Compared day care and home-reared children's language performance. Results showed home and day care children did not differ on IQ or dependent language measures. IQ was strongest predictor of language performance; birth order was next strongest. Fathers' language activity time and parent educational level related to language performance.…

To assess the impact of maternal employment on the development of school-age children, several issues must be considered: the necessity of a two-income family, the existence of family-friendly policies at work and at school, the involvement of both parents in parenting, and the child's experience during after-school hours. Contains 30 references…

Describes a collaborative project between California State University, Los Angeles, and an urban elementary school that fostered conditions for parent involvement in the school and home-school cooperation. Workshops, English classes, and a parent mentor program were features of the successful effort. (SLD)

Explores the context of family beliefs and child-rearing practices with regard to how African American families, in a sample from a family-center project, prepare their children for success in school. Extended family and community supports, racial socialization, and family support are discussed. (SLD)

Business, community, and religious leaders are being urged to join families in providing greater support and participation in solving pressing problems in American education. Ways businesses can become more family friendly include offering flextime or job sharing to allow parents more flexibility with their children and building school-business…

Forty Australian fathers met in discussion groups to explore issues they identified as meaningful and significant to them in their roles as fathers. Topics included role perception and expectations, participation in child rearing, work and family issues, and father-child relationships, all having implications for family educators, teachers, and…

Examines three possible mechanisms for the effects of first-grade reading group placement. Finds that first-grade ability-group placement can have persistent effects on children's achievement in school for several years and may shape expectations of the children by parents and teachers. (CFR)

Asserts that there is a tension between the idea that society is composed of free, rational beings and the view that one group should set themselves up as arbiters for what others should read. Discusses parental rights and the role of parents in determining what books are suitable for children. (CFR)

This interview recounts one parent's school choice in a controlled choice system that is designed to bring about racial balance. The African-American mother interviewed chose to return her children to a city school because she felt that the suburban school they had been attending was racially biased. (SLD)

Combines qualitative and quantitative Scottish data to analyze the frequency of mainstreaming for special needs students from 1986 through 1988. Records of Needs as legislated by the 1981 Education (Scotland) Act, and interviews with educational professionals, provided data. Shows mainstreaming more likely for students with physical or sensory…

Explains how parents can be their baby's partners in the "dance of development" by understanding the milestones, windows, and prerequisites of child development; by giving their baby the power and treasure of language; and by teaching their baby about kindness and beauty. (BB)

Explores issues of parent involvement in light of current educational reform movements, asserts that parent involvement as a voluntary effort may not be effective, and argues that businesses and industries interested in reform are not focusing sufficiently on work-related variables that might encourage involvement of parents and other adults. (SLD)

A study of 162 third graders in New York City finds that slightly over half of children in special education are males with Medicaid coverage and mothers with medical conditions or adverse health habits at birth. Two-thirds of children with this combination were in special education. (SLD)

True self-esteem for black children must mean more than teaching them to feel good about themselves. It must be based on an understanding that self-respect is earned through effort. Unrealistic self-esteem can impair the ability to improve one's life. (SLD)

Examines effects of parental participation in work and family roles on perceptions of responsibility for their children's school adjustment for 129 female and 124 male college students. Results raise concerns about perceptions of responsibility for divorced working mothers, who were given less credit and more blame than other groups. (SLD)