Findings from a study investigating the effects of early intervention settings on the extent of parent involvement in IDEA Part C Infant and Toddler Programs are reported. Participants were 124 parents and other primary caregivers of children receiving early intervention in 22 states who completed an investigator-developed scale measuring…

It has been projected that 33% of all school children will be from immigrant households by the year 2040 (Suarez-Orozco et al., 2010). For school personnel (e.g., administrators, counselors, teachers) working with immigrant youth and adolescents, understanding ethnic identity development is an essential cultural competency. In this essay, the…

This paper examines how Latina mothers experience violence in schools through everyday interactions with those positioned with greater power in our society. Drawing on Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence, the article discusses how deficit perspectives held toward Latina mothers and the privileging of White, middle-class frames result in…

This study sought to examine the direct and indirect associations between school size and parents' perceptions of the invitations for involvement provided by their children's school in a school system that has actively attempted to reduce the negative effects of school size. Using data from the New York Public Schools' annual Learning Environment…

Today's children spend less and less time in the outdoors, leading Richard Louv in 2008 to coin the term "nature deficit disorder." Louv pointed out that experiences with nature are essential to a child's physical and emotional development and that the lack of these types of experiences has led to an increase in child obesity, attention disorders,…

Involvement by the adult community in schools and students' lives is an effective way to increase student attendance, boost morale, and improve students' perceptions about their school experience. This study examined a two-year comprehensive community intervention initiative within a high-risk junior high school, measuring its impact on student…

This paper reports on a Canadian qualitative case study project funded by the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario. The paper describes success stories of students and communities affected by poverty from a diverse sample of eleven elementary schools throughout the province of Ontario. Over the period of one school year (2007-2008) and…

Parents are the primary managers of children's development during their early years and greatly influence how children are primed for school. Therefore, understanding children's school preparation should involve appreciation for the unique developmental histories and perspectives that parents bring to the relationship with the child, with the…

The challenge of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity has inspired new trends in community research. New models eschew an emphasis on conformity to open communities up to difference, both among members, and between members and an ever more complex social world. The data here are taken from a student-experience study of a diverse…

We tested a model considering the manner in which mothers' use of their own social relationships and efforts to facilitate their children's school-based social relationships were associated with two distinct types of school-based competence: academic achievement and levels of stress experienced within the school environment. Fourth grade children…

High schools have been described as potent breeding grounds of alienation and boredom (Bronfenbrenner, 1974; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Marks, 2000) while recent literature has focused on student-teacher relationships and the importance of pedagogies of care (Noddings, 1992; Wentzel & Looney, 2006). This paper examines the link between social context…

School climate is created through the combined culture of the adults and students within a school--both the culture they share as an organization and the diverse cultures they bring from home. This study compared the school climate of two elementary schools, one urban and one suburban, by measuring 179 fourth and fifth grade students' and 65…

Parent involvement in schools--what do you believe about it? Disparate groups, like front office staff at a school, preservice teachers, teachers, school administrators, and parents respond quite differently to focus questions, which might include: What do you see as important aspects of parent involvement? What parents do you think would probably…

Culture differences within parent communities provide challenges for schools trying to develop a successful parental involvement policy. In this study, we explore schools' practices and policies with respect to parental involvement. This study was carried out at four elementary schools in the Netherlands. Interviews were conducted with the…

This article provides an overview of the conceptual framework and preliminary findings from a compendium of studies on school-university-community partnerships in Latino communities, with a focus on lessons learned on the U.S./Mexico border. The voices of professors, school administrators, and students with whom the co-authors have worked over a…