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While parents of students with disabilities (SWD) select schools according to various factors, schools also choose students through different sorting mechanisms. Thus, parents of SWD may need to employ different strategies to enroll their child in their preferred school. We employed an intersectional approach for studying school choice, integrating ethnographic interviews and descriptive GIS to answer the following questions: (a) What strategies do parents of SWD utilize to secure placement in the school of their choice? and (b) How is the engagement with such strategies shaped by their social and geographical locations? We found that parents engaged in five strategies: Accepting an IEP Team's school recommendations, securing placement through a sibling, testing into selective enrollments, changing IEP provisions, and engaging in due process. Moreover, these strategies were afforded and constrained by their intersecting social positions (i.e., race, class, and disability), their geographical locations, and the developmental school stage of their child (i.e., transitioning to kindergarten or high school).

In this article we report on an exploration of leadership and context for the improvement of quality education in South African socioeconomic-deprived school contexts viewed through Hellinger's contextual theory, open systems theory, Bronfenbrenner's ecology of human development, and Bourdieu's theory of field, habitus and power. A post positivistic approach allowed for a quantitative research design which employed an interpretivist lens to use the theory and the context to interpret the numbers. A self-designed questionnaire was used for the data collection. We analysed the data by means of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) analysis program and evaluated using a Likert scale. In the study reported on here, the mean scores -- sorted from the highest, which means the most important factor, to the lowest -- are presented. The findings reveal that low teacher professionalism and non-compliance to the regulations, contextual factors outside the schools (teenage pregnancy, vandalism), learners' circumstantial challenges, high accountability by the department without considering schools' contextual factors, and a lack of parental involvement in the teaching-learning process were among the biggest challenges for principals to influence quality education.

This article reports the outcomes of community participation and quality learning education resulting from the MEMBACA II project. MEMBACA (Making Early Matter through Books and Community Action) is a literacy project that targets young children in Indonesia. The MEMBACA project includes teacher training, community reading activities, and age-appropriate local language material creation to support emergent literacy skills among early-grade children. These skills include letter awareness, single-word reading of most used words, reading fluency, reading accuracy, and reading comprehension. 31 participants involved in this study, purposively selected to be interviewed through the phone. The thematic analysis found that a better learning environment was produced, a code of conduct is now available in schools, and it has helped in mainstreaming a more positive disciplining approach to teachers. This study has also identified that villages are now allocating their village fund for supporting literacy activities, although the process has experienced a setback in the year 2020 due to the pandemic. Further, while teachers' capacities were increased due to various activities, learning environments are still troubled by poor infrastructures and a lack of community awareness. Engagement of communities and local government were mostly improved, with major problem lies in the continuity of the literacy-related activities, affected by various factors including poor advocacy and COVID-19 pandemic.

Phenomenological design was used in this research to determine the experiences, opinions and suggestions of the stakeholders in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) development team during the IEP preparation process. Nine parents 20 teachers and a school administrator who were in the IEP team and took part in the IEP preparation process participated in the research. Researcher diary, demographic data form, observation and semi-structured interviews were used in accordance with the principle of data triangulation while collecting data from the participants. The data were analyzed with the QSR Nvivo 11 package program. As a result of the research, it was concluded that parents should be involved in the IEP development process, but this would be possible depending on some preconditions, and one of these preconditions was family education. It has been observed that the stakeholders in the team have developed a communication system based on information sharing. It was observed that the stakeholders had difficulties in the IEP preparation process due to reasons such as insufficient training on the process, insufficient knowledge about the process and laws, and inexperience. According to another result of the research, it was stated that it would not be appropriate for individuals with special needs to take part in the IEP preparation process, but they could be included in the process if certain conditions were met. In addition, as a result of the research, various suggestions were presented on deep research and applications for the IEP development process.

Inclusive education is the process of integrating individuals with disabilities into a regular classroom, and it helps reflect the world's commitment to equal educational opportunities as outlined in UNCRPD. It emphasizes the importance of embracing diversity and promoting acceptance among students who are impaired. This paper examines why it is important to include learners with impairments into mainstream classes and the favorable attitudes towards inclusive education among teachers, administrators and students. Many barriers hinder its implementation such as lack of professional development for teachers, insufficient facilities for learning, difficulty in creating relationships between classmates, inadequate parent participation, and absence of legislations and policies that are aligned towards its practice. The role of several educational theories like social constructivism, humanistic approach and universal design for learning (UDL) have been discussed to show their relevance in addressing challenges found in inclusive learning. Social Constructivism shows how collaborative work can be used inside the classrooms so that peer rejection will be lessened. The approach that is humanistic stresses about the comprehensive growth all individuals while addressing the needs of learners with disabilities. UDL focuses on promoting an accessible learning environment and eliminating physical barriers to foster successful growth for all students. Moreover, this article underlines relevance of awareness on how children with impairments can be incorporated into conventional classrooms and benefits which inclusive education has for both disabled and non disabled students. In conclusion, this paper emphasized the transformative nature of inclusive education in fostering a learning atmosphere that promotes diversity, empathy, and acceptance, contributing to students' overall development.

