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Framed by family engagement frameworks, this study presents four types of interactions college access professionals (CAPs) have with the families of underrepresented college-going students - inconsistent communication, transactional exchanges, student-family mediation, and trusting relationships - to explore the nature of family-educator partnerships for students' college access. Drawing from in-depth qualitative interviews with a diverse sample of 20 CAPs, this study demonstrates that the nature of these interactions and their corresponding family engagement practices are influenced by CAPs' job requirements and previous experiences working with families. This ultimately shapes their ability to invest in and develop strong, trusting partnerships with students' families. By understanding these family-educator interactions, college access programming can work towards benefitting from strong and trusting partnerships, which can ultimately lead to successful college acceptance and matriculation for underrepresented college-bound students.

The potential for vocational students to achieve success in entrepreneurship is considerable, especially since they have acquired specific skills that are in line with their area of specialization since the beginning of their vocational schooling. However, schools cannot be alone in promoting entrepreneurial careers among vocational students. This study aims to measure the role of three educational centers, in influencing self-efficacy, entrepreneurial intention and career choice as an entrepreneur. This study was approached with a quantitative approach using structural equation modeling (SEM), the sample in the study was 354 vocational students. Data analysis through four stages, namely exploratory factor analysis, normality and outlier tests, confirmatory factor analysis and hypotheses testing (structural model). The results showed that the three education centers significantly influence self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention which in turn can encourage students to choose a career as an entrepreneur. This research contributes to the understanding of how the three education centers can be an important catalyst in shaping a generation of resilient and innovative entrepreneurs.

Pedagogical renewal is a concept loaded with a historical-pedagogical trajectory linked to reflection, social justice, educational improvement, teacher commitment and the questioning of the educational model, with personalised education being a key aspect. The aim of this paper is to analyse how learning is personalised in primary education centres that promote processes of pedagogical renewal. A qualitative methodology is used, based on a case study. Two schools with a high intensity of pedagogical renewal were selected and in-depth interviews were conducted with the management team and teachers, focus groups with families and students, and participant observation. The information derived is analysed with the ATLAS.Ti 22 programme, after coding and categorisation. The results reveal a number of common elements and processes of personalisation of learning which are structured in three dimensions. In the first dimension, school characteristics, the following stand out: student autonomy, individualisation of learning and freedom of choice of learning pathways. As for the second dimension, educational project, the following elements stand out: flexible curricular organisation, active methodology where group work is a key element, organisation of timetables without previously established patterns, the role of accompanying teachers, student focus and active participation of families in daily school life. Finally, from the third dimension, inclusion, the following can be extracted: daily educational work where diversity is not a limitation, but a source of learning of great didactic value.

Over the first 18 years of life, students spend a large portion of their time in school and at home. Having a good relationship between the adults at home and school is vital for the success of children throughout their schooling. This relationship can often feel one sided, but what if there is another reason why the relationship between home and school is strained? Barriers that families face can interfere with their ability to be active participants in their children's education. Helping to break down these barriers is important to establishing a positive home-school relationship.

The preschool years, spanning from birth to age six, are crucial periods for acquiring social-emotional learning (SEL) skills. An effective way to address social-emotional learning deficits is to implement evidence-based intervention programs. The purpose of this article is to review specific evidencebased social-emotional learning intervention programs for preschool children, drawing from resources such as books, peer-reviewed journal articles, and conference proceedings. In this context, five social-emotional learning intervention programs, including First Step to Success, I Can Problem Solve, Incredible Years, PATHS, and Strong Start Pre-K, documented in the social-emotional learning literature, were reviewed. Each program was evaluated based on its target group, duration, focus, delivery method, and experimental effects. The reviews found that play-based activities, puppets and stories, role-playing, and family involvement were common components of these programs. The majority of programs focused on problem-solving skills, and all had positive effects on preschoolers' social-emotional learning skills. Based on the reviews, it was underlined that social-emotional learning intervention programs are effective when their content, process, and delivery methods are developmentally appropriate for the target group. Accordingly, it was seen that the widespread implementation of evidence-based social-emotional learning intervention programs is essential to improve the basic social-emotional learning skills of preschool children and to address their potential deficits. Continuous evaluation and refinement of social-emotional learning intervention programs, guided by feedback from educators, parents, and researchers, was also highlighted as crucial to increase their impact. By prioritizing the implementation of evidence-based social-emotional learning intervention programs with appropriate components and delivery methods, the stakeholders of education can facilitate the holistic development of preschool children and lay a strong foundation for their future social-emotional well-being.

