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Most schools struggle to get busy and stressed parents to come repeatedly to the school building for events. At primary schools, especially those with pupils living in low-income communities or with many immigrants, involving parents to come at all is seen as a challenge. The purpose of this paper is to present a social ecological strategy of using the school building as a site for families to gather and for community networks to grow by building relationships between parents who have same-aged children attending that school. When families know other families, they feel more comfortable coming into the school building, and probably will return frequently.

A large randomised controlled trial of 52 urban schools with an average of 73 per cent Latino students situated in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the USA has data to examine the impact of this strategy on parent involvement. Parents of all first-grade students (age 6 or 7) at schools assigned either to Families and Schools Together (FAST) or services-as-usual were invited to participate. At schools with the social ecological strategy universal invites were made to those in the study to attend any one of eight weekly multi-family group sessions offered after-school at the building. Trained teams were culturally representative of the families (language, ethnicity) and made up of local parents and professionals; each team hosted up to ten families in a hub for two and a half hours (83 families attended at one session). Parents were socially included, treated with respect, coached by the team to lead a family meal, singing, family crafts and games at a family table. Parent time (respite) was provided with chat-time in pairs, followed by parent-led discussion groups. Parents were coached in one to one time, “child-led” responsive play for 15 minutes.

Parent involvement data showed that on average, 43.6 per cent of all first-graders’ families (an average of 44 families per school) attended at least one session; of those, who attended at least one session, 69 per cent returned for another. On average, of those families who attended at least once, the average family went four times; an average of 22 families per school attended six or more sessions. Parent graduates led monthly booster sessions open to all families. In half of the families, both fathers and mothers attended; immigrant parents attended statistically significantly more than native-born ones. In surveys, more parents in schools with FAST vs control reported attending three or more events at school.

The FAST programme encourages the involvement of reluctant parents in school events. This benefits both children’s general well-being and academic attainment and so contributes to preventative public health strategies.

This paper brings new perspectives to the challenges faced by educators in involving parents at school by a sociologist-led research team introducing a social worker-developed social ecological, systemic strategy to schools in low-income communities using a randomised controlled design. This novel social ecological approach has consistently and effectively engaged whole families into increased involvement in schools in 20 countries, especially in low-income communities. Headteachers consistently report increased school engagement of FAST parent graduates for years, suggesting that the early intensity builds ongoing relationships of trust and reciprocity across home, school and community. Policy makers should note that building social capital in disadvantaged communities through partnerships with parents and schools can result in decreased disparities in health, social care and education.

The purpose of this paper is to consider evidence on the effectiveness of preschool social and emotional interventions in preschool contexts and focuses on the application of an implementation framework described in relation to the Preschool Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum. Active parent involvement and engagement were not included in the implementation but preschool establishments spontaneously involved parents or parents sought involvement, creating innovations in delivery and context. The need for structured parent involvement and its impact are considered in relation to evidence on integrated programmes and different models of parent involvement.

This paper reports on an interim evaluation of practitioners’ and parents’ experiences of the implementation processes, focusing on the involvement and engagement of parents.

Evidence for the rationale for parent engagement in this context is substantiated. The Preschool PATHS curriculum is known to impact on children’s social competence, problem behaviour and, in the early school context, attainment. However the programme does not target parent skill directly or address parent behaviours that may affect children’s social competence and behaviour. It is suggested that the programme needs to be extended to provide structured input for parents via training and information similar to that provided for practitioners. A pilot study using integrated parent training material and supported by an implementation framework is advised.

The paper describes a flexible, evidence-based framework supporting replicable processes useful to service providers across programmes and contexts. An “innovation” (a term used to describe deviations from programme fidelity or implementation standards) is explored which affected the creation of parallel parent involvement strategies but not the delivery of the programme itself which was carefully monitored. While adaptations and deviations are inevitable, some flag up areas where development or issues of contextual fit need to be addressed and might, as in this case, inform better integration of evidence and practice development.

