Learn how to work more effectively with K–5 parents to increase student achievement in math and literacy. Research shows that parent involvement in schools leads to higher test scores and more engaged and enthusiastic students, but it isn’t always easy for teachers to bridge the gap between the home and the school. This insightful book provides helpful, research-based strategies to foster meaningful home–school partnerships and overcome the challenges teachers often face when trying to build relationships with parents. You’ll learn new ways to: Promote parent involvement at home and school; Share specific math and literacy strategies with parents to reinforce children’s learning; Plan and organize effective parent conferences that foster true dialogue about a child’s education; Communicate with parents about what you’re teaching and how you’re teaching it, so they can actively contribute to their child’s learning at home; Develop family nights and workshops to get parents involved in learning at school; Recommend games, activities, and projects that parents can use at home to help their children practice math and literacy skills; And much more! Each chapter is full of practical tools such as Common Core-aligned strategies, useful resources for parents, and sample parent letters that you can use to increase and improve your home–school communications. Bonus: Additional parent letters on a variety of topics are available on our website, www.routledge.com/ 9781138998698, to help you keep parents connected throughout the year.

Learn how to work more effectively with K–5 parents to increase student achievement in math and literacy. Research shows that parent involvement in schools leads to higher test scores and more engaged and enthusiastic students, but it isn’t always easy for teachers to bridge the gap between the home and the school. This insightful book provides helpful, research-based strategies to foster meaningful home–school partnerships and overcome the challenges teachers often face when trying to build relationships with parents. You’ll learn new ways to: Promote parent involvement at home and school; Share specific math and literacy strategies with parents to reinforce children’s learning; Plan and organize effective parent conferences that foster true dialogue about a child’s education; Communicate with parents about what you’re teaching and how you’re teaching it, so they can actively contribute to their child’s learning at home; Develop family nights and workshops to get parents involved in learning at school; Recommend games, activities, and projects that parents can use at home to help their children practice math and literacy skills; And much more! Each chapter is full of practical tools such as Common Core-aligned strategies, useful resources for parents, and sample parent letters that you can use to increase and improve your home–school communications. Bonus: Additional parent letters on a variety of topics are available on our website, www.routledge.com/ 9781138998698, to help you keep parents connected throughout the year.

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.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

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 and families are busier than ever—and so are you—but partnering with them is as important as ever. So how do you do that? Author Phil Bell has taken his 20 years of experience and created a playbook to help you come alongside parents. This isn’t a plan to make your ministry look like someone else’s. These are proven ideas you can weave into the things you’re already doing. These practical ideas work whether you’re full-time, part-time, or a volunteer. And you can add them on to your own timeline. Partnering with parents isn’t about just getting them to come to you. It’s about a ministry that meets in the middle—where you are and where they are—creating a stronger ministry and stronger families. Topics include: • Taking care of yourself and your own family first • Key strategies for effective communication • Ideas for resourcing and equipping parents • Ways to reach unengaged parents • Turning parents into your ministry’s greatest promoters • Fostering a community of parents that makes everyone stronger