The aim of this study is to reveal preschool teachers' views on sensory education. In the study, phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods, was selected. The study group of the research consists of 20 preschool teachers working in a city in Turkey in the 2022-2023 academic year. Maximum diversity sampling, one of the purposeful sampling types, was used to form the study group. A semi-structured interview form consisting of open-ended questions was used as a data collection tool. The data were analyzed using content analysis technique. As a result of the research, it was seen that preschool teachers had an average knowledge about sensory education. It was determined that they carried out studies for the senses in all activities. Most of the participants stated that they did not have enough materials for the implementation of sensory education and that the physical conditions of their classrooms and schools were unfavourable. Sensory education supports children's developmental areas, family participation, physical and material equipment of the classroom and school are important in this process. It was concluded that pre-school teachers did not fully master the concept of sensation, but the benefits of sensory education and its contribution to children's developmental areas are important. according to research results; n-service trainings can be organised for teachers about sensory education and its importance in early childhood, occupational therapist support can be provided to pre-school institutions by working interdisciplinary at the point of sensory education and classrooms and schools can be supported in terms of sensory education materials, can be recommended.

Preservice educators' attitudes and beliefs towards families can have a profound impact on family-centered practices (FCPs) and family-professional partnerships (FPPs); unfortunately, negative beliefs about families can surface during preservice early childhood preparation and can be a challenge for faculty in higher education to address. This article shares promising instructional practices (e.g., projects, assignments, teaching methods) that have been shown to reshape preservice educators' existing beliefs about families. In addition, these instructional practices aim to cultivate positive perspectives in preservice educators by aligning with the recent joint policy statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S Department of Education on inclusive early learning programs (2023) regarding engaging families as full partners. The purposes of this article are to: (a) briefly summarize the literature on relational FCPs and FPPs, (b) describe the connection between beliefs about families and their contribution to strengthen or hinder relational FCPs and FPPs, and (c) present instructional practices that faculty can use to support preservice EI/ECSE students' constructive beliefs about families. Examples of instructional practices are organized and presented as: in class activities with families (e.g., guest speakers); in class activities without families (e.g., role playing); and out of class activities with families (e.g., attending an Individualized Education Program [IEP] meeting). By integrating these instructional practices, faculty can equip preservice educators with necessary skills and attitudes to build authentic connections with families, which can lead to improved outcomes for young children with disabilities and their families.

The rising population of Latina/o students in U.S. schools warrants a deeper understanding of recent immigrant families, particularly families' engagement in their children's education. Our study highlights the importance of unveiling the community cultural wealth of Latina/o immigrant families to deepen and enrich family-school connections. Our findings describe the many strengths immigrant families possess, including their ability to maneuver social institutions, engage in various social networks, and maintain hopes for the future. Families also presented with strengths acquired through multilingual experiences and confrontations with inequality. By acknowledging these innate strengths, schools are better equipped to cultivate strong family-school partnerships and student success.

Home-school communication is fundamental to parent involvement and student success. This essay and discussion article outlines the broad range of opportunities currently available for teachers to communicate with parents and associated strategies. The most frequent one-way modes of communication used with parents are discussed (websites, newsletters, email, texts, apps, report cards) as well as popular two-way interaction strategies (phone calls, home visits, parent-teacher conferences, virtual meetings). Key barriers to parent-teacher communication are also discussed, including racial stereotypes, language, teacher training, technology, and time, as well as the potential impact of a pandemic. Future directions for research in the area of school-home communication are also proposed. Ultimately, every communication exchange between teachers and parents occurs within the context of what has gone before and sets the stage for future interactions.

