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.

This work is a report on the positive impact of parental involvement on their child's academics and on the school at large. Building Parent Engagement in Schools is an introduction to educators, particularly in lower-income and urban schools, who want to promote increased parental engagement in both the classroom and at home—an effort required by provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. It is both an authoritative review of research that confirms the positive impact of parental involvement on student achievement and a guide for implementing proven strategies for increasing that involvement. With Building Parent Engagement in Schools, educators can start to develop a hybrid culture between home and school, so that school can serve as a cultural bridge for the students. Filled with the voices of real educators, students, and parents, the book documents a number of parent-involved efforts to improve low-income communities, gain greater resources for schools, and improve academic achievement. Coverage includes details of real initiatives in action, including programs for home visits, innovative uses of technology, joint enterprises like school/community gardens, and community organization efforts.

School administrators and principals are increasingly being called on to increase parent involvement in their schools, and this is no easy task. This book will give elementary school leaders the no-fuss tools they need to increase parent involvement in their students' education and the school's activities. Materials include: a reference section on issues and techniques that both administrative staff and faculty will find valuable hands-on guides for teachers to help with such issues as parent-teacher conferences, form letters, keeping parents updated, and other topic ready-to-use items for principals to send home to parents. All the forms, checklists and worksheets included in the book are also available on diskette for easy customization.

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)

This leading text examines the meaning of multicultural education from historical and conceptual perspectives. It provides a thorough analysis of the theory and practice of five major approaches to dealing with race, language, social class, gender, disability, and sexual orientation in today's classrooms.

Provides advice for elementary teachers on collaborating with parents to enhance a child's educational experience.

Proactively Develop Parental Involvement for Students’ Growth and Achievement Years of research and practice show that connecting with families positively impacts student achievement. This book is packed with ready-to-use ideas to actively engage parents as educational partners. This new edition includes current research on the impact of parent involvement, offers new strategies, and provides expanded coverage of ways to build bridges between the school and diverse families including: Innovative ways to sustain ongoing communication Ideas for welcoming parents as members of the school community Strategies for including parents in school governance Techniques for developing parent volunteer programs, and more

Just as populations change, ideas about how to encourage and work with parents also need to evolve. This practical resource by bestselling author Patricia Edwards provides school leaders and classroom teachers with new and creative ways in which to welcome, encourage, and involve parents. Enacting these types of practices requires a special kind of commitment from teachers and school leaders, which often coincides with a particular kind of mindset about families and one’s responsibility to engage them. Educators often develop this mindset as they deepen their understanding of families, literacy/language, culture/race/class, and themselves. Edwards pulls these understandings together and presents them in a straightforward, concise, and easy-to-use guide that is perfect for professional learning communities and teacher preparation courses. New Ways to Engage Parents is essential reading for all educators who care deeply about engaging a wide range of parents in today’s schools. “It is my hope that this book inspires teachers to seek ways to make schools more equitable and caring spaces for all children.” —From the Foreword by Catherine Compton-Lilly, University of Wisconsin–Madison “Long a leader in the field, Professor Patricia Edwards reinforces the fact that education is a shared responsibility of home, school, and community. She presents scores of practical ideas and resources to enable educators to involve all parents in their children’s education.” —Joyce L. Epstein, Johns Hopkins University “Finally, a book that brings partnering with parents into the 21st century! This is a book teachers will want to keep at their fingertips.” —Jeanne R. Paratore, Boston University

Engaging Families in Schools is a practical resource that provides strategies and ideas that will contribute to the effective engagement of families and the involvement of parents in their child’s education. Parental engagement with school staff has a significant and very positive impact on children’s learning, and strategies presented have been extensively trialled in a variety of different settings. Nicola S. Morgan shows school staff how to understand the importance of family engagement and evidence the outcomes. This book has been split into ten easily accessible units: Understanding the importance of parent engagement Using whole-school strategies to engage parents The role of the family engagement officer Engaging all parents Engaging Dads Engaging multicultural parents Difficult to engage parents Working with parents to improve student attainment Working with parents to improve behaviour and attendance Working with parents of children with additional needs This is a must-read guide for teaching and non teaching staff who wishes to bridge the gap between their student’s school and family life and understand the effects of positive family engagement.

This work is a report on the positive impact of parental involvement on their child's academics and on the school at large. Building Parent Engagement in Schools is an introduction to educators, particularly in lower-income and urban schools, who want to promote increased parental engagement in both the classroom and at home—an effort required by provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. It is both an authoritative review of research that confirms the positive impact of parental involvement on student achievement and a guide for implementing proven strategies for increasing that involvement. With Building Parent Engagement in Schools, educators can start to develop a hybrid culture between home and school, so that school can serve as a cultural bridge for the students. Filled with the voices of real educators, students, and parents, the book documents a number of parent-involved efforts to improve low-income communities, gain greater resources for schools, and improve academic achievement. Coverage includes details of real initiatives in action, including programs for home visits, innovative uses of technology, joint enterprises like school/community gardens, and community organization efforts.