We acknowledge the existing educational inequalities that South Africa faces as a result of differences in developmental and equal educational opportunities. The aim with this study was to investigate the role of non-cognitive learning performance variables that affect the learning performance and success of secondary-school learners. Data were collected from a sample of 395 Grade 9 learners. The proposed learning performance structural model was empirically evaluated by using various instruments and was analysed by means of structural equation modelling. The results indicate statistically significant positive relationships between learning performance and cognitive engagement, learning performance and grit, cognitive engagement and conscientiousness, grit and learning motivation, grit and cognitive engagement, learning motivation and parental quality, learning motivation and tenacity, learning motivation and cognitive engagement, and conscientiousness and resilience. Both tenacity and parental quality acted as moderators of the relationship between environmental unfavourableness and cognitive engagement. The selection of variables was more effective in explaining variance in cognitive engagement than in learning performance. The results of the study could be used to facilitate cognitive engagement as a pivotal variable in learning success among secondary-school learners.

Because it is crucial for psychosocial adjustment and lifelong learning, education is the most relevant tool for ensuring inclusion and reducing inequalities. Due to its relationship with positive outcomes, such as life satisfaction, mental health, job performance or SES, academic achievement is a significant phenomenon that impacts students, families, and educational institutions. The present study sought to contribute to the field by reviewing the literature on the determinants that influence the objective achievements of a typical population of middle- to high-school students. Based on the PRISMA statement, a search for related studies was performed in the WoS, EBSCO, and PubMed databases, and 771 studies published between 1930 and 2022 were identified. After screening based on the analysis of abstracts, 35 studies met the selection criteria. The Bronfenbrenner ecological model served as the theoretical rationale for organizing the studies' findings. The results of this review highlight the following determinants of school achievement: (i) Personal factors--gender, personality traits, cognitive abilities and academic background, motivation and self-constructs, stress and problem-solving strategies, and substance use; (ii) Contextual microsystem factors--(a) Family-parental educational background; parenting practices and interactions; parental involvement and support; (b) School-school location; school conditions, responsiveness, and practices; (c) Peers-peer-group disagreement management. This systematic review updates the existing empirical evidence on this topic and highlights the complexity of the phenomenon of academic achievement.

Based on the ecosystem theory and the process-person-context-time model, this study explored the combined effects of parental involvement and perceived school climate on academic burnout among 17,289 high school students by using a questionnaire approach. Polynomial regression with response surface analysis found that (1) the combined effect of parental involvement and perceived school climate significantly predicted academic burnout levels among high school students; (2) high school students with high parental involvement and high perceived school climate had lower levels of academic burnout than those with low parental involvement and low perceived school climate; high school students with low parental involvement and high perceived school climate had lower levels of academic burnout than those with high parental involvement and low perceived school climate; (3) gratitude partially mediated the block variables' effects on high school students' academic burnout. This study provides a new explanatory perspective on the underlying mechanisms of academic burnout among high school students and has certain reference value for future intervention research targeting academic burnout.

The COVID-19 pandemic posed unique challenges for early childhood teachers who were facilitating the learning and development of young students. This exploratory, qualitative study examined early childhood teachers' (K-2 grade levels) experiences with online/hybrid classes and the transition back to in-person classes from Spring 2020 to Fall 2021 in Pakistan and the United States. Themes that emerged from the interview responses of teachers included: proficiency in technology-use, challenges of teaching virtually, limited resources, parental involvement, planning, student engagement, increased workload, challenges of transition to in-person classes, and suggestions for school administrators. Some experiences were unique to Pakistani teachers such as electricity shortages disrupting online classes and gender-based expectations of managing household responsibilities resulting in increased workloads for female teachers. Findings are useful in further understanding the global academic and social impact on young children during the pandemic and the challenges faced by early childhood teachers. Additionally, these findings can inform recommendations to school administrators to provide adequate support to teachers and students transitioning back to in-person classes.

The main objective of the study was to explore the main predictors that influence academic stress among fourth-grade elementary school students using data from the Panel Study on Korean Children via a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regularized penalty regression model. The study examined 280 explanatory variables using the LASSO model. After preprocessing the data, it finally selected 21 variables. Out of them, the study found that children's persistence, peer attachment, bullying, parental achievement pressure, and subjective socioeconomic status as significant predictors, which is consistent with previous studies. However, several variables, including children's overall happiness, frequency of using slang, preference for mathematics, school life preference, daily time spent for homework and study, average monthly cost of private education, parents' participation in school events, marital conflict, and residential area, which were newly explored in the study, were also significant. Finally, we presented the significance and implications of the results in relation to decreasing academic stress among fourth-grade elementary school children.

