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DISCUSSION PAPER 1

Are Schools Readyfor Families?

Case Studies in School-Family Relationships

This discussion paper was written by Helen Nissani, senior advisor to

Family Support America. Special thanks to Olga Heifets and Martin

Blank of the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Coalition for

Community Schools, for sharing their parent interview data.

FRIENDS, a service of the Children's Bureau, is the National

Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention

(CBCAP) program grants, under a cooperative agreement between

Family Support America and the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect,

ACF, HHS. FRIENDS assists and supports the CBCAP state lead agencies

by providing training, technical assistance, and information. Contact:

FRIENDS Director, Family Support America, 20 N. Wacker Dr., Ste.

1100, Chicago, IL 60606, 312/338-0900, www.friendsnrc.org.

F R I E N D S D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R # 12

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Supporting Families As a TeamHowe Elementary School, Green Bay, WI . . . . . . .4

Don’t Fly Under the RadarFamily Basics, Missoula, MT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

“You Can Do Something!”Elliott Elementary School, Lincoln, NE . . . . . . . . .7

Money Is Not the IssueFamily Partnerships Project, Seattle, WA . . . . . . .9

Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Are Schools Ready for Families?

1. Henderson, A.T. & K. L. Mapp (2002) A New Wave of Evidence: TheImpact of School, Family, and Community Connections on StudentAchievement (Austin, Texas: National Center for Family andCommunity Connections with Schools).

A R E S C H O O L S R E A D Y F O R F A M I L I E S ?


IntroductionChild abuse prevention programs are increasinglyseeking new ways to connect with families in envi-ronments that are non-threatening and easy for par-ents to locate. Public schools in the United States—which welcome all children without regard toincome, race, language, ethnicity, or citizenship andare located mostly in the neighborhoods where stu-dents’ families live and work—can be ideal partnersin efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect.

When parents bring their oldest child to kindergartenon the first day of school, it may be the first time theyoung family has interacted with the public educationsystem—and perhaps any public agency. How doesthe school receive this family? Do staff take time toget to know both the parents and their child? Do theyrecognize the parents’ contribution in preparing theirchild for school? Do they acknowledge the work theparents have done to raise a happy and healthy youngperson? Do they understand and respect how thefamily’s unique culture, language, and beliefs haveguided the parents in raising their young learner? Dothey know of resources in the community that cansupport and strengthen this family?

While the research literature in early childhood edu-cation and family support can illuminate our under-standing of what children must know to begin schoolready to learn, there is little information about whatschools can do to be ready for all families and chil-dren as they enter their doors. According to the lead-ing researchers, a critical factor to student success isfamily involvement in education—beginning athome and continuing throughout the school years.Researchers Anne Henderson and Karen Mappwrite that “the evidence is positive, consistent, and

convincing: there is a contributing relationshipbetween the involvement of families in educationand the benefits for students, including improvedacademic achievement and behavior.”

1When par-

ents have positive attitudes towards education;assist their children with homework; are able to pro-vide basic needs, discipline, and emotional support;and are involved in making decisions about theirchildren’s education, their children are more likelyto succeed in school and, ultimately, in society.Successful public school–based strategies to preventabuse have recently been documented by theNational Clearinghouse on Child Abuse andNeglect. In 1997, the Office on Child Abuse andNeglect funded demonstration grants to identifyprevention and treatment strategies in collaborationwith preschools as well as elementary and secondaryschools. Findings indicate that direct services andinformation provided to teachers, children, and at-risk families at school sites improved family func-tioning and child behaviors. (See also School-BasedChild Maltreatment Programs, described on p. 13.)

According to the National Family Support MappingProject, schools are currently the fastest-growingsector for the development of family support pro-gramming—in large part because of their neighbor-hood locations and accessibility by parents andextended family. Nonprofit organizations and stateagencies are increasingly looking to find ways towork with schools to bring family support and childabuse prevention services to the community. Insome cases, schools themselves have restructured tobetter include and involve parents in decision mak-ing and to develop family support programming.

This discussion paper shares lessons learned byboth schools and community agencies working inschools as they work in partnership to be “readyfor families.”



Supporting FamiliesAs a TeamHowe Elementary SchoolGreen Bay, Wisconsin

Cheryl Micolichek’sson Andrew, who hasbeen diagnosed withADHD, is in secondgrade at HoweElementary School inGreen Bay, Wisconsin,

this year. After their poor experience at a previousschool, Cheryl was impressed with how quickly thestaff at Howe stepped up to offer her and Andrewsupport and services. With 86 percent of Howe’s stu-dents qualifying for free and reduced-price meals, and40 percent English-language learners, supportingfamilies is critical to students’ success. “Howe worksunder a systems model: kids are members of families,families are members of the community, and so on,”says Ed Dorff, the principal. Next door to the schoolis a family resource center, where the “early bird” pro-gram begins at each morning at 6:30. Parents signtheir children in, catching a glimpse of the day’s activ-ities. When school starts, children walk next doorready to tackle the adventures of their school day.

