents into all aspects of their children's education. Embracing a "family metaphor" helped participants overcome implementation barriers (overwhelming teacher expertise, culturally-based role expectations, and…