An important question for parents and educators alike is how to promote adolescents' academic identity and school performance. This study investigated relations among parental education, parents' attitudes toward their adolescents' school, parental support for learning at home, and adolescents' academic identity and school performance over time and in different national contexts. Longitudinal data were collected from adolescents and their parents in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). When adolescents were 16 years old, their mothers (N = 1083) and fathers (N = 859) provided data. When adolescents were 17 years old, 1049 adolescents (50% girls) and their mothers (N = 1001) and fathers (N = 749) provided data. Multiple-group path analyses indicated that, across cultures, higher parent education was associated with better adolescent school performance. Parents' attitudes toward their adolescents' school and parent support for learning in the home were not associated with adolescents' school performance but were associated with academic identity. The findings suggest somewhat different pathways to school performance versus academic identity. Implications for helping parents and educators in different countries promote adolescents' academic identity and achievement are discussed.

Background: Parent engagement in child-focused interventions is increasingly recognised as an important aspect of effective intervention delivery. While several fields have an emerging literature around parent engagement, no reviews currently exist which combine findings across allied health literatures. Objective: This review aimed to explore factors relevant to understanding parent engagement in child-focused interventions, as described in qualitative literature across allied health disciplines, toward informing the clinical practice of helping professionals in effectively engaging parents. Methods: A systematised qualitative literature review was carried out, with a comprehensive search of five online databases (CINAHL, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus) for allied health literature (specifically: behaviour analysis, occupational therapy, psychology, and speech-language therapy) using parent engagement key words. Reference searching and citation tracking steps supported the search. Thematic synthesis was used as the overarching framework and analysis approach. Results: 8824 unique studies were generated in the search. Of the 71 studies which met inclusion criteria, 38 reported qualitative findings and were included in the analysis. Five themes were identified including: societal context, interpersonal context, clinician features, family features, and relationship as engagement. Conclusions: Findings support conceptual explanations of parent engagement as a complex and dynamic process, emphasising the joint contributions of parents and clinicians in developing therapeutic relationships which promote engagement. Across allied health research there are consistency of understandings around parent engagement, supporting the conclusion that clinicians can look to literatures from various helping fields to inform clinical practice around engaging parents in interventions.

Background: Digital simulations are emerging technologies in science education that allow students to visualise abstract concepts and enable science teachers to conduct laboratory work/experiments online. Objective: To determine teacher readiness, the study focused on their cognitive skills and knowledge and perceptions of the use of digital simulations as a pedagogical tool incorporating an intervention in its research design. Methods: The theoretical framework of this study combines the modified Technology Acceptance Model with the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. Snowball sampling was used to recruit 10 chemistry teachers from secondary schools and a mixed methods sequential explanatory research design was adopted. The data was collected through survey, interview, pre-test and post-test results before and after the intervention (training). Results: Science teachers perceive digital simulations as valuable and easy to use and are ready to use them in future lessons. An increase in cognitive knowledge and skills coupled with a positive mindset was noted after the training. The teachers indicated the need for training and support at all levels to successfully integrate digital simulations in their classrooms. Additionally, parents' engagement to enhance their awareness of such initiatives was deemed crucial for their support. Conclusions: The study calls for a rethinking and a revision of science curriculum, policies and enhancement of infrastructure/general resources to support technology-enabled learning, teaching and assessment practices in science classrooms; a continuous professional development program for teachers to keep up with the changing needs of 21st-century education is imperative.

In recent years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has put considerable effort toward improving justice and equity for people with disabilities in education. One of the three main dimensions of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 program is to support all citizens, especially those with disabilities. However, more efforts are still needed to achieve meaningful inclusive education. This analysis sheds light on the challenges, successes, and important factors that have affected the educational landscape for individuals with disabilities in Saudi Arabia and offers recommendations for improving and sustaining inclusive educational practice. In particular, technology solutions need to be implemented to provide effective training for special education professionals, and the current curriculum should be reevaluated to suit special education standards. Preparing special education teachers and other personnel to adapt the curriculum to suit students with disabilities is an important step toward full inclusion in Saudi Arabia.

Background: Parent involvement strongly correlates with children's educational attainment. Sociocultural shifts in parenting roles and shared responsibilities have driven an increase in the need for involvement of fathers in activities to support their children's educational development. Several factors are thought to influence father involvement in children's education; however, the most salient factors remain unclear. Aims: To examine which variables correlate with father involvement in their children's education using a combination of demographic, parent-related and employment-related variance. Sample: A total of 166 fathers of at least one child aged 6-17 years and residing across five industrialized Western countries participated in an online survey. Method: Hierarchical multiple regression analysis (HMRA) was performed to examine the total and incremental variance using regression models including demographic, parenting- and employment-related variables linked to educational involvement. Results and Conclusions: The variables included in the current study could explain a large and statistically significant 34% of the variability in fathers' educational involvement. Of these variables, only four were statistically significant in the final model. Specifically, fathers were more likely to be engaged in their children's education when their children were younger, and when parent self-efficacy, positive work-to-family interface and financial anxiety were high. The study's findings indicate that a positive work environment can help fathers better support their children's education, offering a new focus for future interventions and policies. This includes those focused on targeting work-related constructs to optimize family functioning.

