Educational research studies conducted in recent years are distilled into 59 significant findings or conclusions that can be used as a practical guide for parents and teachers seeking those educational practices found to be most effective in helping children to learn. The 59 findings are displayed one to a page. Each page is organized into three…

The current debate on educational choice concerns whether locally centralized school systems of the kind that predominate in the public school sector are responsive to and can accommodate the diversity of educational consumers' preferences. Section I analyzes policy options and illustrates how policymakers, by examining a range of solutions to the…

A group of three conference papers, all addressing the subject of effective programs to decrease the number of school dropouts, is presented in this document. The first paper, "Systemic Approaches to Reducing Dropouts" (Michael Timpane), asserts that dropping out is a symptom of failures in the social, economic, and educational systems.…

This paper reviews federal and state court interpretations of federal and state laws concerning the responsibilities of local school districts in providing free and appropriate education for handicapped children. Particular attention is paid to the building principal's responsibility in carrying out the mandated policies at the operational level,…

To investigate the social context of education for low-income Southerners, a study concentrating on white Anglo-Saxon Protestants in a rural Southern mill village in general, and on 22 white 10th grade children and their parents in particular, used a combination of ethnographic techniques and standardized interview questions. Responses concerning…

To study the relationship between the school and the rural family, and particularly to establish reasons for student dropout, a questionnaire was administered in 1973 to 103 students who dropped out of school in 2 large rural towns in the Veneto, Italy. Responses indicated that about 60% of the adolescents left school to help out the family or…

This report describes a five-year interdisciplinary training program in education and social service for the children, parents and university students at the Wayne State University College of Education Laboratory Nursery School and details the impact of the training model on six representative families enrolled in the nursery school. The basic…

The conference aimed to draw up conclusions and recommendations on action to be taken at the national, bilateral, and multilateral levels with regard to the education of migrants and their children. Three main themes were addressed: (1) improving the position of the immigrant and his family, primarily in their educational circumstances, at the…

This paper reviews the principal literature on schools and communities to find evidence that schools perform community-shaping functions. Section I discusses problems in the field of educational research that have led observers to neglect the school-neighborhood relationship. Sociological, anthropological, and political studies of communities that…

ONE METHOD OF ATTEMPTING TO MEET THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF ECONOMICALLY OR CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS IS THROUGH A COMMUNITY LIAISON PROGRAM UTILIZING COMMUNITY AIDES TO INFORM THE COMMUNITY OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SCHOOL AND AVAILABLE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES, TO INFORM THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY,…

A constructive, effective, and realistic national educational policy should be established which takes into account the contributions of the household school to individual learning in areas of life roles, feelings, values formation, and behavior development. The adversary relationship between formal educational institutions and the family will be…

Interviews with 150 low-income parents in three countries reveal that their low involvement with the schools was due to the fact that teachers and administrators have a substandard view of low-socioeconomic status families, and the parents have low assessments of their own educational effectiveness. Empowerment programs in each country are…

Describes 11 effective steps taken by the Duval County (Florida) school board to improve the academic achievement of minority students, as measured by the Stanford Achievement Test. Programs include eliminating social promotion, developing tests of essential skills and minimum skills, involving the family, and helping with personal problems. (IW)

Couched in the context of NCLB, the reauthorized IDEA, and the ASCA National Model, this handbook revisits the important role that school counselors play in the personal, social, academic, and career development of students with disabilities. Revised throughout, this new edition provides: (1) Clear explanations of changes shaping the legal…

This brief examines the factors related to depressive symptoms among mothers and explores the implications for acting out behavior in their third grade children. The authors found that children's acting out (externalizing) behavior in the third grade can be affected by a variety of difficulties in the lives of their mothers. Some of these…