Discusses uses of household education surveys and the fact that not all educationally relevant data can be collected from schools. The two studies highlighted in this issue demonstrate the payoff from household surveys in their explorations of parent involvement in their children's schools and adult education. (SLD)

Examines family literacy and parental involvement awareness among preservice and mentor teachers in a professional development school setting. Finds a wide range of awareness of the importance of family literacy. Supports the urgent need for teacher education programs that include strategies for involving parents. (RS)

Reviews the historical evolution of fatherhood and reflective consideration of men's and women's states of well-being. Reports that the Prosperes Project, a consortium of university, institutional, and community organizations in the Montreal region designed to improve paternal involvement, has suggestions for sustaining, enhancing, and reinforcing…

Argues for the need to move beyond the paradigm of parental involvement in children's early literacy through story-reading practice, which presently informs home-school reading programs, to consider a wider framework for family and community involvement. Illustrates the experiences of two children reading with their mother and sister. (Author/VWL)

Examines the phonological awareness and home experiences of 59 prekindergartners from different sociocultural groups. Notes that two demographic variables, maternal education and ethnicity, made significant contributions to rhyme sensitivity. Suggests that children's rhyme sensitivity may be influenced by engagement in word games and book…

The study of effective character education programs shows that full parent involvement is a must, as it has a profound impact on the students' character development. The complexity of character educations and the benefits of parental involvement are discussed.

There's parent involvement and then there's parent involvement. There's the kind that has parents volunteering their time in schools, making costumes, or organizing and staffing the school carnival fund-raiser. This is helpful activity by any measure--helpful in the service of kids and not to be minimized. But there are other levels of involvement…

Family involvement in children's education is fundamental for academic success. This study extended the research on the Family Involvement Questionnaire for Early Childhood (FIQ-EC) by further developing the measure and testing its use with low-income urban elementary students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses affirmed three salient…

The purposes of this study were to determine the extent and types of parent involvement in Head Start programs, and to examine the relations between parent participation and family, teacher and classroom characteristics. Parents (n = 1131) and teachers (n = 59) from four Head Start programs participated. Data were gathered through volunteer logs,…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship between school-, neighborhood-, and family-level resources and children's academic achievement, and to identify the role played by father involvement in mediating contextual influences on children's learning. A subsample of 1334 families with children between the ages of 5 and…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) who are educated in integrated settings are often at risk for school failure because of their inability to remain attentive, complete tasks and assignments, and accomplish homework. In other words, they are characterized by their inability to manage their academic and social behavior. The…

In this article, the author reports how parents of Maryland students are undergoing mathematics refresher courses in order to help their children with math lessons. As high-stakes grade-advancement and graduation exams have multiplied across the land, so have courses for adults who feel unable to help their kids. Though the trend is still new to…

In this article, the author offers suggestions on how to create a father-friendly environment: (1) Sign men up, too; (2) Get out your message; (3) Say it loud; (4) Say it often; and (5) Just ask. The author offers ways for staff to make dads feel welcome, such as: (1) Meet and greet dads at the door; (2) Praise children's progress; and (3)…

This volume in the TESOL Classroom Practice Series presents instructional practices that are particularly successful with children and adolescent language learners. These practices take into account the unique needs and characteristics of these age groups and reflect a wide range of educational contexts, goals, and challenges from classrooms in…

This study used direct assessments of language arts, mathematics and independent functioning, as well as parent interviews and teacher and youth surveys to identify factors associated with the achievement and employment of students with and without disabilities. For students with disabilities, the significant achievement predictors were…