Fathers make important contributions to children's learning and development; however, schools and community organizations consistently report challenges to engaging fathers in their work. As part of a larger community-based participatory research project, a local fatherhood coalition created and distributed a survey to learn how various organizations and programs supported or marginalized fathers in their work. A mixed methods analysis of survey data indicated that K-12 schools were significantly less father-friendly than social service organizations, with K-12 schools disclosing that little to no services targeted fathers and most family engagement efforts prioritized mothers or assumed father disinterest. Comparatively, some social service organizations reported father-specific programming or early efforts to change policies and practices that unjustly favored mothers. However, most organizations, including K-12 schools, needed greater guidance and resources to become more father-friendly. In this article, we describe how the fatherhood coalition utilized survey results to guide their efforts in supporting local fathers and transforming organizational practices to make family-related programming and activities more inclusive of fathers and other male caregivers.

This article tries to answer the question of whether distributed leadership contributes significantly to the development of an inclusive school. For this, a systematic review of the literature has been carried out, based on the PRISMA strategy, of articles from 2011 to 2021 that describe 35 schools with distributed leadership. The findings reflect that there is a relationship between distributed leadership, promoted by the principal, and the achievement of an inclusive school. We found that elements of distributed leadership such as cooperative teamwork and decision-making lead to a focus on student-centred educational approaches, encouraging their participation, their families' participation, and sometimes, the need to count on people outside the school itself. It is also noted that distributed leadership promotes inclusive teacher training. On the other hand, some barriers arise that hinder the participation of students and their families. It concludes with the need to train management teams in distributed leadership and promote legislative changes to favour the participation of all students without exceptions.

The benefits of afterschool activity participation for youth development are well-documented. An interesting question dominating this field is whether there is a threshold at which point participating in too many activities (breadth) and spending too much time in those activities (intensity) is negatively associated with desirable outcomes. Using 9th grade student data (N=115,731) from three administrations of a state-wide school survey, we explore whether students' breadth and intensity of afterschool participation is associated with GPA and perceived family and community support. Findings corroborate prior research in demonstrating the association between breadth and intensity. Importantly, we extend the discussion, with three important observations. First, a linear model is insufficient for modeling these complex associations with outcomes. Second, there is a threshold at which too much participation has a negative impact in these outcomes. Third, variations in activities, time windows and indices have small or no influence in the association with outcomes.

It is important to prioritize intersectoral action at schools to prevent the use of alcohol and other drugs. This strategic act should be organized with multidisciplinary learning characteristics and with the involvement of different stakeholders. The aim of a recent scoping review was to identify the factors that benefit and hinder intersectoral actions at school resulting from the elaboration of policies to prevent drug use. It seems like the research study was a scoping review that used the P-population, C-context, and C-concept structure. The study searched for information in various databases like Embase, Proquest, Lilacs, Medline via Pubmed, PsycInfo, WHO-Iris, and PAHO-Iris on April 17, 2023. According to the results, there were 5 studies that were eligible to answer the research question. One of the advantages of intersectoral actions is the role of schools in creating a support network with different social actors, particularly with family involvement. On the other hand, one of the challenges is inconsistencies in legal regulations, which do not provide enough guidance to schools on how to prevent alcohol and drug use. While public and private schools may be affected differently by social and economic factors, it is essential to invest in developing policies that focus on drug prevention for children and adolescents who are learning in schools.

Extracurricular learning plays a key role in shaping students' interest in (not only) biology. The research examined which extracurricular areas related to biology can make biology more attractive for the participating Finnish and Czech students. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was administered to 178 Finnish and 195 Czech 9th-grade lower-secondary school students. Cronbach's alpha, Varimax rotation and Mann-Whitney U-test were performed. Factor analysis identified 7 areas: Family trips, My career, Biology lessons, Healthy lifestyle, Institutions, Nature-related hobbies, and Information sources. For Czech, hobbies related to nature and family trips are significant contributors to fostering interest in biology, and an informal educational environment is crucial for cultivating a lasting relationship with biology. For Finns, biology classes and career orientation have a more significant influence on students, demonstrating the effectiveness of formal educational strategies in increasing students' interest in biology. Increasing interest in biology among the students observed in both sociocultural environments is significantly influenced by family involvement and the use of information sources. Further research should explore how specific ECA can support the connection between family and school environments and their impact on students' interest and engagement in biology lessons.

