1. Family involvement-essential for a child's development -- Introduction -- Challenges -- Caring schools and communities -- Caring families -- Reggio Emilia -- Attachment -- Orphanages in Romania -- Maternal or human attachment? -- Research on the brain -- Inherent capacities: language development -- Early theories concerning intellectual development -- Implications for parents and other caregivers -- Developmental continuity and discontinuity -- Programs across the nation.

2. Families and communities: overview, trends, and insights -- Families -- Growth of a nation -- Immigration -- Population count -- Definitions of race -- Households -- Family forms -- Greater amounts of education for parents -- Child count and child welfare -- Greater involvement of fathers with their children -- Divorce -- Single-parent families -- Out-of-wedlock births -- Blended families -- Grandparent maintenance families -- Poverty -- Homelessness.

3. Working with culturally diverse groups -- Introduction -- Focus on self -- Focus on children and culture -- Get acquainted with the community -- Cultural diversity -- The first inhabitants of North America -- Arrival of other ethnic groups -- Spanish American families -- African American families -- Asian-American families.

4. Historical overview of family life, diverse families, and parent involvement -- Introduction -- Prehistoric parent education -- Formal education in early societies -- Parent involvement in education and family life in Greece -- Parent involvement and family life in Rome -- European children during the Middle Ages -- People in other parts of the world -- Influence of the Protestant Reformation and invention of the printing press -- The beginnings of modern parent educators and child development theorists -- European children in the 17th and 18th centuries -- The family in colonial North America -- Early education in the Spanish Southwest -- Development of the family concept -- Native Americans in the 1700s and 1800s -- Childrearing in the 1800s in the United States -- Immigration and annexations -- Civil War -- Change in education -- 1880 to 1890 -- 1890 to 1900 -- 1900 to 1910 -- 1910 to 1920 -- 1920 to 1930 -- 1930 to 1940 -- 1940 to 1950 -- 1950 to 1960 -- 1960 to 1970 -- 1970 to 1980 -- 1980 to 1990 -- 1990 to 2000 -- 2000 to 2008.

5. Effective home-school-community relationships -- Parent-school cooperation -- School climate and parental attitudes -- The case for improved relationships -- Roles of administrators, child-care directors, teachers, and parents -- School activities and resources -- Parents as partners in education at home -- Contacts early in the school year -- What works -- Meeting the needs of your school area -- Building family strengths -- Volunteers.

6. Communication and parent programs -- Communication -- One-way communication -- Two-way communication -- Roadblocks to communication -- Effective communications with parents -- Parent education programs: PET, active parenting, STEP -- Parent-teacher conferences -- Dealing with concerns throughout the year.

7. Collaborative leadership-working with parents -- Family involvement -- Develop collaborative leadership skills -- Parent education -- Needs assessment -- How parents learn best -- Group discussions -- Leadership training -- Using technology -- Establishing a positive atmosphere -- Group roles -- Dynamics of roles within groups -- Role descriptions -- Productive groups -- Types of meetings -- Arrangements for meetings.

8. School-based programs -- Nine levels of parent collaboration -- Six types of involvement -- Comer Process -- Early childhood longitudinal study -- A walk through an elementary school -- Characteristics of effective collaboration -- School and center programs -- Math and Science Associations that support parent involvement -- Reaching all families -- Title Programs -- School and center-based parent involvement -- Workshops at school for parents to use at home -- Reaching reticent parents -- Parent education for teenagers -- Parenting skills -- Comprehensive service delivery -- Making programs happen.

9. Home-based programs -- Origins of home visiting -- Home-based education -- Programs that work -- A day in the life of one home-based program -- Five-step guide to learning activities -- Development of a home activities file -- Establishing a home-based program -- Determining the need for a program -- Screening for better understanding -- Homeschooling -- Supporting children's learning at home.

10. Working with parents of a child with disabilities -- Development of special education -- Legislation for people with disabilities -- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments 1997 PL 105-17 and 2004 PL 108-446 -- Positive collaboration of parents and school -- Students who are gifted and talented -- Definitions of disabilities or exceptionalities -- Child Find Project -- Evaluation -- Reaching infants and toddlers with disabilities -- Part C of IDEA 97 AND 2004 -- The Individualized Family Service Plan and Family Survey -- Children with disabilities in Head Start and child care -- Parent-school partnerships -- How parents can help the school-age child at home -- Communications between professionals and parents of children with disabilities -- Parents share their feelings -- Concern for those who work with children with disabilities -- Rights and services available to parents -- Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

11. The abused child -- Responsibility to report -- Background -- Extent of child abuse and neglect -- Categories of maltreatment -- Neglect -- Emotional abuse -- Sexual abuse -- Bullying and violence in schools -- Corporal punishment in schools -- Who reports maltreatment cases? -- Behaviors and attitudes of parents and children that may indicate child abuse -- Behavioral and psychological characteristics of the child in school -- Why do abuse and neglect continue to happen? -- Characteristics and risk factors of abusive parents -- Roots of violence -- Why is there abuse? -- Development of policies -- How to talk with children and parents -- Programs to prevent abuse -- Intervening in sexual abuse.

12. Rights, responsibilities, and advocacy -- Origin of parents' and children's rights -- Parents' right to select their child's education -- Student records: open record policy -- Rights and responsibilities of students and parents -- Developing criteria together -- Child advocacy -- The child advocate -- Preparing for advocacy -- Facts about children and families -- Advocacy for children around the world.