Every parent has hopes and dreams for their child, even if those dreams aren’t always openly expressed. When parents have a child with a disability, goals might need to be modified. This doesn’t mean expecting less of your child, but it may mean expecting something different than what you had envisioned. It’s important to understand the critical influence of having “high expectations” for your child. You need to instill those expectations in your youth and advocate for those expectations throughout the public school elementary and secondary transition process. (Author Abstract)
It is important to identify, discuss, and include accommodations and modifications necessary to meet the specific needs of a student in an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Students who receive services under a 504 Plan also need the same kind of individual attention to their plans for accommodations and modifications. The following checklist might be a good starting point for you and your child to think about his or her individual needs to include in the IEP or 504 Plan. Check the ones you believe would be most helpful. (Author abstract)
This fact sheet focuses on the implementation of the Early Head Start program in South Dakota. It begins by explaining the history of the Early Head Start program, the establishment of 8 Early Head Starts in South Dakota, and the goal of Early Head Start programs to prepare children to be ready for school. It is reported that in 2013-2014 a total of 868 families participated in Head Start, 18% of the parents had less than a high school diploma, and 53% were single parent families. Data on parental employment, racial characteristics of children enrolled in Early Head Start, pregnant women in…
Dads partner with their child's teacher by visiting at least once a month, in person, or over the phone. Involved fathers help their children succeed in the classroom and do their best with their teachers. This tip sheet offers five ways dads can make a difference. (Author abstract modified)
Webinar
Children who read well by third grade are more likely than their peers to experience academic success and economic stability as adults. They are also more likely to have parents who read to them. This webinar looked at ways in which fatherhood programs can help fathers improve their own literacy, encourage them to read to their children, and enhance outcomes for two generations (parents and their children).
The Office of Family Assistance, through the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC), provided this technical assistance webinar for all responsible fatherhood…
U.S. women graduate from high school at higher rates than U.S. men, but the female-male educational advantage is larger, and has increased by more, among black students and students of low socioeconomic status (SES) than among white and high-SES students. The authors explore why boys fare worse than girls in low-SES households—both behaviorally and educationally—by exploiting matched birth certificates, health, disciplinary, academic, and high school graduation records for more than 1 million children born in Florida between 1992 and 2002. They account for unobserved family heterogeneity by…
New economic realities have focused attention on how to best design workforce development strategies to help low-wage and low-skill workers succeed. Lack of child care is one important barrier that can make it difficult for low-income parents to successfully participate in education and training programs. This report provides an overview of the child care and workforce development systems, and discusses the issues that lie at the intersection of these two worlds. It concludes with a description of next steps for policymakers and practitioners in each domain, and important questions that still…
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Journal Article The "My Brother's Keeper" initiative (Obama, 2014) has helped to attract public attention to the vulnerabilities faced by many boys of color (BOC). In this article, I review what is known about the developmental status of BOC, identify key family practices that are critical to their development, and consider the implications of both for early intervention. The lack of school readiness skills and early reading competence are seen as the most serious early concerns. BOC struggle with language, literacy, and the regulation of behavior and emotions. These problems are evident at school entry,…
Brief
This brief discusses ways to leverage policy and practice opportunities to support positive outcomes for young men of color. It offers a set of solution-centered policies and strategies to address barriers to success for them, including education equity, workforce development and training, youth development and wellbeing, and public investment in young people.
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Journal Article Extant research on parental involvement in education has been conducted largely without respect to which parent is involved. The implicit assumption is that family–school relationship frameworks function similarly for fathers and mothers. Although there is a growing body of research examining fathers’ involvement in education, this assumption has not been tested. In this meta-analysis, we examined the relative strength of the association between educational involvement of fathers versus mothers and achievement of school-age children (kindergarten to 12th grade). The association of…
