While the literature on parent involvement cites many examples of challenges to parent involvement and suggestions to overcome them, few models of extensive parent involvement in urban, public high schools have been described. The Boston Arts Academy is an example of a school in such a setting. It engages a vast majority of its parents in…

For educators interested in engaging in critical literacy work with families and schools, the efforts can be both exhilarating and exasperating. Reflecting on a two-year family literacy project, we consider the possibilities and pitfalls of the projects' design and implementation. The work described in this article takes a stance that is both…

S. Redding noted the many challenges facing research and researchers in family-school-community involvement, and he presented a call to "rally the troops" to respond to a series of concerns. The issue of control over defining the role of schools should be a shared enterprise among the family, the school, and the community, with the individual…

This quasi-experimental study (based on parent self-selection) examines the effects of a parent involvement program on kindergarten children's English language skills. This program was implemented as one component of a Migrant Even Start Family Literacy Program. The study was conducted at a rural Midwestern elementary school with 14 kindergarten…

In order to explore parental involvement among low-income families, a case study was conducted at a public elementary school in the Pacific Northwest. In 2002, a new school replaced an outdated structure. During the planning stage for the new school, community members and agency professionals, along with educators, developed and implemented…

The findings in this article will be presented in relation to developing and implementing processes of school, family, and community partnership programs in two primary and two secondary schools in Quebec from 2001 to 2005. The action research project was based on Epstein's (2001) comprehensive framework of six types of involvement: parenting,…

Asian American parents' involvement practices challenge the traditional definition of parent involvement (participation in school activities). In this paper, I argue that research and practices focusing only on this narrow definition of parent involvement may not be culturally sensitive approaches to supporting the home-school connection. The…

The idea of learning through projects has a long history in the field of education in general, and in early childhood education in particular. Many educators provide guidelines on how to approach project work with children and assert its benefits in various areas of children's learning and development. Yet few empirical studies investigate what…

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…

The intention of this study is to explore mathematical discourse and teaching methods in Grades 6 and 7 of primary school in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The school's student population changed from predominately white English/Afrikaans-speaking learners before the 1994 election to predominately black Xhosa-speaking students in…

This study describes the design, implementation, and outcomes of a school-based readiness program for prekindergarten children (4-year-olds) and their families. The program was designed on the basis of a collaborative model of university-school partnership, and the program itself featured relationship-building between families and schools. The…

Based on qualitative research, this article aims to clarify the process of creating school-community partnerships. Two secondary schools with numerous partnerships were selected within a southern Ontario school board characterized by economic and cultural diversity. Drawing on the within- and cross-case analyses of documents, observations, and 25…

The Parent And School Survey (PASS) is an instrument designed to quickly, easily, and accurately measure parental involvement in their children's education. It is based on Epstein's six-construct framework, with four items devoted to each construct. A test-retest reliability study of the PASS was conducted with 40 subjects to refine the 24 items…

As teachers reach out to families in new ways, attempt to learn from them, and connect that knowledge to instruction, what do the teachers reflect on and consider? This article explores this question based on the experiences of two teachers involved in a multi-year study focused, in part, on school-family connections. Findings emerged from data…

Although outcomes for alternative schools may be mixed, it is generally agreed that counseling, therapy, group work, case management, and family-community involvement have been credited in some effective programs. This study examined program evaluations from 1994-1999 for an alternative school for chronically disruptive students (599 students,…