Parental choice remains a central theme in education policy in England. Parents have the right to choose how their children are educated. For some families this choice is surrendered, with volition and intention, to their local authority which allocates school places after parents, statutory guardians and families have made their decisions. Where applicable, after parents have selected mainstream education for children with SEND, their child might be evaluated, and a recommendation made for their child to undergo a managed move; typically to join a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) or Alternative Provision (AP). In this think piece, we advocate for PRUs and APs to sit alongside mainstream and special education schools to offer a more balanced first choice for parents. This means PRUs and APs are not 'othered' in this choice offer for parents. There are academic, psycho-social, emotional, well-being and self-affirming complexities which could, and quite frankly, tend to result in the pupils and students accessing settings such as these which appear to be othered in this way.

With the global increase in forcibly displaced populations, understanding and improving educational opportunities and outcomes for refugee youth is of paramount importance. This scoping review focuses on understanding the extent and nature of evidence related to school engagement among refugee parents and students. The review's scope was limited to peer-reviewed articles published in English between 2015 and 2023. The review reveals insights into research contexts, methodological and theoretical approaches, empirical interests, and key findings on enablers of and barriers to school engagement. Additionally, the paper identifies three significant themes requiring attention in future research: inconsistent framing of central themes, the prevalence of deficit accounts regarding refugee parents and students, and omissions concerning critical aspects of school engagement.

Voices from high achieving Black students allow the conversation to move from a deficit way of thinking to an asset-based perspective leading to greater opportunities for academic success. Through the lens of resilience theory and also through examining protective factors, this qualitative study employs an interpretative approach, enabling participants to articulate their individual experiences. Aligned with the theory of human motivation, the findings highlight the significance of Black teachers, race representation and socioeconomic background, as potential catalysts for inspiring students to leverage protective factors such as (a) locus of control, (b) parental support, (c) teacher relationships, (d) peer interactions, and (e) community and church support. By amplifying students' voices, the study contributes to existing literature, offering valuable insights into the lived experiences of Black students. These insights not only enrich academic discourse but provide practical implications for education leaders and policymakers based on the experiences of high achieving graduates.

Background: Parent-mediated intervention (PMI) is a potentially scalable approach for tailored interventions in neurogenetic conditions like Down syndrome (DS). Because PMIs require ongoing parent engagement, they must be developed in alignment with the needs of intended users. The present study examined caregiver opinions and preferences to inform the development of syndrome-informed interventions for children with DS. Method: Parents of children with DS (n = 34) participated in focus groups discussing PMI. Interviews were transcribed and a thematic analysis was applied to code the data. Results: Three themes were identified: advantages of PMI, disadvantages of PMI and preferred features of PMI. To align with parent preferences, future PMIs for children with DS should require a brief time commitment, blend intervention activities into daily routines and include family members in activities. Conclusions: Findings have implications for developing novel interventions to support early development in children with DS and other neurogenetic conditions.

Studies from high-income populations have shown that stimulating, supportive communicative input from parents promote children's cognitive and language development. However, fewer studies have identified specific features of input supporting the healthy development of children growing up in low- or middle-income countries. The current study proposes and tests a multi-dimensional framework for understanding whether and how caregiver communicative input mediates the associations between socio-economic conditions and early development. We also examine how caregiver conceptual scaffolding and autonomy support uniquely and synergistically explain variation in child outcomes. Participants were 71 Bangladeshi families with five-year-olds who were exposed to a range of biological and psychosocial hazards from birth. Caregiver-child interactions during snack sharing and semi-structured play were coded for caregiver conceptual scaffolding, autonomy support, and child engagement. Findings indicate that the two dimensions of input were correlated, suggesting that caregivers who provided richer conceptual scaffolds were simultaneously more supportive of children's autonomy. Notably, conceptual scaffolding and autonomy support each mediated associations between maternal education and child verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) scores. Further, caregivers who supported greater autonomy in their children had children who participated in conversations more actively, and these children in turn had higher performance IQ scores. When considered simultaneously, conceptual scaffolding was associated with verbal IQ over and above autonomy support, whereas autonomy support related to child engagement, controlling for conceptual scaffolding. These findings shed new light on how environmental factors may support early development, contributing to the design of family-centered, culturally authentic interventions. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/9v_8sIv7ako