We used triannual reading curriculum-based measurement of oral reading fluency data from 11,834 U.S. students in Grades 2 and 3 enrolled in an evidence-based Tier 2 reading intervention program (Reading Corps) to investigate the extent to which family involvement in the intervention might buffer against a negative effect of lower intervention dosage. The relation between family involvement in Reading Corps and growth in oral reading fluency was stronger when students spent fewer hours in tutoring, suggesting that family involvement in tiered reading intervention can compensate for receiving less intervention dosage. There was noticeable variation in this effect across tutors, suggestive of tutor-level heterogeneity of this relation. The relation between sending family engagement materials to families and the materials that are returned to tutors also substantially varied across tutors. We discuss findings in terms practical significance for school-based academic intervention systems. We highlight limitations and opportunities for future directions as well.

An approach to action research of innovative and disruptive socioecological understandings of young people's wellbeing, resilience, and engagement in middle school was piloted with a coalition of school principals, lead teachers, police, and community development professionals by an RMIT research team. This coalition was built around the Hume-Whittlesea Local Learning and Employment Network and the Whittlesea Youth Commitment Committee in outer northern Melbourne, Australia. Action research facilitated the collaborative design of interventions for reducing middle school disengagement. These were then expressed in logic model terms to guide implementation and subsequent evaluation. Logic models clarified how local innovations, situated in an authorizing environment, can develop promising practices that contribute to system reform. Our project involved characterizing ecologies of young people's engagement, resilience, and wellbeing as part of a place-based strategy.

Cultural responsiveness, or building on the strengths of the learning histories and social contingencies of students, is an important feature of instruction to engage students and ensure they feel represented in their classrooms. This systematic literature review examined which single-case designs have been used to study culturally responsive behavior interventions, the settings in which they have been tested, and the elements of cultural responsiveness present among them. This review included 12 studies that used experimental single-case design, demonstrated consideration of student culture in their design, and examined the effect of the intervention on student behavior. Studies were coded for their inclusion of culturally responsive elements in design or implementation, the size of student intervention groups, and the conditions used as a comparison to determine effectiveness of culturally responsive intervention. The most common culturally responsive elements were those that used knowledge of student identities and student input in intervention design; however, input from families or the community were infrequently used. Interventions were delivered across a spectrum of group sizes, including in whole classrooms, small groups, and with individual students. Only two studies directly compared non-adapted intervention with culturally responsive intervention within a multi-treatment design. This review has implications for how practitioners may evaluate behavior interventions for use in their classrooms and for the design of future studies to evaluate potential additive and equity-enhancing effects of culturally responsive behavior interventions.

Family partnerships should be a central component of teacher preparation. Although research provides family engagement strategies, little research offers teacher educators guidance from the perspectives of families themselves. The purpose of this convergent mixed-method study was to begin to fill the void in the literature by investigating family perspectives of theirs and their children's experience in 10 reading clinic/literacy lab literacy specialist preparation programs across the United States and Canada. Through analysis of survey ratings (N = 132) and responses to structured interviews to (N = 84), this study found that families valued clinic/lab tutors building relationships with them, responding to their children's strengths and needs, promoting self-efficacy, and working together as partners. Methods used in this study can provide a useful model for how teacher educators can intentionally seek input from families. Findings have implications for teacher educators advocating for and centering family engagement in teacher preparation.

Preparing educators to engage families and communities is one of the most promising ways to improve student learning and build equitable schools. In this commentary, authors from the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement explore the landscape of educator preparation for family and community engagement and describe a framework created to reimagine how educators are prepared for this important work. The commentary also highlights outcomes and promising practices from nine collaboratives of educator preparation programs and family, school, and community partners redesigning coursework, clinical experiences, programs, and systems to bring families and communities to the center of the educator preparation process.

