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The article examines inner-city teachers' attitudes to parent involvement in their children's education, focusing on Jefferson Elementary, an inner-city school in Northern California whose population consists of mostly low-income African American, Latino, and Asian students. The author comments on how understanding teacher's attitudes toward parent involvement relates to teachers' seeking of parent collaboration in middle class school communities. Topics include parent-teacher partnership models, parent involvement in the classroom itself, and home literacy, that is, parent-assisted literacy education at home.

The paper examines sociospatial issues for two forms of school choice that are popular in the US, magnet schools and charter schools. It argues that geographical analyses can be taken up to expand understandings of such issues as the spatial organisation of race in public school choice plans, how rapidly increasing immigrant student populations impact classroom space in urban districts and parents' everyday challenges managing the distances between home and school. The geographical analysis of data from a two-year ethnographic study of a large school district in the Los Angeles metropolitan region found that, by offering choice to those who are unable to accomplish choice unless they have necessary resources such as time and supports such as transport, districts may inadvertently be perpetuating the historical inequities and inequalities that have stubbornly embedded themselves into the sociospatial relations of urban schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor dietary habits, rising rates of overweight students, and lack of oversight of vending contracts prompted the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to develop and implement 2 of the most comprehensive nutrition policies in the country. The Healthy Beverage Resolution and Obesity Prevention Motion limit the types of and access to beverages and snacks on school campuses. This study used qualitative and quantitative methods to document the development, implementation, and impact of the LAUSD nutrition policies. Questionnaires were administered to 399 12th-grade students in 2 LAUSD high schools to determine knowledge of the policies, perceptions of the impact of the policies on student dietary behaviors, and attitudes toward the policies and the school nutrition environment. Over one half of all students indicated that the policies impacted the foods and beverages they consumed at school, whereas only about one fifth indicated the policies impacted what they ate or drank at home/outside of school. However, for those students who indicated the policies had an impact, they reported they ate or drank fewer of the banned items both at school and at home/outside of school. These results point to the need for additional research to determine if school policies impact student behaviors outside of the school setting. Removing unhealthy food items from schools may not be enough to improve student’s overall dietary behaviors. A coordinated multilevel approach including nutrition education, physical education, and parental involvement along with policies and modifications in food service is recommended. (J Sch Health. 2006;76(10):525-531) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines family-related factors that influences non-attendance in the school system in Los Angeles, California. Two hundred and thirty-seven families were intimately observed during the period from September 15, 1915 to April 15, 1916. Of the two hundred and thirty-seven cases of what popularly is sometimes called truancy, one hundred and thirty-four girls were kept out of school and forty three were willfully absent. There were thirty-seven homes or 15.6 percent of the two hundred and thirty-seven families observed that were distinctly Mexican in type--composed either of natives of California or of persons lately arrived from Mexico. The adolescent girl is the chief problem when the question arises of enforcing compulsory school attendance. Many of the girls studied were employed in private families as mothers' helpers. Sickness in the family generally means that the oldest girl must take the position of nurse in the event of a new baby. Parental negligence and inability to keep pace with the growing needs of the child was the most common factor. In practically every one of the forty-three homes in this group one or more of the essentials necessary for the normal development of a child were lacking. A large percentage of girls at fourteen or fifteen years of age are intensely bored by school, or are failing in their work and consequently wish to drop out of school. At home or in industry they like the sense of accomplishment and of doing something real, which replaces the sense of failure oftentimes felt at school.

The article provides information about the educational program that was developed by the school adminstration of La Jolla Junior and Senior High School where the parents was given the chance to be acquainted with student's daily activities and their performances. Parents were asked to visit the school during Education Week to have conferences and discussions with educational experts. The said program established a mutual interest between the student and the parents.

The article focuses on the leaflet "A Practical Plan for the HomeTeacher," by Amanda Mathews Chase in California. As published by the Commission of Immigration and Housing of California, the leaflet founds to be instructive to all interested in the work of home education and helpful to those who are already engaged. According to the author, home teacher can be employed by boards of school trustees or city's board of education. The plan was based on Mrs. Chase experience in home teaching.