Feeling loved by one's caregiver is essential for individual flourishing (i.e., high levels of psychological well-being in multiple dimensions). Although similar constructs are found to benefit adolescent well-being, research that directly tests parental love as a feeling from the recipient's perspective is rare. Historically, parental love has been measured using single-assessment methods and assumed to be a stable, trait-like characteristic; yet, like any feeling, it may fluctuate in meaningful ways on a day-to-day basis--the implications of which are unknown. Using a sample of 150 adolescents (59.3% female; ages 14-16), this study estimated "level" (person's mean level across days) and "instability" (fluctuations across days) of feeling loved by a caregiver across 21 days for each adolescent, and then examined their prospective effects on adolescent flourishing 1 year later. After controlling for demographics (adolescent age, gender, family income, and parent's sex) and variable baseline levels, feeling more loved by one's caregiver in daily life significantly predicted higher levels of flourishing in two global measures 1 year later. Moreover, "level" and "instability" of feeling loved by one's caregiver played different roles for different dimensions of flourishing: higher "levels" significantly predicted higher levels of autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth, whereas higher "instability" significantly predicted lower levels of positive relations with others and environmental mastery. Findings emphasized the importance of considering daily dynamics of feeling loved by one's caregiver and demonstrated that "level" (of feeling loved) is particularly important for intrapersonal aspects while "instability" is particularly important for interpersonal aspects of flourishing.

Purpose: Pivotal response treatment (PRT) is a well-established intervention addressing core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with parent involvement as a key component. The current study aimed to examine the effects of PRT parent training on parent fidelity and provide descriptive analyses of parent-child interactions before and after parent training. It also probed parental acceptance and satisfaction with the program. Methods: A concurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the parent training program. Four parents (range 32-47 years old) and their children with ASD participated in the study. The intervention comprised 12 one-on-one parent training sessions over six consecutive weeks. The visual analysis and effect size calculation (Tau-U) were used to evaluate functional relationship between independent and dependent variables. The descriptive analysis was used to analyze parent--child interaction data. Results: The findings reveal that all parents learned and maintained PRT with a high level of fidelity, they also enhanced awareness to create more opportunities for interactions during free play, and the parents were very satisfied with the program. The results also indicate that the six-week parent training program is effective in teaching parents to implement PRT with their children. Conclusion: These results suggest that the parent training program may be a promising treatment model that is effective, efficient, and cost-effective. Implications for future research and practice are then discussed.

Background: Accumulating evidence shows that the home literacy environment (HLE) has a potent and early influence on children's language and literacy development. However, there is a more limited understanding of HLE and its contribution to children's outcomes for simultaneous bilingual children exposed to two languages at home, particularly in the Asian context. Methods: In this study with 801 six-year-old bilingual learners, HLE and language and literacy outcomes were examined in two languages. Children were assessed in their receptive vocabulary, reading and spelling abilities for English plus their ethnic Asian language (Mandarin Chinese, Malay or Tamil) for a subsample of 374 children. Results: Results from factor analyses suggest that HLE for each language within families had a different latent structure, with three to four factors for English ("parent involvement," "parent habit," "child exploration" and "shared reading") and three factors for the Asian language ("parent involvement," "parent habit" and "child interest"). Further path analyses show that shared reading had a negative contribution to English outcomes but a positive influence on Asian language outcomes. Conclusions: Findings extend existing understanding of HLE structure for bilingual language learners from bilingual families. HLE components contributed differently to bilingual language outcomes, with positive contributions of child exploration to English outcomes and of parent habits including shared reading to Asian language outcomes. Negative relationships for shared reading to English outcomes are also evident and suggest that further research on the long-term effects of HLE is needed.

Despite the increasing number of studies on educational leadership during COVID-19, little attention has been paid to the intersections of different educational experiences and perspectives of school leaders, students, and their families that occur both inside and outside of schools. Drawing on eight case studies of public primary schools in Hong Kong, this article explores the challenges and strategies of online learning with a focus on effective leadership practices for supporting economically disadvantaged students during COVID-19. To incorporate the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, a series of questionnaires were distributed to principals (n = 8), teachers (n = 150), parents (n = 775), lower primary students (n = 855), and upper primary students (n = 850) and interviews were conducted with principals (n = 8), teachers (n = 37), parents (n = 32), and students (n = 62). Findings indicated that school leaders and teacher teams demonstrated strategic leadership practices prioritising and responding to the needs and constraints of economically disadvantaged students and their families. The present study draws attention to leadership encouraging collaboration among schools, families, and the wider community, which has become necessary during the shift to online learning during COVID-19.

There are many models and examples of family-school-community partnerships. Local to Savannah, Georgia, Parent University is a unique community organization designed to support, guide, and empower parents and their children (from birth to 18 years old) to build bridges between the community and the schools. This nonprofit has successfully partnered with families, schools, and other community organizations for over 20 years and offers an illustrative example of how schools are crucial partners for the success of family-community programs. In applying theory to highlight the work of a parenting program, the purpose of this article is to (1) describe how the local school system, families, community members, and Parent University work together to engage and empower parents; (2) delineate the characteristics of the program's sustained success through the lens of Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006); and (3) highlight the interdependence of Parent University, the local school system, and community organizations. Implications for practices within other school-community organizations are discussed.

