March 2005 Announcement
Dear FINE Member,
Here are this month's FINE member announcements.
Please feel free to forward this information to friends and other education
colleagues.
New on the FINE Website
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Call for Promising Practices
Harvard Family Research Project is seeking information about promising
practices, programs, and initiatives that engage parents in children's early
learning and development (from birth to age 7) to feature in its future
publications. Please send your information to us at fine@gse.harvard.edu.
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Research Report: “Syneducation”
(Synekpaidefsis): Reinforcing Communication and Strengthening Cooperation
Among Students, Parents, and Schools
Iro Mylonakou and Ioannis Kekes describe an action research project where
parents, students, and teachers at a Greek elementary school worked together
to design and implement a shared education program for parents and students.
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Research Digest: Accomplished
Teachers and Their Interactions With Parents: A Comparative Analysis of
Strategies and Techniques
Rick Ginsberg and Lauri Hermann-Ginsberg compare how certified and noncertified
teachers interact with parents and find that certified teachers have more
positive attitudes, are more tenacious in their approaches, and have more
strategies for engaging families than noncertified teachers.
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Member Insight: How Can We Prepare
Teachers to Work With Culturally Diverse Students and Their Families?
Based on research on communication patterns during parent–teacher
conferences, Bonnie Rockafellow, Education Consultant for the Michigan Department
of Education, provides advice for preparing teachers to communicate more
effectively with families during formal conferences.
Research on Academic Achievement Gaps
- School
Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps
This issue of The Future of Children focuses on children's early
lives in an effort to better understand the emergence of racial gaps in
educational outcomes. The issue includes eight articles written by leading
scholars addressing the size of the gap, what is known about its causes,
and potential policy solutions.
- A
Matter of Class: Educational Achievement Reflects Family Background More Than
Ethnicity or Immigration
This article in the latest issue of RAND Review argues that socioeconomic
factors have a more significant impact on educational achievement than race,
ethnicity, or immigrant status. This conclusion is based on the results
of two recent RAND studies, one looking at the school readiness of children
in Los Angeles neighborhoods and another looking at mathematics achievement
among high school students.
- Closing
the Gap: High Achievement for Students of Color
This Research Points brief from the American Educational Research
Association reviews research on school-based and college-based support programs
for minorities that have been effective in reducing the achievement gaps.
The brief describes the key features of effective programs from elementary
school to higher education.
Other Reports and Articles
- Interactions:
A Summary of Research on School-Community Relationships
This brief report from AEL reviews the purpose and benefits of school-community
connections and discusses the different types of connections, such as home-school
relationships, schools as community centers, and communities as curriculums.
It describes the process of developing school–community collaborations,
the obstacles to achieving them, and addresses evidence of impact and evaluation
dilemmas.
- The
Mediating Role of Fathers' School Involvement on Student Achievement
This article in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
describes an exploratory study designed to identify the role of fathers'
involvement in mediating contextual influences on children's learning. Findings
revealed a significant relationship between aspects of father involvement
in their children's education and student achievement beyond that accounted
for by mother involvement. The article is available for purchase at the
link above.
Transcript
Toolkit
Public Opinion
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National PTA Survey on Local Impact of the No Child Left Behind Act
The National PTA surveyed its members about the impact of the No Child
Left Behind Act (NCLB) on local schools and districts. Eighty-five percent
of respondents believe that NCLB is having a positive impact on student
achievement. Fifty-five percent of respondents said that parent involvement
provisions of NCLB are being implemented in their school or district, but
32% were unsure of the level of implementation and 13% believed that no
provisions were implemented in their school.
- Life
After High School: Young People Talk About Their Hopes and Prospects
Public Agenda surveyed young adults ages 18–25 to learn more about
the factors behind decisions to go to college or seek employment after high
school. The vast majority of young adults believe in the value of going
to college. For those who do go on to college, parents' expectations and
the support of a teacher or counselor in high school played an important
role in their decision.
Upcoming Events
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Unifying Family Support Programs: Creating Policy, Power, Voice, Skills,
and Results
Sharpen your skills, advance your program's capacity, and learn about
emerging funding trends at Family Support America's 2-day, intensive skill-building
conference from April 3–5, in Jacksonville, Florida.
- Oceans
of Opportunity: The 29th Annual Massachusetts Title I Conference
Early registration materials are available for the annual Massachusetts
Title I conference to be held in Hyannis, Massachusetts, May 10–13.
The Department of Education will be sponsoring a parent, family, school,
and community involvement workshop series (five parts) on May 11th and 12th.
Information about this workshop series is not yet available online.
- Parent Involvement: No Excuses: The Region III Annual In-Service Training
Conference National
This in-service training conference will be held April 21–24 in Virginia
Beach. Sessions will address strategies for enhancing parent–school–community
relations. The conference is open to the public. For more information contact
Carolyn Reynolds at 800-624-9120 (x5447) or at reynoldc@ael.org.
Funding Opportunity
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Parent Involvement in Education Grants
General Mills' Box Tops for Education will distribute $2,000 Parental
Involvement in Education grants to school-sponsored parent groups across
the country. Grant applicants should explain how they would use the grant
to establish a new family involvement program or enhance an existing program
in an innovative and creative way. Applications are due April 1st.
Contact Us
Have a problem with the website or questions and comments concerning our work?
Send an email to fine@gse.harvard.edu.
Enjoy!
FINE - The Family Involvement Network of Educators
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