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.

Relations between multiple dimensions of family involvement in early childhood education and classroom outcomes were examined. Participants included 144 urban, Head Start children. Parental report of family involvement was gathered in late fall using a multidimensional assessment. Relations between family involvement dimensions and end of the year outcomes of approaches to learning, conduct problems, and receptive vocabulary were investigated. Results revealed that Home-Based family involvement emerged as the strongest predictor of child outcomes. This dimension associated significantly with children's motivation to learn, attention, task persistence, receptive vocabulary skills, and low conduct problems. The School-Based Involvement dimension was significantly related to low conduct problems in the classroom when combined with the influence of Home-Based Involvement. The School-Based Involvement and Home-School Conferencing dimensions did not predict later child outcomes when considered simultaneously with Home-Based Involvement.

Purpose To report the clinical outcome and late side effect profile of proton radiotherapy in the treatment of children with parameningeal rhabdomyosarcoma (PM-RMS). Methods and Materials Seventeen consecutive children with PM-RMS were treated with proton radiotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital between 1996 and 2005. We reviewed the medical records of all patients and asked referring physicians to report specific side effects of interest. Results Median patient age at diagnosis was 3.4 years (range, 0.4–17.6). Embryonal (n = 11), alveolar (n = 4), and undifferentiated (n = 2) histologies were represented. Ten patients (59%) had intracranial extension. Median prescribed dose was 50.4 cobalt gray equivalents (GyRBE) (range, 50.4–56.0 GyRBE) delivered in 1.8–2.0-GyRBE daily fractions. Median follow-up was 5.0 years for survivors. The 5-year failure-free survival estimate was 59% (95% confidence interval, 33–79%), and overall survival estimate was 64% (95% confidence interval, 37–82%). Among the 7 patients who failed, sites of first recurrence were local only (n = 2), regional only (n = 2), distant only (n = 2), and local and distant (n = 1). Late effects related to proton radiotherapy in the 10 recurrence-free patients (median follow-up, 5 years) include failure to maintain height velocity (n = 3), endocrinopathies (n = 2), mild facial hypoplasia (n = 7), failure of permanent tooth eruption (n = 3), dental caries (n = 5), and chronic nasal/sinus congestion (n = 2). Conclusions Proton radiotherapy for patients with PM-RMS yields tumor control and survival comparable to that in historical controls with similar poor prognostic factors. Furthermore, rates of late effects from proton radiotherapy compare favorably to published reports of photon-treated cohorts.

These results support the use of high-dose definitive radiotherapy for patients with medically inoperable or otherwise unresected, mobile spine or sacrococcygeal chordomas.

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