Beyond “Involvement”: Are Elementary Schools Ready to Be Family-Centered?

The purpose of this study was to understand parents' and educators' perspectivs of family-centered practices in the early elementary school grades (kindergarten through third grade). Eighty-eight special educators, 67 regular educators, 75 parents of children with disabilities, and 46 parents of typically developing children completed a scale measuring perceptions of typical and ideal practices about the school's responsiveness to families, the quality of specialized services involving parents, the school atmosphere regarding parents, and how much the school encouraged parent advocacy. All groups favored more family-centered practices than they currently provided or received. Families of children with disabilities reported (a) receiving less family-centered services than reported by other families and (b) receiving less family-centered services from the schools than reported by teachers as being provided by the schools.