At Andrew’s last school, Cheryl says, the kinder-garten teacher “saw Andrew as a nuisance.” Staffdidn’t deal well with Andrew’s disruptive behaviorsand often called Cheryl to school for conferences,where they complained about his behavior andblamed the family for his actions. According toCheryl, “the last school looked at me like, ‘well, thisis your problem—why can’t your child do his schoolwork?’” At Howe, “they saw his potential immedi-ately, and stepped up to help him instead of justlabeling him as a trouble kid.”

In the past, Cheryl says, nobody cared to ask her forher opinion. “There is nobody that knows your childbetter,” she says. “When someone disregards whatyou know about your child, it makes you feel horri-ble.” Now, she is always included in the planningprocess: “They didn’t say, ‘this is where he’s going,’or where they are putting him; they asked me if itwas appropriate for him to be placed at a particularlevel.”

Working together with Cheryl, staff at Howe placedAndrew in a special classroom with a lowteacher/child ratio. They established a close systemof behavioral accountability and give Cheryl a reporton his progress each day. When he has a bad day, theteachers call her and ask if there is something goingon at home that may contribute to his behavior. Theteachers, a social worker, and other specialists payclose attention to both Andrew’s and his family’sneeds and strengths. “They helped him become asuccessful human being,” says Cheryl.

Center Serves as Bridge

Because of personal challenges and changes in herfamily, Cheryl is not involved in committees atschool, but she has taken advantage of the school’son-site family resource center. Funded by the school,area churches, and local private philanthropies, thecenter helps improve children’s readiness for schooland supports parents in their parenting by connect-ing families to needed resources.

The center’s director, Chris Dunbar, hopes that peo-ple in the community see it as a place that serves the

“We are honoring families and realiz-ing the importance of connecting tosystems that can help marshal neededresources.” — Ed Dorff, Principal



whole community. It offers a wide array of services andprograms, including a newly launched “Women’sNight Out” program through which all women andchildren in the community (not just those with chil-dren enrolled at Howe) can come to the center. Momsparticipate in a variety of projects, including flowerarranging and women’s self-defense—the top requestsindicated on a community survey conducted earlier inthe year. Children are cared for in daycare or can workon their homework in the computer lab.

According to Dunbar, many area churches havehelped sponsor family dinner nights and haveraised money for scholarships for students to attenda 4-H summer camp. Influential business leadersalso help make connections for the center—forinstance, a washer and dryer were donated as aresult of their efforts. When a teacher noted thatmany children were coming to school in the winterwithout socks, the center found a donor to buysocks for the children.

This year, the center is partnering with a dental tech-nical school to provide on-site dental cleaning andcheck-ups for children and their family members. Italso has developed an on-site Head Start classroomto enhance school/community relationships early inthe lives of children and families.

The Bigger Picture

According to Dorff, families in his district are facingharder situations than he has observed in other statedistricts. The school, he explains, needs to under-stand Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—if basic needsare not met, education cannot be a significant con-sideration. He trains staff to develop personal rela-tionships with families, encouraging home visits andexpecting teachers to create open, one-on-one rela-tionships with the parents of every student in theirclassroom. This policy—as well as a school-wideemphasis on family involvement and the services of

the family resource center—makes it possible forthis Title I school to meet its academic goals.

“We are working within a community school frame-work and looking at the work we do as part of a big-ger picture,” says Dorff. “We are honoring familiesand realizing the importance of connecting to sys-tems that can help marshal needed resources.” Byworking as a team to support student learning andserve families, staff and parents at Howe Elementaryhave improved student attendance rates, increasedparent participation, and decreased poor studentbehavior.

Don’t Fly Under the RadarFamily BasicsMissoula, Montana

The Women’sOpportunity ResourceD e v e l o p m e n t(WORD) Center hasbeen operating itsFamily Basics programin schools across west-

ern Montana for 10 years. In this rural region, pover-ty rates are high, resources and job opportunities arelimited, and families must often travel large dis-tances to secure assistance. Families are proud oftheir independence and self-sufficiency, and often-times reject federal, state, and local services. Thestate is home to members of six tribal nations wholive on reservations, in cities, and in towns andwhose children attend school in communitiesthroughout the state.

According to Barbara Riley, Family Basics’ programdirector, the partnership with Roosevelt School in



Missoula was the program’s first foray into the worldof school-based family support services. TheMissoula Public Schools superintendent at the timewas familiar with research showing he could increaseparent involvement in education by partnering withsocial service agencies. He approached WORD witha $5,000 grant to begin its efforts to integrate educa-tion and social services, which Family Basicsmatched with additional partner funds. The superin-tendent wanted to increase parent involvement inchildren’s education, and Family Basics wanted tobetter reach parents and connect them to servicesavailable in the community. These two main goalscontinue to guide the work of Family Basics.

