Recognizing the critical importance of parent involvement in early education, this textbook presents a variety of strategies and techniques for parent involvement in early childhood education programs. Chapters in the first part of the book focus on specific issues and challenges in implementing parent involvement. Chapter 1 examines the need for parent involvement. Chapter 2 discusses how parents and teachers can learn to become partners in children's education and examines the implications of family status and stress. Chapter 3 contains information on working with families from diverse backgrounds, including teacher attitudes and school practices. Chapter 4 describes working with families of children with special needs, including legal protections. Chapters in part two describe several categories of strategies for communicating successfully with parents. Chapter 5 considers written correspondence, focusing on individual teacher communication and group or school-wide communication. Chapter 6 addresses verbal communication, including contacts through technology. Chapter 7 discusses how to make home visits effective, describing model home visiting intervention and prevention programs. Chapter 8 provides information on strategies for successful parent group meetings. Chapter 9 details strategies for improving parent-teacher conferences. Chapters in the third part of the book discuss support systems for parent involvement. Chapter 10 examines the use of volunteers, including volunteer coordinators and advisory committees. Chapter 11 discusses empowering parents as decision makers, especially current trends and parent rights. Chapter 12 describes the use of community networks, including linking to social services, and state and federally funded programs. An appendix lists available resources. Each of the book's chapters contains references and provides activities for discussion, expansion, and application. (KB)