This chapter discusses issues and strategies on engaging first generation immigrant parents of young children with exceptionalities. It describes challenges and obstacles faced by immigrant families and the professionals who serve them with a focus on Latino and Chinese immigrant families, given that Latino and Chinese are two largest immigrant groups to the United States. Available literature in early childhood education and nursing suggests that communication, financial stress, and cultural values are critical issues faced by immigrant families of young children with exceptionalities, regardless their immigrant status. Effective engagement with these families can only be achieved through positive attitudes, care, empathy, and sincere communication. Building the cultural competence, collaboration skills, and repertoire of early childhood professionals on assisting these parents access school and community resources will make the work of engaging these parents more fruitful. Most importantly, early childhood professionals must recognize and capitalize on the strengths of immigrant parents of young children with exceptionalities and encourage their participation as an equal partner to support their child’s education. The chapter is concluded with a list of practical strategies for early childhood educators to better collaborate with immigrant parents of young children with disabilities.

The essentiality of family involvement in the schooling process is evident from the vast directives embedded within federal mandates, professional standards for teachers and administrators, parent organizations, and advocacy groups. Yet, as explicit as legislative mandates and professional standards are regarding parental rights and involvement, they do not require definitive roles of the family. Several factors influence the lack of a decisive definition regarding the role of the family in the schooling process. Those include the different perspectives on what constitutes a family structurally and functionally, the socio-cultural and political diversity within and among populations, the move to an inclusive education framework, the various terms used to describe parental involvement, the realization that no one family model fits the demographic diversity existing in today’s school districts, and the rights of family members to select their level of involvement. Given the importance of family engagement and student outcomes, three fundamental questions addressed in this chapter are, “How can inclusive schools enhance productive collaborative family engagement networks?” “How can the family be empowered to voluntarily participate within those networks?” and “How can inclusive schools connect with teacher preparation programs to promote the competency of educators for those collaborative family/school engagement networks?” In this chapter we delineate an interactive triad conceptual model with the school as the “connecting agent” to build relationships with families and teacher preparation, setting the stage for productive family engagement as partners in inclusive settings.

While scholars recognize that parent engagement in children’s education is beneficial, much of the normative parent involvement literature rests on the assumption that marginalized parents of color must be taught white middle-class norms of conduct in order to engage with the school system. In this chapter, we describe the ways our critical ethnographic implementation and analysis of the Parent Mentor Program – a parent engagement project in a small urban school district in Central New York – re-envisions parent engagement in three interrelated ways. First, we argue that the project is race-, class-, gender-, and power-conscious, drawing on the interrelated theoretical frames of Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies. Second, we argue that the program and research are unique in utilizing the toolkit of critical ethnography to not merely describe, but also to intervene in educational inequity. Third, we argue that the program has a more holistic goal than much of the parent engagement literature, as it seeks to connect parent engagement and activism with the larger antiracist goal of using restorative justice strategies to disrupt the disproportionate disciplining of Black students. Focusing on critical ethnographic methods in practice, we analyze the shifting positionalities of a multiracial research team as we grappled with methodological dilemmas in the first three years of the program. We document how we balanced the goals of introducing a race-conscious framework and catalyzing critical consciousness with the realities of constantly renegotiating entry in a school district characterized by colorblindness and colormuteness.

Strong home-school partnerships consistently and substantially benefit children’s academic and social development. Home-school partnerships are considerably affected by the settings in which they take place (e.g., rural, urban, suburban), the characteristics of the partners (e.g., parents and teachers), and their relationships with one another (parent-teacher partnerships). In rural communities, supportive home-school partnerships promote young children’s success but have proven difficult to implement. African American families with young children residing in rural communities experience unique social and institutional challenges and benefits that are particularly salient for fostering home-school partnerships. Thus, the landscape of rural communities is an important and essential consideration for understanding the intersection between race and home-school partnerships. This chapter focuses on the promise of positive home-school partnerships for rural African American children, their families, and their schools. Home-school partnership as an essential component of children’s academic and social development is defined, and sample home-school partnership intervention programs are described. Finally, existing policy investments related to the facilitation of home-school partnerships are explored and policy recommendations that promote such partnerships are discussed.