Despite the well-documented evidence on the importance of parent engagement for academic achievement, emotional well-being, and social inclusion, as well as interest among policymakers to tap into the benefits of parent engagement at the system level, there is still a widespread lack of support for teachers to be able to engage effectively with parents and families. Prior research shows that teacher education programs and professional development initiatives infrequently include parent engagement. With the goal to improve teacher readiness for parent engagement, I propose an integrated parent engagement policy framework. This framework will include three mandatory components: (a) parent engagement policy for educators; (b) inclusion of parent engagement components in teacher education programs; and (c) requirements for parent engagement competencies in teacher certification standards. Such a framework will ensure teacher readiness for parent engagement by transforming a current "patchy" policy landscape and will support teachers throughout their careers to democratically engage with parents.

The needs of parents and family members of deaf and hard of hearing students are unique. Not only do they face courses that are structured without regard for their needs, but they also endure other significant barriers. After brainstorming for many sessions and putting down ideas for a new curriculum that would teach and empower parents and their deaf and hard of hearing children, ASL at Home was born. It is a family-centered curriculum that focuses on the daily routines in young children's lives. While the authors had intended to create something to meet their clinical needs, the authors found that, more importantly, parents -- specifically the five mothers who worked with author Zarchy during his doctoral research -- reported that they had been empowered with language and with the knowledge that they can successfully raise their deaf child. They said that they felt they were building a strong, positive bond with their child through ASL and their other home languages. The curriculum, for use with students ages 5-10 years old, will feature in-depth grammatical instruction and teaching grammar concepts as they become relevant. ASL at Home is among the projects available to provide support for parents and caregivers who want to learn ASL. It allows the most critical individuals in their children's lives to experience communication and to reinforce connection with their deaf and hard of hearing children. Most importantly, it supports these parents and caregivers in providing their deaf and hard of hearing children with full access to language-learning opportunities at home and allows those children to be fully contributing members of their families.

This qualitative phenomenological study explores the experiences of parents of children with special needs in Turkey, specifically their encounters with Guidance and Research Centers (GRCs) during the process of obtaining educational assessment reports. Through semi-structured interviews with 25 parents, the study reveals complex emotions and concerns over the assessment process, including the adequacy of assessment tools, the duration of evaluations, and the involvement of parents in the decision-making process. While many parents expressed satisfaction with the outcomes, significant issues were highlighted, such as the lack of communication between professionals and families and discrepancies in the accuracy of assessments and placement decisions. The research underscores the need for a more collaborative approach between parents and professionals, emphasizing the importance of improved communication, enhanced diversity of assessment tools, and longer evaluation periods to ensure a fairer and more comprehensive understanding of each child's unique needs. The findings also suggest that greater parental involvement in the assessment and placement processes could lead to better educational outcomes and increased satisfaction for families. These insights have important implications for future policy and practice in special education assessment and support in Turkey.

Teaching English to first-grade elementary school children presents its own challenges for teachers. This is because children at this age have characteristics such as having a short attention span, enjoying playing, and learning more effectively when they are having fun. On the other hand, children in this group are still learning to read and write in the national language. The purpose of this research is to explore how English literacy learning is implemented, to find out the inhibiting and encouraging factors in implementing English literacy learning in first-grade elementary schools, and to find out strategies that can be used to overcome the factors that hinder the implementation of English literacy learning in the classroom. one elementary school. The design of this research is descriptive qualitative. The data sources in this research are first-grade elementary school English teachers, school students, and learning documents. The data collection techniques used were observation, interviews, and documentation. Some of the results of this research are that teachers apply various methods in teaching, such as songs, drills, lectures, reading aloud, memorizing, and games. Among these learning strategies, songs are the most effective strategy for introducing English to children. The challenges faced are that children are very active, get bored quickly, and a small number of children do not read fluently. Factors that can support English literacy learning are adequate learning aids such as the use of pictures and parental involvement at home to repeat English lessons and practice them at home.

The field of early intervention is rapidly expanding. Individuals trained in Human Development and Family Science programs are uniquely situated for work in this setting, due to their diverse understanding of human development, from birth through death, and the role of the family system in influencing development. More specifically, individuals from this academic discipline can employ a family systems theory and bioecological theory perspectives to inform their intervention work. The unique insight these theories provide to enhance early intervention work will be discussed and then applied using an actual case study. Though family systems theory and bioecological theory do have limitations in this field, namely their inability to explain a behavioral change and non-linear orientation, the authors feel the benefits of both these theoretical perspectives for explaining family contexts outweigh the limitations.

