The School-Family Partnership Project: A Survey Report. Publication Series No. 5 (original) (raw)

School and Family Partnerships. Report No. 6

1992

The theoretical perspectives of school and family partnerships discussed in this report are based on the influences of families and schools on children's learning and development. A review of research deals with three topics: (1) the importance (pc family environments and involvement; (2) the influence of school environments on family involvement; and (3) the effect of school-family partnerships on students, parents, and teachers. It is emphasizrl that effective practices of partnership are developmental and respw.sive to the common and different needs of families. Discussion of types of involvement that help families and schools fulfill their responsibilities for children's learning and development focuses on basic obligations of families and schools; parent involvement in schools and in home learning activities; and parent and community involvement in decision making, governance, and advocacy. Also examined is involvement that adds the community as a sphere of influence. Included in the discussion are implications for future research, practice, and evaluation that relate to teacher and administrator education and training, policy development, and new ways of thinking about shared responsibilities for children. Appended are 115 references. (GLR)

School-Family Collaboration: A Partnership

Focus on Exceptional Children, 2017

One of the most important goals that schools can undertake is to develop healthy partnerships with families. A truly collaborative school can be achieved only through active and positive partnerships with families. Our students are all members of families first and students second. Family members are so interrelated that any individual experience that affects one member will affect all. Families are going to have the most lasting and powerful influence on the development of the students with whom we work. Consequently, to be able to lay the groundwork ~or effective collaborative relationships, we must understand families. Traditionally, the image of family was perceived as father, mother, and two or more children living together. Actually, few American families now fit the traditional image (Zinn & Eitzen, 1993). Fewer than one in five families currently fits the more traditional notion of two parents and children. The U.S. Bureau of Census (Scoon-Rogers, 1999) reports that over the past 25 years, the number of families headed by single men has increased from 1.3 million to 3.2 million and families headed by single women has increased from 5.8 million to 13.6 million. One explanation is a divorce rate that has doubled, along with widowing and adoption. Many families consist of step-parents and step-siblings, extended families, common-law families, communal families, serial families, or some combination thereof (Beirne-Smith, Ittenbach, & Patton, 1998). Our notion of the family has to expand to acknowledge the unique pressures of the various types of family units with which teachers will come in contact. The new types of living arrangements often bring unique problems that include everything from blatant discrimination to social stigma (Edwards, 1995). In this article we provide a framework from which to interpret and understand the unique demands being placed on the family. We must understand families and their unique dynamics as a foundation for our efforts toward developing collaborative relationships with the families of the students. Unless we understand families and their unique needs and pressures, attempts at collaboration will be susceptible to misunderstanding. After we have provided this foundational context, we explore real and perceived barriers that can inhibit collaboration among teachers and families. Finally, we provide practical suggestions

Book review of School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools

The second edition of School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools, by Joyce L. Epstein (2011) makes a significant contribution to understanding how families and schools work collaboratively to benefit children. Part One focuses on the foundational theory and research of these partnerships. Part Two applies the research to school and classroom practices and to educational policy development. Aimed at university-level audiences of education, sociology, and psychology professors, it aspires to help train the next generation of teachers, administrators, counselors, and other professionals to integrate effective partnership programs in schools. It promises to share recent progress in research, policies, and practices, and to help future educators think in new, more in-depth ways about partnerships.

Family Engagement: Establishing a System to Support the Parent-Teacher Partnership

2013

The Family Map Inventories were developed to support programs in their efforts to engage parents and understanding family needs and strengths. The Family Map Inventories are supportive of the framework put forth by Office of Head Start’s National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement (NCPFCE) and were developed with the Head Start performance standards as a guiding principle. This study provides evidence of the feasibility and usefulness of the Inventories used with parents of Infants and Toddlers. Parents and teachers were accepting of the Inventory. The Infant – Toddler Family Map Inventory appeared to provide an accurate assessment of the risks and strengths in the home and parenting environments of young children. The potential for use by educators is discussed.

Family, school, community engagement, and partnerships: an area of continued inquiry and growth

This article responds to the theme issue by providing a glimpse of the historical and contemporary efforts in the area of developing school, family, and community partnerships, a long-standing area of need and inquiry in the literature. It reports on the collective learning from these articles where implications of the findings pointed to the importance of elevating the importance of these partnerships. Implementation ideas of strong family, school, and community partnerships are considered along with areas that require continued attention including, but not limited to providing professional development learning opportunities, inviting voices from all stakeholders involved, shifting the paradigm of family and community involvement from a deficit model to a resource-rich model, and promoting a more free flowing sharing of research-based practices between the research community and those who are in the frontlines of these partnerships.

Family Partnerships with High Schools: The Parents' Perspective. Report No. 32

1999

This study analyzes survey data from 423 parents at 6 high schools in Maryland--2 rural, 2 urban, and 2 suburban. Multiple regression analysis was used to explore the effects of the high schools' programs of partnership on parental attitudes and reports of involvement in their teens' learning both at home and at school. The findings show that parental attitudes toward school are positively influenced by schools' partnership programs. Further, the study suggests that different types of school practices result in different parental involvement behaviors. Specifically, parental reports of involvement at home are positively and significantly influenced by school practices that assist parenting and facilitate interactions with teens on learning activities at home. Similarly, parental reports of involvement at home are most strongly influenced by school practices to involve families. The results remain constant when controlling on family and student background characteristics such as race, gender, and academic performance, and on parental employment and educational background. It is concluded that high schools that develop strong programs of partnership that include practices for different types of involvement are likely to improve parental attitudes toward the school and encourage greater family involvement at school and at home. (Contains 5 tables and 26 references.)

Types of parents and school strategies aimed at the creation of effective partnerships

2007

In order to expand parental participation in the education of their children, teachers should be equipped with some basic and possibly new skills for communication and cooperation purposes. Schools host a very diverse population of pupils, and the purpose of the present study was therefore to attain a better understanding of what various groups of parents expect of education and the school in order to develop a framework for school strategies to involve different types of parents.