The Parent Centered Early School

The Parent-Centered Early School

First Published in 1997. This case study of a small independent parent-run program in Milwaukee's inner city, finds that several factors combine to make the school effective: parental involvement at all levels including governance; a clear and shared sense of mission; and a coherent Montessori curriculum that takes children from preschool through the third grade. The study employed data from several surveys of parents, teachers, interviews with participants, and observation over five years. Begun twenty-seven years ago by parents and community members alienated from dysfunctional public schools and still supported mostly by contributions, Highland today is one of only a dozen schools in the United States receiving some of its revenue under a voucher program that provides state funds to independent schools. After an overview of Highland's history, demographics, and measures of success, two chapters examine the school's commitment to diversity, nonviolence, child nurturance, and egalitarianism. Other chapters focus on how Highland involves its parents and how parents alone govern the school, analyze the role of Highland's trustees, and details the school's Montessori curriculum. The final chapter explores the possibility of applying some of Highland's lessons to public school curriculums.

Parenting Matters

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

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