This book is the report of the Family Ties Commission, which was established by the Association of Teacher Educators to study the relationship between home and school. Following the preface and two introductory essays, "Education and My Family" (K.B. O'Rourke as told to E. Johnson) and "Preparing for Successful Children" (B. Clawson), the book is in four sections. Section 1, "View of Contemporary Society," includes: (1) "The American Family" (A. R. McCarthy); (2) "Creating Community Contexts That Educate: An Agenda for Improving Education in Inner Cities" (M. Haberman); (3) "Helping Families with Developmentally Delayed Children" (M. Garber); (4) "The School-Family Link: A Key to Dropout Prevention" (J. V. Hamby); (5) "Families, Schools, Literacy, and Diversity" (T. Wiley and J. Sikula); (6) "Schools as Socializing Agents in Children's Lives" (I. B. Ecksel); and (7) "Parents, Power, and the Public Schools" (W. Perry and M. D. Tannenbaum). Section 2, "Education, the Schools, and the Family," includes: (8) "Hierarchy of Parental Involvement in Schools" (D. Wissbrun and J. A. Eckart); (9) "Parent-School Interactions" (P. LeBlanc); (10) "Parent-Teacher Conferences and Teachable Moments" (D. E. Orlosky); (11) "Parent-Teacher Conferences: A Parent's Perspective" (I. Meers as told to S. Pettapiece); (12) "At-Risk Youngsters in Public Education" (A. J. Brown); (13) "The Education of New Parents" (B. Kypros); and (14) "Fostering Early Development" (E. Saltz). Section 3, "The University and Teacher Education," includes: (15) "The University as a Change Agent" (B. M. Caldwell and J. H. Young); (16) "The University and Its Family" (P. G. Elliott); (17) "The Curriculum of Aspiring Teachers: Not a Question of Either/Or" (D. Evans and D. Nelson); (18) "Parental Involvement Teacher Preparation: Challenges to Teacher Education" (D. L. Williams, Jr.); (19) "Needed: A New Knowledge Base in Teacher Education" (W. R. Houston and E. Houston); (20) "Teacher Education: Linking Universities, Schools, and Families for the Twenty-First Century" (F. Kochan and B. K. Mullins); and (21) "Parent Education in Home, School, and Society: A Course Description" (L. Kaplan). Part 4, "Response to the Prologue," includes: (22) "MegaSkills and New Partnerships for Student Achievement" (D. Rich in collaboration with J. Van Dien); (23) "Labor and the Schools: Forging a Working Relationship" (O. F. Bieber); (24) "The Importance of Parental Involvement" (A. Lynch); and (25) "Health, Education, Welfare: America s Families and America s Priorities" (K. Geiger). An extensive bibliography is included. (ND)