Parental involvement in children's education is a subject of growing interest and recent legislation in both the UK and USA has given formal recognition of parents’ rights. Learning to read is an obvious area where parents can do a great deal to help, and some schools have had programmes for parental involvement in reading for some time. However recent research has shown the considerable benefit in having carefully structured systems for parental involvement. This book presents a review of past and current good practice in this field. Details of a wide range of schemes developed in local areas are given in a series of short contributed papers, which are grouped into sub sections of Part 2 according to the type of project. Part 3 is essentially a manual of materials and methods. The emphasis throughout the book is on service delivery to all children although there is of course considerable discussion of remedial reading and children with special needs The book should appeal to a wide audience in education, educational administration and educational psychology.

Parental participation has long been recognized as a positive factor in children’s education. Research consistently shows that parents’ contributions to their children’s education lead to improvements in their academic and behavioral outcomes, from elementary through middle and secondary school. Recognizing the critical role of school psychologists in this equation, Parental Involvement in Childhood Education clearly sets out an evidence-based rationale and blueprint for building parental involvement and faculty awareness. The author’s starting point is the gap between the ideals found in the literature and the reality of parental involvement in schools. An ecological analysis identifies professional, institutional, and societal factors that keep schools and parents distant. Methods for evaluating parental involvement are detailed, as is a model for developing and maintaining strong parental relationships at the instructor, school, and education system level, with an emphasis on flexible communication and greater understanding of parents’ needs. This empirically sound coverage offers readers: A detailed understanding of obstacles to parental involvement. An evidence-based model for parental participation. A three-nation study of parental involvement practices in schools. Guidelines for implementing parental involvement activities and initiatives. A review of effective communication strategies with parents. Analysis of key interpersonal skills for effective work with parents. Parental Involvement in Childhood Education is essential reading for practitioners and researchers in school psychology and counseling, social work, and educational psychology, whether they work directly with schools or in providing training for teachers and other professionals who work with children and their parents.

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

It seems like common sense that children do better when parents are actively involved in their schooling. But how well does the evidence stack up? The Broken Compass puts this question to the test in the most thorough scientific investigation to date of how parents across socioeconomic and ethnic groups contribute to the academic performance of K-12 children. The surprising discovery is that no clear connection exists between parental involvement and student performance. Keith Robinson and Angel Harris assessed over sixty measures of parental participation, at home and in school. While some of the associations they found were consistent with past studies, others ran contrary to previous research and popular perceptions. It is not the case that Hispanic and African American parents are less concerned about education--or that "Tiger parenting" among Asian Americans gets the desired results. Many low-income parents want to be involved in their children's school lives but often receive little support from school systems. For immigrant families, language barriers only worsen the problem. In this provocative work, Robinson and Harris believe that the time has come to reconsider whether parental involvement can make much of a dent in the basic problems facing American schools today.

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

Following the initial report on the results of the first PISA survey, this report looks more closely at performance in reading.