Examination of the role of parental involvement in the school restructuring process in three Alberta (Canada) elementary schools reveals that the roles and responsibilities of parents must be clarified, that criteria are needed for measuring success in relation to parental involvement, and that participants need support while they struggle to…

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)

Describes an approach to involving parents and the community in the in-school suspension program of a junior high school in Hammond, Louisiana. Considers the role of the police department in initiating the MileStone Training Program for reducing juvenile offenses by keeping suspended students in school. (JPB)

Surveys and interviews compared school-related attitudes and activities of 47 Spanish-speaking parents who received training in parental involvement strategies with 84 who did not. The group receiving parent liaison training participated more frequently and in a wider variety of school-related activities. (Contains 40 references.) (Author/TD)

A study investigated why some of the low-income single caregivers of 104 children (ages 7-40 months) with disabilities were more involved in early intervention services than others. Difficulties in family functioning and lower levels of knowledge about child development were directly related to caregiver involvement. (Contains references.)…

Examined the motivation of 140 elementary- and 451 secondary-level students toward the learning of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean in formal classroom settings in public schools. Information was also gathered from 847 parents concerning attitudes toward foreign-language learning and involvement in their child's study. (Author/JL)

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…

A U.S. Department of Education study shows that the average 12th-grade African-American student is reading and doing math at around the level of the average 8th-grade white or Asian student. Hispanic students are about as far behind. Both African-Americans and Hispanic college students obtain diplomas at half the rate of white or Asian students.…

Courtesy of new technologies, such as student information systems (SIS), districts are opening new channels of communication, giving parents anytime Internet access to information they need to track their child's progress--and affording them the opportunity to make a tremendous impact on their child's learning growth. Take what is happening at…

Individual educational plans (IEPs) are considered to be more effective when designed and implemented by a multidisciplinary team. This paper deals with the IEP as a collaborative tool for the education of pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). Ten pupils with PMLD and the people working around them (e.g. teacher, speech…

This study reports the effect of the Fruits and Vegetables Make the Marks intervention, a school-based fruit and vegetable intervention consisting of a home economics classroom component and parental involvement and encouraged participation in the Norwegian School Fruit Programme, all delivered during the school year of 2001-02. Nine randomly…

The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of a range of strategies to engage and to enhance secondary school nurse involvement in teenage smoking prevention and cessation. School nurses were willing to assist students to quit smoking, but they felt unprepared. Information provided by nurses involved in a three-stage review,…

School improvement literature emphasizes collaboration of teachers, parents, and community members. Schools are challenged to create mutually beneficial partnerships that result in improved student performance. One source of challenge is schools' organizational structures and processes do not contribute to full and meaningful involvement of…

Twenty Korean-American mothers of children with disabilities participated in interviews concerning perceptions of the expertise, attitudes, and behavior of social and educational service providers, differences in cultural values and communication styles, and the need and use of translation services. Mothers reported satisfaction with the…