A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE UNITED STATES

In early childhood education, there is a growing trend towards greater involvement of parents as educators, as paid and volvnt'aer staff, as decision makers, and as resources. The purpose cl this paper is to consider the origins of the trend towards parent involvement, to describe its various forms, and to present some policy implications. Parent components of various Head Start and Follow Through programs and research implications for different models of parent involvement are discussed. Topics focus on parental role in early childhood education, barriers and incentives to parent participation, and costs of different forms of parent involvement. An extensive bibliography is included. (ST) tf