Research has demonstrated persistent, disproportionally negative educational outcomes for students of color, causing national concern in this area. School personnel increasingly understand the need to engage with parents as educational partners, but parents of color may feel marginalized in these efforts. This paper presents findings from a series…

Educators' expectations and understandings of parental involvement in our nation's schools are often disconnected from the reality of students' home lives. This qualitative study purports that educators often lose opportunities to more fully understand and serve students, particularly when perceptions of parental involvement and…

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…

This study investigated the ways in which family members of students in a Hawaiian language immersion program were involved in their children's education and identified the effects of and barriers to involvement. A sociocultural theoretical approach and Epstein's framework of different types of involvement were applied. Participants included 35…

At both state and federal levels, partnerships of schools, parents, and communities have become an educational priority. Are teacher education programs adequately preparing preservice teachers for these partnerships? Focus groups of College of Education (COE) faculty from five Illinois Professional Learner's Partnership universities were conducted…

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…

The general purpose of this study is to present post-funding Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) data to address the more lasting features of CSR programs, their relation to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and support of its requirements, and the impact of CSR on student achievement. For the schools included in this study, many of the components…

Reviews support for parent-involvement practices, documents how underutilized parent involvement is in the public-school system, and examines some barriers accounting for the underutilization of this beneficial teaching practice, such as conflicting beliefs about the ways parents should be involved. (Contains 39 references.) (Authors/PKP)

Examines parents through the lens of cartoons printed in educational journals. Suggests that journal editors share many ideas with educators, their readers, and that the ideas expressed in cartoons may be construed as anti-parent by preservice and inservice teachers. (Contains 3 cartoons and 20 references.) (WFA)

Examines how business-school partnerships tend to function on the fringe of educational issues, rarely addressing educational improvement. Looks at the causes of this phenomenon, the goals of businesses in forming partnerships, and the schools' role in maintaining the tenuous nature of these collaborations. (Contains 10 tables and 21 references.)…

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)

Report of a 1-year longitudinal study of development monitoring, a program in which high-school students mentor elementary-school students. Findings suggest that the program promoted connectedness to parents, school, and the future, and improved spelling skills. (Contains 30 references.) (AUTHOR/WFA)

Introduces concept of Community Youth Development, the purpose of which is to help communities respond to youth violence; reviews community efforts to respond to youth violence; describes history of community youth development; discusses positive youth-development building blocks; provides four-part definition of community youth development;…

Examines the relationship between rural students' perceived connection with school and their perception of safety, harassment, and empathy by gender and grade level. Finds positive relationship between school connection, perceived safety, and empathy and negative relationship between school connection and reported harassment. Finds differences in…

Examines differences and similarities between adult-led docent museum tours and those led by junior docents (high school students) based on their interactions with elementary school groups and strategies for presenting exhibits using several data-collection instruments. Finds greater student and teacher satisfaction with junior docents than with…