Motivation is a key factor for child development, but very few studies have examined child and family predictors of both child task and perceived motivation. Thus, the three aims of this 6-month longitudinal study in preschoolers with global developmental delays (GDD) were to explore: 1) differences between task and perceived motivation in cognitive domain; 2) differences among three domains of perceived motivation: cognitive, gross motor, and social; and 3) early child and family predictors of cognitive task motivation and the three domains of perceived motivation 6 months later. Results indicated that preschoolers with GDD showed higher cognitive task motivation than cognitive perceived motivation, and lower perceived cognitive motivation than the other two perceived motivation domains. Different child and family factors predicted cognitive task motivation and the three domains of perceived motivation. Practitioners should educate caregivers on how to observe children's motivation to enhance children's active participation.

This systematic review examined core elements within school-based interventions and supports for Black adolescent males (12 to 18 years of age) and identified themes for research in this area. Several educational, psychology, and social science databases were searched systematically. From this search, 13 published studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed for detailed analysis. Our analysis of the literature on published findings for effective types of school-based interventions for Black boys revealed four overarching themes: (1) partnership with local school districts and schools, (2) utilization of family and community resources, (3) provision of educational opportunities for Black boys, and (4) encouragement of active engagement among Black boys through personal and cultural relevance to the boys' lives. We discuss implications for future interventions targeting Black adolescent males. Finally, we propose a call for additional interventions for Black adolescent males and scientifically rigorous evaluation of those interventions.

This study examined the within- and cross-language relationships between intrinsic language learning motivation, home literacy environment (shared book reading, parental literacy involvement, and parent perceived child literacy interest), and receptive vocabulary in 185 bilingual preschoolers and 233 primary school children in Singapore. Age differences were also examined. Unlike the motivation decline commonly observed in middle childhood, the primary school children demonstrated higher levels of intrinsic motivation than the preschoolers in both English and the second language (L2). Results showed a motivation gap between English and children's L2 in primary school children but not in preschoolers. The hierarchical regression results revealed that intrinsic motivation and the three facets of home literacy environment (HLE) were differentially involved in receptive vocabulary across languages and age groups. Within-language relations showed that intrinsic motivation only predicted receptive vocabulary in English among primary school children, but not among preschoolers. Among primary school children, parent perceived child literacy interest in L2 was the only significant predictor of L2 receptive vocabulary; among preschoolers, shared book reading was the only significant predictor. Cross-language relations revealed that parental literacy involvement in English negatively predicted L2 receptive vocabulary in primary school children, and there were no L2 effects on English receptive vocabulary.

Public library storytimes provide rich learning opportunities for young children and their caregivers, yet little is known about how inclusive they are for children with disabilities and developmental delays (CwD/DD). The purpose of this study was to identify and describe ways that librarians support the inclusion of CwD/DD and their caregivers in storytime programs. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 34 librarians who provide storytime programs in public libraries in three states and analyzed them using iterative and inductive coding processes. Findings indicate that librarians are aware of the acute need to support diverse populations within their service communities and are collectively using a wide range of accommodations and strategies to facilitate their inclusion. However, on an individual level, they feel under-equipped to do so. Findings from this study highlight the need for further training and raise important questions regarding the equity of storytime programs for children with invisible disabilities, the potential reduction of diversity within storytime programs, and the potential value of establishing formal avenues of knowledge sharing.

Family involvement has been identified as a mechanism that explains the differences in academic performance and well-being between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The implications of family involvement in students' non-academic outcomes have often been overshadowed by a focus on the academic domain. This study focuses on one type of non-academic attributes which is currently most critical to navigate in school and beyond: social-emotional development. In addition to that, the potential mediating role of school engagement in the association between family involvement and students' social-emotional development remains to be explored. This study aimed to investigate whether family involvement was associated with students' school engagement and social-emotional development and to clarify the underlying mechanism in the relationship. The sample consisted of 170 students from 8 to 17 years old and their parents who live in economically vulnerable situations and experience social exclusion. The analyses were performed using Jamovi statistical software and a GLM Mediation Model module. To address the research objectives, a series of mediation analysis were performed to fit the hypothesized relations among the study variables. The mediational analysis suggested that home-based family involvement could not predict students' social-emotional development, and that the effect of home-based family involvement on students' social-emotional development was fully mediated by school engagement, a variable not included in previous research. The results suggest that families who are actively engaged in their child's education at home positively influence students' level of participation in school, which, in turn, promotes the development of students' social-emotional competences.

