Violence is becoming the number one problem in United States schools. Approximately 20 percent of high school students regularly carry guns and other weapons. Several nonviolent measures are appropriate to reduce violence in schools; but only the implementation of multiple ideas and measures, not "quick fix" solutions, will curb…

The Family Life Early Education Project (FLEEP) operated from September 1993 through August 1994 in Chicago public schools. The project sought to assist parents in acquiring skills that foster their young children's cognitive, social, physical, and emotional development, thus increasing children's readiness for school. To accomplish these goals,…

This document contains 10 commissioned papers presented at a research design symposium on family literacy. It also contains a summary of the symposium, which was structured around five themes: assumptions and perceptions about family literacy; what we know from research and practice and how we know it; defining the characteristics of family…

Part of the series "Early Childhood Development: Practice and Reflections," this report details the Kushanda Project, an early childhood education program in Zimbabwe. The Kushanda Project is a 16-person organization that has helped parents in rural Zimbabwe communities to understand the value of early childhood education and…

This paper examines the phenomenon of underachievement of students. Underachievement is characterized by a significant discrepancy between the student's performance and potential. After considering some of the common causes for underachievement and the typical problems of underachievers, the rest of the paper discusses six methods of intervention…

This newsletter issue focuses on the role of parents in monitoring their children's television viewing habits. The newsletter first discusses the current status of parental concerns about the content of television programming, noting the industry's increased willingness to provide more information, and the advent of a rating system and…

This book of games for children from kindergarten to third grade offers parents ways to help their children become skilled and enthusiastic writers. The book provides instructions for parents to direct their children in easy-to-play educationally useful games, most requiring few or no materials. The book includes such activities as having children…

In Japan, it is a common belief that anyone can achieve success; all that is necessary is that one persists with utmost diligence, and almost anything can be accomplished. This study investigated the thoughts of Japanese children, parents, and educators regarding the cultural phenomenon of "ganbare" (persistence), which permeates…

This study examined children's play interaction styles with unfamiliar peers; used mother-child and father-child dyadic qualities independently to predict children's social behavior; determined the relationship between children's individual behaviors and peer dyadic characteristics; and compared mother-child and father-child interactions on both…

This report describes a program for increasing intrinsic reading motivation. The targeted population consisted of lower primary students in a growing middle class community, located in northern Illinois. The problems of aliterate students were documented through teacher observations and student surveys. Analysis of probable cause data revealed…

A simple, but useful, handout given to mothers of young children can greatly increase the likelihood that they will present aspects of emergent literacy in their homes. The concept of emergent literacy states that all literacy learning begins in infancy and proceeds forward from that point, and that all of the literacy skills of oral language,…

This paper describes how an elementary school included parents in participative decision making to develop successful student-affairs programming. Including parents in the development of school activities mollifies complainers, creates opportunities for parent input, and facilitates innovation. Student-affairs programming offers an excellent…

Sources of variations in parents' assessment of helpgiving practices and perceived control appraisals were investigated in this study. Participants included 69 parents of children, birth to age five, with disabilities or at-risk for poor developmental outcomes. Results indicated that parent and family characteristics showed no relationship to…

Despite disagreement about the value of multicultural education, schools are putting some multicultural learning into the curricula already in place. This guide for parents describes the different ways that schools are teaching multiculturalism. Some schools emphasize programs that focus on information and teach about different cultural groups by…

Some minority and female students traditionally have not been given the help they need to enroll and succeed in mathematics and science classes. Now, however, a variety of approaches are available to give these students the extra attention they need. Parents can help children develop an interest in science and mathematics by: (1) identifying role…