The Lincy Institute

The Lincy Institute Research
& Policy Briefs

Parent and Family Engagement

By Sonya Douglas Horsford, Ed.D. and Tonia Holmes-Sutton
August 2012

Parent and family engagement in the educational lives of children and youth positively influence student learning and achievement. While this connection may seem obvious, varying ideals of parent engagement limit the ways in which school communities understand, encourage, and benefit from meaningful school?home?community interactions. This is frequently the case in culturally diverse, urban communities where education reform has focused heavily on high?stakes testing, teacher accountability, and school choice, but less on the fragile connections that often exist between schools and the families they serve. The purpose of this policy brief is to review selected research on parent involvement and expand existing understandings of parent and family engagement in ways that are culturally relevant and responsive to the diverse strengths and needs of families in urban communities. It concludes with specific recommendations for strengthening parent and family engagement. Read more.

A High Stakes Gamble in North Las Vegas

By Robert E. Lang, Ph.D.
April 2012

The City of North Las Vegas, operating in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip, one of the world's most iconic urban settings, faces a series of financial and political challenges that threaten its ability to perform basic municipal services. This paper explores how North Las Vegas reached the edge of insolvency, the implications for North Las Vegas and the surrounding municipalities of Las Vegas, Henderson, and unincorporated Clark County, and the path forward in the face of unprecedented economic and political turmoil. Read more.

Ready for School, Ready for Life

By Sonya Douglas Horsford, Ed. D.
April 2012

School readiness continues to be an area of growing concern in education and public policy circles. The notion that "all children should arrive at school ready for the first day" has important implications not only for parents, early childhood educators, and K?12 schoolteachers, but also policymakers, business owners, and our local and state economies. The purpose of this policy brief is to define school readiness, present the most recent conceptualization of school readiness in the state of Nevada, and consider the challenges inherent in building bridges between the separate and distinct domains of early childhood and K?12 education. The brief concludes with a summary of selected policy recommendations for advancing school readiness in Nevada as part of the state's broader goals of increasing educational opportunity, equity, and achievement among its children and youth. Read more.

What is a Healthy Community?

By Denise Tanata-Ashby, J.D.
January 2012

The health of a community is dependent not only upon the genetics of its residents, but also upon the environment within which those individuals live. A person's health is a product of their environment. As such, a healthy community is one in which all residents have access to a quality education, safe and healthy homes, adequate employment, transportation, physical activity, and nutrition, in addition to quality health care. Unhealthy communities lead to chronic disease, such as cancers, diabetes, and heart disease. The health of our communities is critical to the growth and development of our region. To build healthy communities in Southern Nevada, we must develop multi-sectoral collaborations between community members and stakeholders to ensure the sustainability and adequacy of resources to support comprehensive reform. Read more.