This paper, by the President of the Detroit Board of Education, discusses aspects of the school choice issue, providing examples from recent developments in the Detroit (Michigan) public school system. The paper argues that freedom of choice in an educational context is a critical right of parents, and that schools of choice offer the best…

Parental choice is seen as a promising approach to school improvement. This report supports choice by suggesting answers to the following questions that reformers might ask: (1) is school performance poor enough to justify wholesale change? (2) what have schools done about troubling trends in student performance? (3) what do other researchers say…

A study was conducted to address the problem of all students not learning to read in the same manner when the instruction was limited to only one approach, that of the basal reader with its phonics emphasis. The Reading Style Inventory, the Swassing-Barbe Modality Index, and the Bradway Quick Check were administered to the students attending the…

This case study was prepared in conjunction with a Unesco survey of its member states concerning educational services for individuals with handicaps. The report discusses Yugoslavia's special education policy, legislation, administration and organization, special educational provision, finance, research and development, voluntary organizations,…

The perceptions of Mississippi parents and teachers about reading success were studied through surveys about reading programs that emphasize parental involvement. The 19-item Parent Survey Questionnaire (PSQ), which was developed for the study, was administered to 44 parents; it asked them to describe their attitudes toward reading and the types…

In 1985-86, Project BITEC provided bilingual instruction and supportive services to 379 limited English proficient (LEP) students from Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Latin American backgrounds at New Utrecht High School (Brooklyn, New York). The project aimed at enabling its target population to master the English language as soon as possible,…

Sixty-six local education authorities (LEAs) in England and Wales responded to a request for sets of guidelines on the 1981 Education Act they have provided for headteachers, teaching staff, and educational psychologists. The Act recommends that parents and older children be fully involved as partners in the process of assessment and placement of…

Designed for use by parents of preschoolers participating in the Bringing Out Head Start Talents (BOHST) project, nine booklets present home activities intended to fit into the parent's and child's normal routines. Each booklet addresses a separate talent area: intellectual, creativity, leadership, art, music, reading, math, science, and…

This bilingual handbook, presented in both Laotian and English, is designed to assist parents of language minority students who live in California. The book is part of the technical assistance effort of the State Department of Education to clarify the operations of California schools to language minority parents so they might better support the…

This report evaluates the achievement of Project GET SET, a Bronx, New York, program designed to provide supportive and peer-tutorial services to Hispanic junior high school students for the following purposes: (1) to reinforce English language skills, especially reading and writing; (2) to reinforce native language arts skills; (3) to offer…

A review of research data focused on the effects of parental involvement on children's reading achievement and ways in which parents can help promote children's reading achievement. The review included 35 studies (which are briefly summarized) of (1) parents' attitudes about their involvement in their child's education, (2) the positive effects of…

Designed to develop creativity in young learners, this book contains interdisciplinary activities which focus on the theme of the moon. Activity pages are provided that can serve as front and back covers of a student booklet and the suggested activities can be duplicated for insertion between the covers resulting in a booklet for each student. A…

A survey was conducted of 125 parents of elementary and middle school children who participated in a parent involvement program in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. These parents were involved in the MAP (Monitoring Achievement in Pittsburgh)-AT-HOME Program, which focuses on helping parents to reinforce student acquisition of mathematics, reading,…

This handbook contains supportive materials related to administering, planning, and evaluating public kindergarten programs. The main contents of the handbook include information on administering a public kindergarten and planning the kindergarten curriculum. The foreword stresses that the curriculum section is not a complete design but is…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with the following topics: (1) reading and writing as a transaction process; (2) a literacy study among the Amish; (3) readers' representations of writers' aims in expository, persuasive, and ironic discourse; (4)…