The purpose of this pilot study was to develop and evaluate the feasibility of an experiential teaching and learning initiative that trained undergraduate students studying speech-language pathology to serve as family navigators promoting social communication and language development in infants and toddlers from lower-income backgrounds. Three students completed one semester of training that included multiple interactive approaches to instruction. They subsequently implemented a nine-month, online prevention and outreach program to nine mothers of infants and toddlers to promote social communication and language development. Results of formative assessments were examined and affective outcomes were explored. The intervention was implemented as intended, and the experience was acceptable to both student and parent participants. Uncertainties with regard to feasibility emerged, including the integration of this program into undergraduate programs in communication sciences and disorders as well as variability in parent engagement related to the presence or absence of concerns about their child's development. This empirical inquiry adds to the limited research base on clinical prevention activities that take place beyond the classroom by critically analyzing the implementation and documenting the outcomes of this initiative.

Background: The most effective indigenous games well known to pre-schoolers must be used in schools, given the significance of literacy and numeracy abilities in children's future educational prospects and successes. Aim: The goal of this article was to determine the efficacy of indigenous games in promoting literacy and numeracy skills among preschool children. Setting: Ten teachers were selected from the four rural selected schools in Zambia with Early Child Education (ECE) centres. Methods: The article used a participatory action research design with a purposive sampling technique. The researchers used interviews and participatory observations to collect data. Results: The study found that indigenous games, when used effectively, can have the potential to promote the child's literacy and numeracy skills, even though some teachers found them challenging to execute. The study adopted a thematic analysis approach to analyse a set of data and search for patterns in its interpretation to identify themes. Conclusion: The study has shown that indigenous games have many benefits for preschoolers' learning. The study recommends that teachers should attend intensive continuing professional development (CPD) workshops and seminars to gain the knowledge and abilities necessary to effectively and suitably teach ECE learners pertinent skills through traditional games. Parents should be involved in teaching traditional games. Besides, the curricula of universities and colleges of education should include instructions in indigenous games for teacher preparation. Contribution: Research on the use of indigenous games in promoting the acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills in Zambia is limited, hence this enquiry.

This study aims to examine parents' views on parental involvement in preschool English language teaching. Today, as parents realize their roles, they have started to play a more active role in their children's educational process. In this period when children need their parents' support the most, parents need to turn this situation into an opportunity and contribute to their children's foreign language acquisition process. For this reason, this study examined the views of parents on their participation in this process in the preschool period, which is considered to be very important in terms of foreign language acquisition. It is predicted that this study will shed light on parents' thoughts about their participation in the preschool foreign language education process and will benefit the studies to be carried out to make English language teaching more effective in the preschool period. In this study, the case study design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used to obtain parents' views on their involvement in preschool English language teaching. A total of 15 parents, consisting of eight fathers and seven mothers, whose children received preschool English education in different schools in Afyonkarahisar province in Turkey, voluntarily participated in the study. In this study, the parents' opinions about their involvement in English language teaching were obtained through semi-structured interview forms. As a result of the study, it was found that although almost all the parents adopted the view that parental involvement was necessary when the situation of supporting their children's English learning at home was examined, it was found that they could not support their children in their English learning process due to limited time, insufficient English level, the view that school alone is sufficient and similar reasons. It is concluded that parents who thought that their English level was insufficient for their children's participation in the English language learning process, remained passive in this process and were not informed about how they could participate in the foreign language teaching process of their children.

This study investigated the effectiveness of workshops on parental involvement in their children's mathematical education. The study employed a quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design. This study involved 76 parents from one senior secondary school in the Kweneng Region, Botswana. The study included three steps for data analysis: thematic content analysis, hypothesis testing, and descriptive statistical analysis. The results showed that the parental involvement level before and after the intervention marked a difference with a significant increase. Parental involvement variables such as parenting style, parental expectations, home rules, parental supervision, communication between parents and children, children's home mathematics activities, and parental attitude toward school all improved significantly. The findings further indicated that parental involvement in their child's general and mathematical learning can be improved. As a result, the study recommended that all basic education schools reach out to parents through parent education programs that can assist parents in understanding the value of being active in their children's mathematics education, which will probably affect their education performance positively.

The high level of inequality in South Africa has widened the gap between rural and urban schools, and the performance of rural schools has been continuously declining compared to urban schools. Poor performance in rural schools is perpetuated by parents being absent from their children's education because the socio-economic conditions and their educational background do not allow them to commit their time and energy towards education. Learners are left on their own to decide their future. The disparity between rural and urban schooling was further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools were closed during lockdown, teaching and learning was suspended in rural schools, however, in urban schools teaching and learning continued through online platforms. The lockdowns gave parents an opportunity to teach, advocate, and create conducive spaces to help their children focus on learning. During lockdowns, parents were expected to act as teachers in their homes to educate their children, and therefore, school closure presented opportunities for parents to actively participate in their children's education. However, their socio-economic conditions and poor educational backgrounds continue to threaten effective parental engagement, posing a threat to the academic success of rural learners. Despite attempts by the government to introduce school governing bodies in schools as a structure to integrate schools and parents, the problem of little parental engagement remains unresolved. The purpose with this study was to empower parents in rural areas to effectively participate in their children's education.

