This article provides some basic foundation of family systems concepts for school professionals who work with students with disabilities. It addresses communication skills and psychological issues that can result in barriers to implementation of family systems concepts and describes a five-step process leading to conflict resolution. (Contains…

Provides a review of the literature concerning grandkin (grandchildren raised by grandparents) and grandparents in grandfamilies, particularly as the relationship influences the children's school functioning. In addition, the Grandfamily School Support Network is discussed as a means of ameliorating the difficulties experienced by grandkin and…

Presents case studies highlighting factors that influenced the attitudes of predominantly white, middle-class preservice teachers during their internships at a Philadelphia elementary school. The experience challenged their understandings of their own preconceptions and biases, the role of the caregiver in the community, and the significance of…

A study of an innovative home-school preventative project in Britain designed to work with families with children seen to be at risk of developing long-term behavior problems concluded that the project has potential for wider development, although short-term funding and inappropriate referrals inhibit its capacity to produce sustainable outcomes.…

Describes campus day care and education center provision and its impact on individual families and the community. Details the kind of support campus children's centers can provide student or staff families, and the impact they can have on other centers and schools in the area by serving as model facilities and training sites. (ET)

Summarizes the "overlapping spheres of influence" theory of educational partnerships and presents a framework of six major types of involvement in schools to provide a context for other articles in this issue. Also summarizes results of some studies by the Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children's Learning. (SLD)

Provides school-based practitioners with an understanding and appreciation of how one Latino (Puerto Rican) community's natural support systems played an influential role in helping families and communities collaborate with schools. A set of guiding principles is presented along with a discussion of strategies and barriers to success. (SLD)

Examined influence of adolescent work level on family processes including caring and trust, control and supervision, conflict, intimate communication, and instrumental communication. Found that low intensity workers reported highest level of family process, highest intensity workers reported lowest levels, and nonworkers were in between. Found…

In the 1990s, parenting became a difficult effort to balance work demands with children's needs. However, Canadian and U.S. government policies have not met changing family needs for child care, other services, paid parental leave, and work flexibility. Canada's long-awaited National Children's Agenda has the potential to modernize family policy…

Urban school districts in the Northwest are not immune to the challenges facing inner city schools such as poverty, teacher shortages, and low test scores. Strategies for turning obstacles into opportunities for urban youth include recruiting strong school administrators, building a stable source of committed capable teachers, closing achievement…

Discusses current models of family-professional partnerships and barriers to true collaboration, including turf issues, the nature of trust, expertise differences, and differences in scope of responsibility. Offers recommendations for practice, including questions for self-evaluation. Asserts that as educators change their practice and ways of…

Background: Two opposing perspectives--role strain and role enhancement--were considered as predictive of women's psychological and physical health. The authors examined the relation between multiple role occupancy (parenting, employment, marriage) and well-being (depression and health) among mothers of young adults with intellectual disability…

Nebraska's rural school districts have a rapidly growing Spanish-speaking student body and few qualified instructors to meet their educational needs. This investigation examined factors that promote and challenge the ability of rural Nebraska paraprofessional educators to complete an online B.S. program in elementary education, with a K-12 English…

This study is based on a 1996 survey of PhD economists working in the academic and nonacademic sectors since 1989. Despite a raw gender difference in all types of research output, the male dummy variable proves statistically significant in predicting only one publication measure. In a full sample and faculty subsample, number of years since…

Success in engaging learners defined as "hard to reach" always relies on developing a tailor-made approach; and working with parents through their children's schools has proved a successful model. Moving on from offering primarily craft-based activities as a first step into learning for Bangladeshi mothers, a joint project in schools…