Educational Leadership articles from April 1996

Educational Leadership archives from April 1996

On our changing family values. (interview with sociologist David Elkind)(Interview)
April 1, 1996... A Conversation with David Elkind What has happened to the family in the last few decades? And what are these changes doing to our children? David Elkind delves into the causes of the enormous stress families feel today. Most of us are...

How teamwork transformed a neighborhood.
April 1, 1996... This is the story of how one elementary school overcame the challenges of neighborhood poverty and crime to build a community coalition. Pio Pico Elementary is an almost five-year-old school located in a barrio in the center of Santa Ana,...

Building bridges between generations. (involving seniors in education)
April 1, 1996... In suburban Cook County, an Illinois school district has tapped an invaluable community resource - senior citizens - for the mutual enrichment and education of two generations. I was a fortunate child. Growing up, I was surrounded by the love...

Full-service schools.
April 1, 1996... Schools in which quality education and comprehensive social services are offered under one roof have the potential to become neighborhood hubs, where children and their families want to be. In the library of the Salome Urena Middle Academy at...

Linking families, building community.
April 1, 1996... A Massachusetts elementary school creates community in its own building through such outreach strategies as a Parent Center, Friday Clubs, and regular celebrations of learning. One widely recognized way to improve student performance is to...

The great family network. (church-organized family services teams)
April 1, 1996... Care teams - made up of volunteers from local churches and synagogues - are helping special-needs families in a Florida county solve personal and financial problems to give their children a greater chance of success in school. Educators are...

One family at a time.
April 1, 1996... A literacy program for homeless families, its developers learned, is about much more than academic pursuits. It's about human relationships. Roz is 31. She dropped out of school at 13. At 14, she gave birth to twins. One child died, and the...

How parents liaisons connect families to school.
April 1, 1996... From helping a father sign up for ESL classes to explaining an unfamiliar education term like "gifted and talented" to a mother, multilingual parent liaisons are building a bridge between a Virginia school and neighboring families in need....

The Best Practice project: building parent partnerships in Chicago.
April 1, 1996... From its base at National-Louis University, the Best Practice Project is working in a dozen schools to involve parents in supporting student-centered, constructivist classrooms. This fall, project members will start an alternative school of...

Involving parents, avoiding gridlock.
April 1, 1996... What problems may educators encounter as they involve parents and other community members in changing the way schools work? Here's what Maine learned while developing new learning standards. No one doubts that parent involvement with schools...

Creating a learner's bill of rights - Vermont's town meeting approach. (curriculum development)
April 1, 1996... By opening the curriculum planning process to the public, Vermont has crafted a powerful vision of what the state and its citizens believe are essential learnings for today's students. Vermont's town meeting tradition is alive and well. It is...

Addressing parents' concerns over curriculum reform.
April 1, 1996... When introducing a new mathematics curriculum in its middle schools, an Iowa school district anticipated parents' misgivings, addressed them early, and made parents its allies in reform. "How will the parents react?" is one of the first...

How schools can recruit hard-to-reach parents.
April 1, 1996... Hawaii's success with School/Community-Based Management shows that there are many ways of involving parents from diverse cultural and language backgrounds in the life of the school. Most educators recognize that involving parents or other...

Listening to parents of children with disabilities.
April 1, 1996... Interviews with parents of mainstreamed children shed light on building effective school-home partnerships. A growing number of children with disabilities are becoming members of general education classes. As someone involved in teacher...

When students lead parent-teacher conferences.
April 1, 1996... Because traditional parent-teacher conferences were more frustrating than helpful, these teachers looked to their middle school students for a more student-centered model. Our middle school students, like most, struggle between wanting...

The power of portfolios. (student assessment)
April 1, 1996... A valuable tool in student assessment, portfolios provide students the opportunity to see their progress and tell the stories of their learning. Viewing children as competent is central to the way we assess children's learning at Crow Island...

A conversation with Charles Haynes. (Scholar in Residence, Freedom Forum First Amendment Center)(Interview)
April 1, 1996... In the last several years, you've moderated a number of discussions between conservative Christians and public educators. Why are so many traditionalist parents opposed to school programs and suspicious of educators? Their alienation is...

Resolving conflicts over values. (religion and education)
April 1, 1996... Aided by the state's 3Rs project, public school officials and conservative Christians have found common ground in a southern California school district. My Monday morning began with a telephone call from an upset mother who complained...

Parents' rights- society's imperatives: a balancing act.
April 1, 1996... By articulating and responding to the principles that underlie parent vs. school rights controversies, public school officials can reduce conflict and even arrive at a consensus on some issues. Parents' rights and society's needs sometimes...

What are you teaching my son?
April 1, 1996... Educators caught up in grand schemes and socially well-intentioned ideas should start paying attention to parents' concerns. Phillip, my 12-year-old son, is an excellent student who wants to learn. Unfortunately, he is being de-motivated by a...

Celebrating diversity. (teaching)
April 1, 1996... Like most first-year teachers, I entered my high school classroom thinking that my job was to mold students. I was to be the potter; they, the clay. It didn't take me long to realize that I faced a formidable challenge. It was 1969 - but it...