This paper describes a teacher in-service training program on teacher-parent communication in Cyprus and its impact on teacher trainees. Data were gathered through questionnaires completed by teachers prior to their training and after having tried, in real school settings, the communication skills and approaches taught during the course. The…

The Education Review Office (ERO) conducted an external evaluation in over two hundred New Zealand schools to find out more about the engagement between schools and the parents and "whanau" (families and extended families) of their students. This paper provides some historical background and key findings from the relevant literature before…

Partnerships for Autism through Collaborative Community Choice and Empowerment (Project PACE) was developed to empower parents and professionals (e.g., general or special education teachers, therapists, social workers, school counselors, psychologists) through training and education. Project PACE was designed to provide participants with basic…

Service learning is a well researched pedagogical approach to the scholarship of teaching and learning. This essay describes two special education teacher preparation approaches that successfully linked candidate learning outcomes together with service to the community. One approach attached undergraduate teacher candidates in special education…

This paper reports on a university/school board collaborative outreach program hosted by a linguistically, culturally, and racially diverse junior school in Toronto, Canada. The program facilitates a forum where the school's families--in conversation with in-service and pre-service teachers, the school's administration, a local university's…

This article documents the contribution of local elementary teachers and examines the teachers' role as a conduit between an urban school and its community. Based on participant observation and interviews with local teachers and parents, the research considers the teachers' bridging position as professional practitioners and community constituents…

This article draws on systems theory, complexity theory, and the organizational sciences to engage boundary dynamics in the creation of parent-school partnerships. These partnerships help children succeed through an emergent process of dialogue and relationship building in the peripheral spaces where parents and schools interact on behalf of…

Many classroom teachers across the United States feel unprepared to work with students and families who speak limited or no English. Knowing that schools are accountable for the achievement results of these students, teachers increasingly seek help. This article describes a professional development project designed to introduce K-12 teachers to…

Ecomaps are diagrams that depict an individual or a family within a societal context, demonstrating the energy, supports, and resources necessary to maintain specific relationships. Genograms are family trees that identify emotional relationships and intergenerational family patterns. When combined, practitioners can synthesize the information to…

This report reviews service learning activities performed by student teachers in the American Indian Reservation Project in their placement communities across the Navajo Nation. Parameters for this required, academic assignment included the selection of activities independent of their schools' academic or extracurricular programs; completion of…

Teachers strive to establish partnerships with parents to support student learning. Strong communication is fundamental to this partnership and to building a sense of community between home and school. In these changing times, teachers must continue to develop and expand their skills in order to maximize effective communication with parents. This…

After over 40 years of education reform policies and strategies, America continues its need for systemic education reform. The greatest challenge confronting the nation remains within large urban metropolises where large numbers of minority students attend underfunded and low-performing schools with low standardized test scores and high dropout…

Character education in American schools is experiencing a revival. Although the teaching of character waned from the 1960s through the 1980s, the rise in violent crime and a general feeling by the public that American children suffered a crisis in morals led to a resurgence of character education programs across the nation, with most states either…

Describes benefits of an after-school mentorship program involving students in a teacher-education course at Minnesota State University and low-income youths between 9 and 13 years of age in the surrounding community of Moorhead, Minnesota. (Contains 17 references.) (PKP)

A model for a course for future human-service professionals. It uses scenarios to better prepare pre-professionals in social work, education, criminal justice, and health to serve as advocates for children and families, and to work together to address the challenges they will encounter. (Contains 2 figures and 11 references.) (WFA)