Literature Relavent to 3A Framework
The literature below refers to selected articles or books that provide additional information about the importance of, and impact and factors contributing to attendance every day, achievement every year and attainment over time, and why these issues matter for parent involvement. Some resources focus primarily on one dimension of these 3As while others are relevant to two or more. Most are categorized by their relevance to children of particular ages elementary (or earlier), middle or high school.
Elementary (and earlier)
Chang, Hedy & Romero, Mariajose, Present, Engaged & Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades, National Center for Children in Poverty: NY: NY, September 2008. This report documents the consequences, prevalence, potential causes and possible solutions to children missing extended periods of school in grades K-3rd.
America'
s Vanishing Potential: The Case for PreK-3rd Education, Foundation for Child Development: NY, NY, October 2008. Revealing that more than half of American children have not learned to read by the end of third grade, this report discusses how the United States must take responsibility for guaranteeing a high-quality PreK-3rd education in order to reverse this trend and provide children with the skills necessary for life-long learning.
Brown, B., Bogard, L. (2007). Pre- Kindergarten to 3rd Grade (PK- 3) School- Based Resources and Third Grade Outcomes. Cross Currents. 5: 1-7. This research discusses how by third grade children must develop foundational skills in reading, math and behavioral predispositions in order to maximize their chances for future academic success and well-being. It examines school as a context for development of academic and behavioral skills that ensure future success.
Middle School
Preventing Student Disengagement and Keeping Students on the Graduation Path in Urban
Middle-Grades Schools: Early Identification and Effective Interventions Robert Balfanz, Lisa Herzog, Douglas J. MacIver. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST, 42(4), 223–235 Copyright 2007, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. This article considers the practical, conceptual, and empirical foundations of an early identification and intervention system for middle-grades schools to combat student disengagement and increase graduation rates in our nation's cities. It offers data revealing how four predictive indicators reflecting poor attendance, misbehavior, and course failures in sixth grade can be used to identify 60% of the students who will not graduate from high school. Fortunately, by combining effective whole-school reforms with attendance, behavioral, and extra-help interventions, graduation rates can be substantially increased.
Hill, Nancy and Diane Tyson, Parental Involvement in Middle School: A Meta-Analytic Assessment of the Strategies That Promote Achievement, Developmental Psychology,2009, Vol. 45, No. 3, 740–763. Analyzing existing research on parental involvement in middle school, this article concludes that parental involvement is positively associated with achievement, with the exception of parental help with homework. Achievement was most strongly associated with academic socialization which can entail communicating parental expectations for education and its value or utility, linking schoolwork to current events, fostering educational and occupational aspirations, discussing learning strategies with children, and making preparations and plans for the future.
High School
Bridgeland, Robert, et al. One Dream, Two Realities: Perspectives of Parents on American High Schools, Civic Enterprises October 2008.) This report discusses how regardless of incomes, education, and performance at the school, parents believe that their involvement is central to their child's academic success. But parents need an access point — a way in — and many are not finding it in their child's school. Parents are clearly ready to help their children succeed academically, but they need better information and tools from the schools to do so — ranging from how to help with homework to how to get into college.
Carol Ashcer & Cindy, Maguire (2007), Beating the Odds: How Thirteen NYC Schools Bring Low-Performing Ninth-Graders to Timely Graduation and College Enrollment. Annenberg Institute for School Reform/Community Organizing and Engagement. This study documenting what works for 13 high-performing high schools serving low-income students is accompanied by an assessment tool that enables high schools — and their districts, partners, and community — to assess the effectiveness of their current programs and practices at helping students graduate on time and ready for college-level work. See
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Increasing Diversity in Challenging Classes: A multicultural high school expands opportunities for its diverse student body
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This article by Eileen Kugler and Erin Albright (Educational Leadership, February 2005) describes how a diverse high school intentionally reached out to families to expand and diversify student participation in its college prep programs.
Across All Ages of Students
Epstein, J. L. & Sheldon, S. B. (2002). Present and accounted for: Improving student attendance through family and community involvement. Journal of Educational Research, 95, 308-318. This study discusses the results of an analysis of longitudinal data collected on schools’ rates of daily student attendance and chronic absenteeism and on specific partnership practices that were implemented to help increase or sustain student attendance. Results indicate that several family–school–community partnership practices predict an increase in daily attendance, a decrease in chronic absenteeism, or both. The data suggest that schools may be able to increase student attendance in elementary school by implementing specific family and community involvement activities.
Bennet, Albert et. al, (2004).
All Students Reaching the Top: Strategies for Closing Academic Achievement Gaps, A Report of the National Study Group for the Affirmative Development of Academic Ability. This report offers recommendations for what policymakers, educators, parents, and the community can do to move all students--particularly minority and low-income students--to high levels of academic achievement. It argues that to close achievement gaps, we first must, in addition to improving educational policy and schooling, also close the experience gap through tactics aimed at addressing what happens to students inside and outside the classroom.