The study developed and evaluated the Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ), a multidimensional scale of family involvement in early childhood education. The FIQ was guided by theory and coconstructed with parents and teachers in preschool, kindergarten, and Ist-grade programs in a large urban school district. Demographic and FIQ data were collected from 641 parents. Factor analyses revealed 3 involvement constructs: school-based involvement, home-school conferencing, and home-based involvement. Multivariate analyses of demographic and program differences in these constructs revealed that parents with education beyond high school were engaged in higher levels of school-based involvement and home-school conferencing than parents with less than high school education. There were higher levels of home-school conferencing and home-based involvement in 2-parent families than in singleparent households. Head Start evidenced the highest levels of school-based involvement activity. However, higher school-based contact was not associated with higher levels of home-school conferencing or home-based involvement.Educators and policymakers are pressed to respond to the current crisis in American public education. High rates of grade failure and school dropout reflect unprecedented levels of low educational achievement and high student and parent disengagement in education (Steinberg, 1996). In international studies that compare the performance of U.S. students with students from other western nations, high school students in the United States are ranked very low in mathematics and science (Takahira, Gonzalez, Frase, & Salganik, 1998). Of 21 western nations, only 2 nations were significantly lower than the United States in both mathematics and science achievement. These deficiencies are most severe in large, low-income urban settings, where children are living in neighborhoods that are characterized by a disproportionate number of family and community risk factors and overburdened school and public service agencies (Children's Defense Fund, 1997; U.S. Department of Education, 1996).Concerns about the crisis in public education have led to the establishment of the National Education Goals (U.

for advice about meta-analysis and statistical analyses; Adele Gottfried and Vivian Gadsden for their input regarding interpretation of findings; and Stuart Yager for consultation regarding his contributions to the literature. Cynthia A. Rohrbeck and Marika D. Ginsburg-Block contributed equally to this study.

(2000). Preschool peer interactions and readiness to learn: Relationships between classroom peer play and learning behaviors and conduct. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92,[458][459][460][461][462][463][464][465]

Preschool children (N= 107) were divided into 4 groups on the basis of maternal report: home and shelter groups exposed to verbal and physical conflict, a home group exposed to verbal conflict only, and a home control group. Parental ratings of behavior problems and competencies and children's self-report data were collected. Results show that verbal conflict only was associated with a moderate level of conduct problems; verbal plus physical conflict was associated with clinical levels of conduct problems and moderate levels of emotional problems; and verbal plus physical conflict plus shelter residence was associated with clinical levels of conduct problems, higher level of emotional problems, and lower levels of social functioning and perceived maternal acceptance. Findings suggest a direct relationship between the nature of the conflict and residence and type and extent of adjustment problems.

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