Describes how some middle school teachers in Michigan are becoming proactive in their work to educate and reach out to parents on a day-to-day basis. Describes strategies for community building, for informing parents, and for involving parents. The teachers use these strategies as they inform parents about pedagogical practices and explain why…

Describes various approaches taken by Italian child-care programs to facilitate the young child's transition into a child care setting. Discusses the role of teachers as researchers, the role of parents as partners, and the benefits to young children. (KB)

Describes the most significant educational reform efforts of the past two decades that have been premised primarily either on professionalism or greater community inclusion, illustrating some contemporary reforms that embody both professionalism and community in their strategies for school change, and examining themes needing further attention in…

Suggests that parenting is a societal construction, and that construction includes multiple messages from policymakers, popular media, researchers, and educators that too many parents are either incompetent or unwilling to parent effectively. The paper suggests that Erikson's psychosocial theory of the individual life span can guide consideration…

Examines the effects of poverty on parenting, noting the work of the Kennedy Center at Peabody College and discussing parenting as a process, how parents are influenced by poverty, how parenting in poverty influences children's development, how children are directly and indirectly influenced by poverty, and factors that mediate the debilitating…

A theory of childhood development posits an unseen pattern that contains the laws and principles determining the child's nature. An environment that provides attunement to this pattern allows the child profound spiritual awareness, within the limits of the developmental moment. Four stages of development are presented with their attributes,…

A school counselor is often called upon to intervene when a child's progress and the classroom environment begin to suffer because of the child's dysfunctional family. The article presents a six-stage, problem-solving model for school counselors in their work with children from dysfunctional families. Presents a case example to illustrate the…

A study of 73 families of children (ages 3-29) with disabilities investigated what special educators could do to be more sensitive to family needs. Recommendations include listening to parents, developing effective communication among parents and professionals, increasing knowledge about disabilities, demonstrating sensitivity and respect, and…

Presents the use of family involvement webs to integrate diverse family life experiences to support the same education objectives. Describes steps to develop and implement family involvement webs, including identifying a theme, brainstorming family involvement activities, identifying family roles, implementing the web, and evaluating the outcome.…

Offers 24 strategies currently in use for designing an effective, multi-dimensional behavioral program for a student with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Suggests that these interventions, none of which involve medication, can be carried over into the home environment to better help the child generalize between situations. (MKA)

Described results of the alteration of Hyson and Lee's Caregiver's Beliefs about Feelings questionnaire for use with parents in order to assess emotional understanding of children. Found mothers' developmental beliefs scores were positively related to mothers' negative emotional expressiveness, and mothers' emotion language scores were positively…

Examined teenage mothers' transition to mothering as shaped by family (n=16) caregiving practices. Families demonstrating adversarial care experienced conflict over infant care with the mother, whereas families with a responsive ethic of care shared caregiving with the mother in a highly fluid manner. Provides suggestions for responsive…

Asserts that literacy learning begins in infancy and that no age is too young to be read to. Recommends that parents begin reading to their children early, that they read for short periods, and that they read often. Includes a list of books for newborns and infants. (BGC)

The 2002 Fulbright team, led by Zheng Zhou of St. John's University, consisted of 12 professionals in the fields of education, counseling psychology, and school psychology. Spending one month visiting elementary schools, universities, governmental bodies, hospitals, and private schools throughout China, the Fulbright team had an opportunity to…

We examined the psychometric properties of a German translation of the Child Global Report version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ). A total of 1219 German school-children (644 boys and 575 girls), ages 10-14 years participated in the study. The APQ was subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Exploratory factor…