There is solid consensus among researchers, program providers, and families that participation in constructive activities during out-of-school time hours can contribute to a youth's healthy and positive development. This paper explores some of the key issues and challenges facing program and city leaders in creating and sustaining afterschool…

Several trends have come together to intensify interest in how public libraries might best support the interests and needs of youth in their communities. This study reports on findings from the Public Libraries as Partners in Youth Development (PLPYD) Initiative, a four-year, nine-site initiative funded by the Wallace Foundation to develop…

The fourth in a series of studies investigating the educational context and outcomes for high school students with disabilities (SWDs), this study examined types of courses in which SWDs are being enrolled, and the role perception of special education teachers. Twenty-one special education teachers from three high schools in urban areas, three in…

Forty-one middle school students in two eighth-grade classes were taught half of their science chapters in the conventional manner with homework assignments, and half of their chapters by having short classroom quizzes on each unit. Quizzes were expected to stimulate incentive motivation as a mediator between a goal object, mastery, and the…

Presents 10 major issues parents need to address effectively in order to advocate for their children's education (safety, discipline, practices and policies, grading, labels, bias, curriculum and schedules, standardized tests, homework, and subject anxiety). The article suggests appropriate questions to ask the schools. (SM)

Describes mathematics backpacks containing four mathematics activities designed to (1) strengthen the home-school connection; (2) present open-ended activities that encourage discussion; and (3) engage students and parents in learning mathematical concepts. Provides a sample draft letter to the parents, example activities, guidelines for…

This practicum project was designed to increase student ownership of learning through student-kept assignment calendars and portfolios. The subjects, 63 junior high school students at a private Christian school, were also involved in frequent, cooperative sessions in which they checked each other's work and offered suggestions, with reports to the…

This sourcebook is designed to give urban educators new information and strategies for working with parents of elementary school students through grade 6. Its five workshops explore how family life, school programs, teacher practices, and district policies can help build school-family partnerships for learning. Threaded through these workshops are…

This book provides strategies for working within the educational system and going outside the system, when appropriate, to get learning assistance for a struggling student. Part 1, "Identifying the Problem," discusses communicating with the teacher and getting vital information, focusing observations and impressions, and communicating…

This document focuses on trends in school and home frameworks for learning found in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data from 1977 to 1990. Trends in classroom instruction, course taking, students' attitudes, homework versus television viewing, and reading habits and home support for literacy are considered. One table provides…

In 1990-91, 20 countries (Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Korea, Mozambique, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Soviet Union, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States) surveyed the mathematics and science performance of 13-year-old students (and 14 countries also assessed 9-year-olds in the same…

Because rural Alaska educators were skeptical of the applicability to their teaching situations of various educational research results, researchers randomly surveyed rural Alaskan teachers to provide background information for the Rural Effective Schools Project and for educators who want to help rural schools increase their effectiveness. Three…

This study describes the individual, family, school, and community characteristics of Hispanic ninth-grade students enrolled in predominantly minority high schools in five major U.S. cities: Chicago, Miami, Milwaukee, Newark, and San Antonio. The data, which are reported for four groups--Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Central…

Conducted in a school serving mainly Hispanic children, this practicum implemented an intervention designed to increase parents' involvement in the learning activities of their children. Practicum goals were to: (1) increase parents' attendance at Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings; (2) increase parents' attendance at parent-teacher…

This teaching guide presents some of the rationale behind an audiolingual approach to prereading language instruction and some planning suggestions and teaching techniques appropriate to beginning classes at the secondary level. Major attention is given to techniques for mimicry-memorization, dialog practice, pattern drill, nonverbal cues, and…