This document discusses the importance of partnerships between parents, teachers, schools, and communities. It provides examples of different types of parental involvement at the school level, including requiring staff to document family contact, having a dedicated parent involvement budget and staff member, and including parents on school committees. The document also discusses challenges to parental involvement, such as transportation and scheduling issues. Overall, the document advocates for comprehensive school, family, and community partnerships to support student success.

1. Parents, Teachers,
Schools, Communities:
Leveraging Partnerships
and Promise
Tracy Smith, Corie Maffett, Ashley Miller, and Cindi Bradshaw
Appalachian State University


2. Interactive Activity
Remain standing if…
 Requirement that staff members document contact with
families
 PTO/PTA Organization
 Parental membership on multiple school committees
 Dedicated budget for parental involvement
 Paid staff member whose job is to support/increase parent
involvement

3. Challenges
 What challenges do we face when we try to partner with
parents and community?
 Transportation
 Parents are “burned out” from 6 years of elementary school
 Scheduling

4. Special Considerations for Middle
School
 Parents often report feeling that children should
do homework alone; parents shouldn't try to
help if they're not experts in the subject.
 The structure of many middle schools can also
deter parents: larger and can feel more
impersonal than most elementary schools, and
students; receive instruction from several
teachers(Rutherford, et al., 1997).

5. This We Believe in Action
 If parents are to become genuine partners with and supporters of their
child’s middle school, every effort should be made to educate them
regarding the format and functioning of an effective middle school.
 Parents should have a clear picture of how a middle school operates and,
as part of their orientation to the early teen years, understand the
importance of advisory and advocacy.
 Back to School Night provides an annual opportunity to inform parents.
 The first stop on such an evening should be a meeting with their child’s
advisor.
 After explaining the program to parents, advisors can engage them in an
advocacy exercise that will help them appreciate how advisory can serve
their child (p. 154).

6. Why partner?
 This We Believe characteristic: School-initiated family and
community partnerships
 Cultivating an Ethic of Caring
 Capitalizing on Funds of Knowledge
 Research Support and Positive Outcomes
 A comprehensive and meaningful partnership meets the needs
of the families, schools, and communities involved.

7. The Ethics of Care
Nell Noddings, 2002
 Education (in its widest sense) is central to the cultivation
of caring in society.
 Education is “a constellation of encounters, both planned
and unplanned, that promote growth through the
acquisition of knowledge, skills, understanding and
appreciation.”
 Special emphasis on the home as a site for educational
encounter. Indeed, she views the home as the primary
educator.
 Need for re-orientation of social policy to this end.
 Not to sideline the role of schools but simply to recognize
just what the home contributes to the development of
children and young people.

8. Studies show that more students will be motivated to learn and
will increase their skills if educators design class work and
homework that enable students to draw from their families’
“fund of knowledge” to understand the real-world applications of
school skills.
This We Believe in Action, 2012

9. What are the outcomes of parent
involvement?

10. Epstein, et al. Framework

11. Parenting
 TYPE 1--PARENTING: Assist families with
parenting and child-rearing skills, understanding child
and adolescent development, and setting home
conditions that support children as students at each age
and grade level. Assist schools in understanding
families.
 Ex: Book groups on adolescent reading

12. Stop Cyber-Bullying Informational Night Just
for Parents-March 7, 2013

13. Communicating
 TYPE 2--COMMUNICATING: Communicate with
families about school programs and student progress
through effective school-to-home and home-to-school
communications.
 Examples: texting to parents, kikutext, Reminders 101(app and website), Texting to
the Next Generation, Bring Your Own Device, Raven Card, and Carbon copies of
conferences.

14. Volunteering
• TYPE 3--VOLUNTEERING: Improve recruitment,
training, work, and schedules to involve families as
volunteers and audiences at the school or in other
locations to support students and school programs.
• Examples: Conversation starters and activity generator from the Search
Institute
• October is the Month of the Young Adolescent (AMLE)

15. Learning at Home
 TYPE 4--LEARNING AT HOME: Involve families
with their children in learning activities at home,
including homework and other curriculum-linked
activities and decisions.

16. Decision Making
 TYPE 5--DECISION MAKING: Include families as
participants in school decisions, governance, and
advocacy through PTA/PTO, school councils,
committees, and other parent organizations.
 Examples:
 Parental book approval
 How do we encourage the less affluent to become members of the PTA/PTO?

17. Parent Advisory Council
Clubs and performances bring parents to school!

18. Family Engagement Coordinator

19. Collaborating with the
Community
 TYPE 6--COLLABORATING WITH THE
COMMUNITY: Coordinate resources and services for
families, students, and the school with businesses,
agencies, and other groups, and provide services to the
community.

20. Cultural Arts Night

21. Space & Science Night s

22. Questions that will help middle grades
educators in the middle grades move toward
involvement in action:
• What is a research-based, comprehensive, and goal-oriented
program of school, family, and community partnerships in the
middle grades?
• How can teamwork ensure that a school will organize and
implement a sustainable program of family and community
involvement?
• How does family and community involvement link with the
other elements of effective middle level schools?
• How can schools answer the call for action to develop and
sustain productive partnership programs?

23. Action Team for Partnerships
(ATP)
 Essential structure in each school. At the middle level, schools
improve the quality of their plans and practices, outreach to
families, and results for students when they have a dedicated
committee – an Action Team for Partnerships – of teachers,
administrators, parents, and community partners (p. 192).
 Composition of ATP: p. 193-4.

24. Tips for Engaging Families
 Take the Initiative
Middle Ground, October 2010
 Be Nice!
 Provide Information and Support
 Solicit feedback from families and the Community
 Deliver positive message about Students in the school
 Enhance your school’s presence in the electronic media
 Think Outside the BOX!
 Repair broken Relationships

25. Your Turn
 What’s the most successful parent or community
involvement activity or initiative that you have had at your
school?
 Introduce and Discuss with a Neighbor!
 Be prepared to share!