The research aimed to examine the components of effective academic administration involving collaborative participation from parents and the local community in small-sized schools under the authority of the Basic Education Commission. The study employed a mixed-method research approach, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, divided into two phases. Phase 1: Examine the components of academic administration by synthesizing documents and related studies. Phase 2: Conduct interviews and verify the effectiveness of academic administration. The information providers consisted of 7 highly qualified individuals in the field of educational administration. The selection method was purposive sampling. The tools utilized included interview and assessment forms. Statistical analysis involved mean, standard deviation, and content analysis. The research findings indicated that the effective collaborative components of academic administration involving parents and communities in small-sized schools consisted of three main components: 1) The workload and scope of academic administration in small-sized schools, comprising 10 aspects, 2) Effective academic administration, consisting of 4 aspects, and 3) Collaborative management processes, involving 4 steps. The assessment results demonstrated a high level of suitability for the effective collaborative components of academic administration involving parents and communities in small-sized schools, both at the individual component level and overall. The component with the highest level was the development of an internal quality assurance system within the educational institution, including measurement, assessment, and comparison of learning outcomes. Conversely, the component with the lowest level was the development of learning resources.

This study aims to examine parents' views on the social-emotional skills of primary school students. Sixty one parents, whose children study at the primary school, participated in the study. A phenomenological research design, one of the qualitative research designs, was employed in this study. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview form and analyzed through content analysis. The results revealed that most parents are familiar with the concept of social-emotional learning [SEL]. Additionally, the results draw attention to parents emphasizing the interrelatedness of these skills when discussing SEL. While the majority of parents stated that their children have SEL skills in some dimensions, they also mentioned that they generally meet their children's needs regarding SEL through communicating with them. Moreover, most parents emphasized their satisfaction with the practices carried out by classroom teachers to meet these needs.

In this study, the effect of dialogic reading practices on the development of fluent reading skills of primary school 2nd grade students under the guidance of teachers and parents was examined. In the study the quasi-experimental design of the quantitative research approach was applied. A total of 30 students (first experimental group: 10, second experimental group: 10 and control group: 10) studying in the second grade of primary school in Macka district of Trabzon province were included in the study. The student reading fluency scale (by the teacher) which was prepared by the researchers was applied to the students as a pre-post-retention test In the application, which lasted for five weeks twice a week; dialogic reading was implemented with the experimental groups (1st experimental group: parents-teacher-students, 2nd experimental group: teacher-students), and traditional reading was implemented with the control group. Since the assumptions of the ANCOVA test could not be met after the application, the significant difference between the pre-posttest and post-retention test scores of each group was determined with the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The significance between the pre-post test and retention test scores of the groups was determined by the Kruskal Wallis test. At the end of the study; it was determined that the dialogic reading practice performed in the presence of parents and teachers created a statistically significant difference in the automaticity and accuracy sub-dimension of fluent reading, but not in the prosody sub-dimension. The development of dialogic reading under the guidance of parents and teachers in the automaticity and accuracy sub-dimension of fluent reading continues in permanence. [This article includes an extended summary in Turkish.]

Executive function skills are crucial for children in the 21st century, serving as indicators of their readiness for learning. Children with well-developed executive function skills can effectively accomplish various tasks, solve problems using diverse strategies, and collaborate with others happily. This research aims to: 1. Identify the necessity for fostering executive function skills among early childhood students in Nonthaburi Province. 2. Analyze the causes underlying the necessity to promote executive function skills in early childhood students. 3. Propose strategies to enhance executive function skills in early childhood students. The research consists of two phases. Phase 1 involves identifying the necessity for developing executive function skills among early childhood students, with a sample group comprising 12 volunteer kindergarten teachers randomly selected from 12 classrooms and 328 early childhood students aged 5 to 5 years 11 months (162 boys and 166 girls). The research instrument used is the MU.EF-101 assessment. Data analysis involves calculating the mean and standard deviation of T-scores for working memory, inhibitory control, and shift/cognitive flexibility. Phase 2 analyzes the causes of necessity and proposes strategies to promote executive function skills in early childhood students. The data sources for this phase are 12 teachers, and the research instruments include fishbone diagram recording forms and group discussion recording forms. Findings suggest that parental involvement is crucial in training children to perform tasks independently and in teaching children patience. Additionally, teachers should analyze children's behaviors to plan appropriate learning activities based on their context. Teachers must encourage children to think and make decisions independently, encourage when mistakes occur, and ensure the availability of suitable tools and toys that promote the development of executive function skills in early childhood students, which teachers or parents can conveniently utilize.