Family factors and student achievement: An avenue to increase students' success

A descriptive review and meta-analysis of family-based emergent literacy interventions: To what extent is the research applicable to low-income, ethnic-minority or linguistically-diverse young children?

The purposes of this exploratory study were to determine differences in: (a) levels of trust between parents and teachers; (b) parent trust as a function of income, ethnicity, school site, type of services, and level of special education service; and (c) current level of involvement for high-, moderate-, and low-trust parent groups. Surprisingly little research that addresses trust in the parent-teacher relationship exists. Furthermore, trust is often treated as an important characteristic of family-school relationships. In this study, data were collected from parents and teachers of special and regular education students. One interesting finding, particularly for creating collaborative family-school relationships, is that parent trust is significantly higher than teacher trust. Five implications for school personnel to build trust between families and schools are described.

Differences in parent and teacher trust levels: Implications for creating collaborative family-school relationships

This article views homework through the eyes of parents in a rural area whose children with disabilities spent a majority of their time in general education classrooms. The qualitative analysis of data from individual interviews, focus groups, and parent action research logs yielded five themes: (a) Parents felt ill-prepared to help their children with homework; (b) parents wanted more information about the classroom teachers' expectations of their child and of their roles as parents in helping with homework; (c) parents wanted their children to be given individualized homework assignments; (d) parents valued hands-on homework and projects in which the whole family could participate; and (e) parents wanted a two-way communication system that would allow them to become partners on their child's instructional team.

Making Homework Work at Home: The Parent's Perspective

(1996). Parental Involvement in Schooling: an emerging research agenda. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education: Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 5-20.

David S. Seeley

Papers

A New Paradigm for Parent Involvement.

Partnership's Time Has Come.