School Family Partnerships For Children S Success

In this groundbreaking volume, the most influential leaders in the field provide essential information to better understand and improve the nature and quality of school and family partnerships for the benefit of all children. These experts examine the various aspects and effects of parental involvement not only on children's academic achievement, but also on their social and emotional development. Featuring a comprehensive multidimensional framework, the text addresses critical issues facing families and educators, developmental considerations, cultural perspectives, and policy issues. Each chapter includes recommendations to help educators, parents, and policymakers create and sustain successful partnerships to support children's development.

Schools that are most successful in engaging parents and other family members in support of their children's learning look beyond traditional definitions of parent involvement--parent teacher organizations or signing report cards--to a broader conception of supporting families in activities outside of school that can encourage their children's' learning. This idea book is intended to assist educators, parents, and policy makers as they develop school-family partnerships, identifying and describing successful strategies used by 20 local Title I programs. Following an executive summary, the book notes resources for involving families in education, includes research supporting such partnerships, and describes how Title I encourages partnerships. Next, the book describes successful local approaches to family involvement in education, organized around strategies for overcoming common barriers to family involvement, including: (1) overcoming time and resource constraints; (2) providing information and training to parents and school staff; (3) restructuring schools to support family involvement; (4) bridging school-family differences; and (5) tapping external supports for partnerships. Finally, the book presents conclusions about establishing and sustaining partnerships, noting that at the same time that successful partnerships share accountability, specific stakeholders must assume individual responsibility, and that those schools that succeed in involving large numbers of parents invest energy in finding solutions for problems, not excuses. Four appendices present profiles of 10 successful partnerships, descriptions in table format of 20 successful local approaches, contact information for profiled partnership programs, and resources for building successful partnerships. Contains 13 references. (HTH)

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

Family-school partnerships are increasingly touted as a means of improving both student and school improvement. This recognition has led to an increase in policies and initiatives that offer the following benefits: improved communication between parents and educators; home and school goals that are mutually supportive and shared; better understanding of the complexities impinging on children’s development; and pooling of family and school resources to find and implement solutions to shared goals. This is the first comprehensive review of what is known about the effects of home-school partnerships on student and school achievement. It provides a brief history of home-school partnerships, presents evidence-based practices for working with families across developmental stages, and provides an agenda for future research and policy. Key features include: provides comprehensive, cross-disciplinary coverage of theoretical issues and research concerning family-school partnerships. describes those aspects of school-family partnerships that have been adequately researched and promotes their implementation as evidence-based interventions. charts cutting-edge research agendas & methods for exploring school-family partnerships. charts the implications such research has for training, policy and practice especially regarding educational disparities. This book is appropriate for researchers, instructors, and graduate students in the following areas: school counseling, school psychology, educational psychology, school leadership, special education, and school social work. It is also appropriate for the academic libraries serving these audiences.

This publication discusses issues of parent-teacher partnerships that affect children's development. An introductory chapter suggests that the central figures in fostering the development of a child's potential are the significant adults in the child's world. Chapter 2 considers family relationships as prototypes for later partnerships, and lists several family attributes, such as love, communication, and commitment, that promote partnerships. Chapter 3 lists attributes of parents and teachers that promote parent-teacher partnerships, and explains several paradigms of parent and teacher involvement in family and school. Chapter 4 stresses the importance of establishing partnerships during the child's early years, and warns of the dangers of degrading partnerships for at-risk parents. Chapter 5 suggests a framework for teacher-parent partnerships and offers examples of successful partnership programs. The chapter also suggests partnership strategies, including home visits, training programs, conferences, newsletters, efforts to welcome parents, homework activities, and the involvement of parents in decision making. Chapter 6 addresses the topics of evaluation of partnerships, role conflicts and confrontation within partnerships, cultural differences as learning experiences, and support for at-risk families. Chapter 7 discusses issues concerning the process of strengthening families and schools. A bibliography of 130 items is included. (BC)

From traditional forms of communication—such as open houses, parent-teacher conferences, and fundraising efforts—to hot-button topics such as bullying and discipline, this book helps educators bridge the gap between school and home.

It is essential that we work together to craft powerful parent-teacher partnerships that meet the needs of today’s students and schools. In this important new book, authors Robert Dillon and Melissa Nixon explain how schools and families can work together so that the needs of children are always met. Whether you’re a parent hoping to work more effectively with your child’s teacher, or a principal or teacher looking for ways to understand families’ needs, you’ll be able to use the strategies in this resource to improve your communication and build deeper connections. Loaded with practical takeaways and sample stories, this book will help you: Clearly communicate a child’s educational goals; Make connections with other schools and school districts to build community and broaden your range of resources; Hold educators accountable without alienating them; Develop communication strategies to address difficult topics like underperformance and misbehavior; Show compassion and gratitude; And more! With the practical suggestions in this book, you’ll be able to rekindle more engagement and excitement into students' learning at school and at home.

Parents as Partners in Education, Eighth Edition, is uniquely the most comprehensive book on the market covering the history of family/school collaboration, current issues and population trends affecting American schools and communities, diverse family structures, and techniques for establishing connections with parents and encouraging involvement with their childês learning. Based on the notion of funds of knowledge, the knowledge that children acquire from their families, this best-selling textbook helps the reader differentiate between culture and diversity as they relate to culturally and linguistically diverse families. This edition, with a new co-author, emphasizes on understanding families' funds of knowledge, discusses culturally relevant pedagogy to work with families and children, particularly those who are English language learners and/or immigrants, and provides an expanded section on working with families who have children with autism. A special focus on culturally and linguistically diverse children with special needs is a remarkable aspect of the book. Key additions and changes to this edition include: more practical ideas and tips for teachers on how to work with culturally and linguistically diverse children and their families in a classroom setting; applicable information on how to build parent involvement programs; strategies for working with culturally diverse students who have Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families; emphasis on the value of pre-school and pre-K programs methods for working with English Language Learners and their families, including a section on second language acquisition. Rooted in the premise that once educators understand the value of families for healthy development they can begin to create strong partnerships to assist children in successful experiences in school. Parents as Partners in Education: Families and Schools Working Together, Eighth Edition will be a key component to teachers gaining this knowledge and using it in the classroom for the betterment of all children and their families.