Inequalities in education have existed since the beginning of formal education. Educational disparities often emerge as you compare groups of students based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, gender, and geography. This chapter seeks to stress the important role that early childhood experiences, including specific structures and processes during these foundational years play in potentially preventing the educational gaps of Black students. This requires intentional shifting from solely focusing on educational gaps to one that focuses on specific practices and policies that must be implemented to ensure that Black children are afforded the opportunities to meet their potential.

Aligned with the United Nations 2030 agenda of leaving no one behind, a project called The Nest was initiated to create an in-house intentional learning space at two public housings in Klang Valley. In a small unit of public housing, most children in these houses sit on the floor in the living room to do their schoolwork or study with the TV switched on. Poor indoor environmental quality and lack of personal space are among the main reasons that lead to children not being able to study at home comfortably.

The research employed a quasi-experimental approach as the research field setting was not randomly assigned. Observation on the change in the quality of space and post-evaluation interviews with beneficiaries were conducted.

The findings show that besides the tangible space that the Nest project has created, it also has created in-tangible space. It has shown that even small spatial changes to existing spaces could improve children's active learning and the participation of parents in their children's learning.

This study focuses on the home learning experience and parental involvement in their children's learning, so perhaps future research can be done to measure the impact of home learning space on academic achievement.

The research outcomes show that a good quality of learning space influences the children's learning experience at home and the parents' involvement. It will also contribute to the development of the building regulation for high-rise affordable housing in Malaysia. Particularly in improving the optimum requirement to achieve better comfort quality for the learning space at the residential unit.

The Nest project will contribute to raising the awareness among all residents of public housing on the importance of in-house learning space and encourage them to build their own learning spaces through the Do-It-Yourself Guidelines.

The research outcomes show that both parental involvement and the quality of learning space influence the children's learning experience at home. It will contribute to the development of the building regulation for high-rise affordable housing in Malaysia. Particularly in improving the optimum requirement to achieve better comfort quality for the learning space at the residential unit.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of current studies that assess and treat anxiety symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). More specifically the study aimed to answer the following questions: What are the qualities of the current studies using cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs) to treat anxiety symptoms in children with ASD? Did studies make necessary modifications and adaptations to CBTs according to the evidence-based strategies and implement these versions of CBTs with precise fidelity? Were the selected measurements appropriate for assessing the anxiety symptoms in children with ASD?

A systematic review protocol was developed from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (Moher et al., 2009). A rubric was adapted based on the CEC (Council for Exceptional Children; Cook, 2014) group comparison studies standards and the Evaluative Method for Determining EBP in Autism (Reichow et al., 2007). The 3-point Likert Scale (Chard et al., 2009) was adapted to score each study based on the rubric.

CBT is a first-line treatment with significant mixed results. Current studies use adapted versions of existing CBTs for children with ASD without reporting empirical evidence to these adaptations and changes. Reporting of the implementation fidelity is still an issue in the treatment of anxiety. Anxiety measurements that were designed for typically developing children failure to detect unusual anxiety symptoms in children with ASD.

The first limitation of this study was including a variety of studies across CBT programs and types of anxiety symptoms. Types of anxiety and CBT treatments may require separate analyses with specific indicators. Due to the limited studies, reviews could not be analyzed across types of CBT programs. The second limitation was the types of studies. Most of the studies were pilot studies. Pilot studies might use various instruments and CBTs components for making selections to produce the best effects and results. The final limitation was the lack of examination of the data analysis process.

These findings are important because due to the variety of changes or adaptation to CBTs, inappropriate implementations and failure to detect unusual anxiety symptoms of children with ASD may cause significant differences in treatment responses and outcomes. The study demonstrated that the majority of the studies used adapted versions of existing CBTs without reporting empirical evidence for these adaptations and changes. The findings have shown that reporting of the implementation fidelity is still an issue. Moreover, the majority of studies had used anxiety measurements that were designed for typically developing children, not for children with ASD.