We leverage log data from an educational app and two-way text message records from over 3,500 students during the summers of 2019 and 2020 and in-depth interviews in Spanish and English to identify patterns of family engagement with educational technology. Based on the type and timing of technology use, we identify several distinct profiles of engagement, which we group into two categories: independent users who engage with technology-based educational software independently and interaction-supported users who use two-way communications to support their engagement. We also find that as the demands of families from schools increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, Spanish-speaking families were significantly more likely than English-speaking families to engage with educational technology across all categories of families, particularly as interaction-supported users.

The home numeracy environment (HNE) is an essential factor to explain family engagement in relation to numeracy. Research in this field has mostly focused on English-speaking families and has not taken into consideration cultural differences that contextualize the home environment. Measuring HNE in more ethnically diverse samples might counter results that are biased from using a deficit perspective. Given the growth of the Latine population in the United States, there is a need to redefine family engagement in numeracy and update the HNE measures to increase their cultural relevance. This mixed methods study used a strengths-based framework to develop an HNE measure for Latine families. Fourteen Latine caregivers were interviewed (57% mothers) in the first study, and 216 Latine caregivers (63% mothers) participated in the second study, which examined the scale's factor structure. The validation process included parent reports of their child's numeracy skills (child M[subscript age] = 2.93 years, SD = 0.74). Three factors were identified (caregiver-child interactions, caregivers' math anxiety, and math beliefs). The first and third factors were significantly associated with parental reports of their child's numeracy skills.

Scholars have argued against a post-COVID return to normality on the grounds that the pandemic offers an opportunity to break with the past and imagine a different, more just future. In this analysis of pre-kindergarten teachers' reflections on teaching during COVID-19 in the state of Michigan, we take up the notion of the pandemic as a portal to consider how practices that emerged during the pandemic might be carried forward post-pandemic. Through a qualitative interview study with 25 public pre-K teachers in Michigan, we sought to understand how the pandemic altered the nature of family-teacher engagement. Our analysis led us to conceptualize teaching as an improvisational practice that was highly responsive to the circumstances and needs of families. We identified three central themes that animated pre-K teachers' work during the pandemic: supporting families through new types of "offers" (a term from improv theory), making learning accessible, and fostering collectivity by partnering with families. Teachers' practices during the pandemic reveal new avenues for conceptualizing family engagement as an improvisational practice. We draw on the principles of improv theory to outline a framework for this approach.

In this article we experimentally evaluate Colombia's Think Equal program, which teaches socioemotional skills to children ages 3 to 6. Given the context of COVID-19, the original design was adapted as a hybrid model, alternating in-person and remote instruction and engaging families in the implementation of the curriculum. We found that the program had positive effects on children's prosocial behavior, self-awareness, and cognitive learning. The intervention also had an impact on the education center's personnel (community mothers) and caregivers implementing the activities. Treated community mothers had higher levels of empathy, lower negative health symptoms, better pedagogical practices, and a closer relationship with the children's caregivers compared with those in the control group. Treated caregivers had better stimulation practices and lower negative health symptoms compared with those in the control group. These findings suggest that a well-designed intervention has the potential to develop socioemotional skills in children at an early age and, at the same time, to develop capacities in those who implement the activities. Our results have important implications for the design, implementation, and evaluation of early childhood socioemotional learning programs and provide novel evidence about the challenges faced by interventions combining face-to-face and remote learning.

This study involved development and validation of the Family Involvement in Graduate School measure, the first instrument to measure involvement of family in graduate students' educational process. The measure was originally designed with six subscales. It was developed based on Hoover-Dempsey et al.'s model of parent involvement. Feedback on the measure was given by expert reviewers to refine the measure. The measure was validated with exploratory factor analysis of a sample of 150 family members of graduate students. Data was collected from family members of (a) a program for underprivileged graduate students and (b) graduate students enrolled in two large Western universities. A five-factor solution was supported by the Exploratory Factor Analysis, which was shown to be a good fit with SRMR fit statistics. Future research should validate the measure in other geographic locations and with a more diverse sample.