Title: Archived: Family Involvement in Children's Education: Successful Local Approaches; Executive Summary
Headings: Executive Summary
A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n
Executive Summary
Families and Schools as Partners
Successful Approaches to Family Involvement in Education
Effects on Students and Families
Guidelines for Effective Partnerships
Profiles of Successful Partnerships
Notes

Content: Telephone interviews with staff and parents at these programs as well as focus group interviews with parents provided the detailed illustrations of specific strategies for overcoming barriers to parent involvement included here. This Idea Book suggests ways that schools, families, and communities can work together to build strong partnerships. It is organized around strategies for overcoming common barriers to family involvement in schools. These strategies include: Overcoming time and resource constraints. In order to build strong partnerships, families and school staff members need time to get to know one another, plan how they will work together to increase student learning, and carry out their plans. Successful programs find the time and resources for both teachers and parents to develop school-family partnerships. Providing information and training to parents and school staff. Without the information and skills to communicate with each other, misperceptions and distrust can flourish between parents and school personnel. Initiatives to bridge the information gap between parents and school are at the center of each of the 20 programs reviewed for this Idea Book.