With the support of the superintendent, FamilyBasics staff felt sure that their family support centerwould be well received at Roosevelt. “We were excit-ed to offer this service to the school,” remembersRiley. “We were sure the school was going to bethrilled to have us in their building.” Family Basicsstaff were cognizant of the troubles teachers werefacing each day—including salary disputes, dis-traught parents, and other school and communityissues. Given the strife in the community, they decid-

ed to bring the services to the building without muchschool involvement, assuming that the school wouldappreciate their help and welcome them with openarms. To their surprise, this was not the case. Theydidn’t build any trust with the school staff, Riley nowrealizes. School staff and—most importantly—theprincipal didn’t participate in building the partner-ship with Family Basics or get a chance to air theirneeds and concerns. So their first response tended to

be, “Who are you, and why are all these parents inmy building?”

“We really learned a valuable lesson,” Riley admits.No matter what great services you bring to theschools, she says, “school ownership and buy-in tothe program must be present at the get go. It cannotonly come from the district office—each school mustbe a ready and willing partner to develop these serv-ices. Flying in under the radar, or simply locatingservices at the school, does not work!”

Branching Out

Today, Family Basics operates 26 family resourcecenters in western Montana—4 in middle schools, 6in schools serving kids from kindergarten througheighth grade, 2 in community-based early childhoodprograms, and the remaining 14 in elementaryschools. The centers are staffed by outreach special-ists, who work directly with families to assess andsecure basic needs and promote literacy. They con-duct home visits as needed, meet parents at theschool, and offer family resource center activities.Seventy-five percent of the outreach specialists atFamily Basics are parents who have been hired bythe program and approved by the school.

Literacy is the focus of much of the on-site program-ming. For example, Family Basics staff have institut-ed a “post office” at each school’s family resourcecenter, where students write and send letters to theirparents and/or grandparents, who then write back tothe students. The contents of these letters serves tobegin discussions with parents about their parentingand relationships with their children. Each year,Missoula centers also offer a Literacy Luncheon forstudents and their parents. Last year, 95 percent ofall the parents in the programs attended.

The centers are open flexible hours and encourageparents to gather there informally. Staff have

“We really learned a valuable lesson.School ownership and buy-in to the pro-gram must be present at the get go.”— Barbara Riley, Director



developed special outreach strategies over theyears, ranging from student-designed invitations toencouraging local employers to give parents timeoff to participate. According to Riley, parents havebecome increasingly empowered to voice theiropinions and make joint decisions with school staffabout the school. Principals meet with parentsonce a month at their family resource center, toanswer any questions and concerns. Teachersreport seeing parents in the building—often for thefirst time.

Whereas once these centers were dependent on apatchwork of grants to support their outreach spe-cialists, today the positions have been absorbed andfunded by Title I education funds. Parent involve-ment has sky rocketed, and parents are strengthenedby the services they need for their families and feelwelcome and supported at their children’s school.

“You Can DoSomething!”Elliott Elementary SchoolLincoln, Nebraska

“At Elliott’s FamilyInvolvement Board,they would sit downtogether with parents,and everyone’s opin-ions were acceptedequally,” says Jessica

Smith. “Elliott’s board is open to everyone, not justfamilies of a certain status.” Valentina Shulyakagrees: “They have programs for everyone atElliott.” Shulyak has attended computer classes,English-language lessons, and a special tax clinicwhere a volunteer helped her fill out the forms andanswered her questions.

“This is great,” she says. “We never had anythinglike this in the Ukraine.”

Shulyak and Smith are parents with childrenenrolled at Elliott Elementary School in Lincoln,Nebraska. All of the school’s students qualify forfree or reduced-price lunch, and the children speak26 different languages. Supporting families is criticalto the success of the school’s students.

Shulyak’s daughter has just completed third grade atthe school. Her family has been in the United Statesfor two years and initially experienced language dif-ficulties. Schulyak appreciates the classes she’sattended and is grateful for the school’s after-schoolprogram—which is open until seven at night—because she works and isn’t able to pick her daugh-ter up from school in the afternoons. Elliott’s com-munity learning center also offers multi-nationalfamily nights; each week, a family is selected to leadthe event and share its culture, bringing a favoritedish to share with others. After the supper, all chil-dren attend childcare while parents meet withschool staff and address the school issues. Somenights, according to Shulyak, “it’s difficult to findparking; there is so much going on at the school.”

Smith has three sons: Two have graduated fromElliott, and one still atttends the school. “It’s been awonderful experience” meeting families from differ-ent backgrounds and cultures, she says. “Teachers,children, and parents—all have a different perspec-tive on the current situation in Iraq, because wehave parents and children from [the region].” Smithhas volunteered serving pancakes at the school, and

Some nights, says Shulyak, there is somuch going on at the school that it’sdifficult to find parking.



her husband is involved in the School NeighborhoodAdvisory Committee (SNAC). Additional parentactivities at the school include a clothing bank, com-puter classes, and—new this year—a health andnutrition class. Smith’s involvement and experienceat Elliott have given her “courage to participate inother activities.” At the urging of a teacher, shejoined the local Negro Women’s Council. Smith saysher experiences at Elliott have taught her and herchildren to be involved. “You can do something, ifyou speak up!”

Reaching Out

“At first, the community learning center (providedby the local YMCA) was only working with studentsafter school as a service provider,” says its director,Benjamin Zink. “Now, we have made the shift towork as a school partner and increased the supportof parents and families.” As parents have found theirvoice and have become empowered to make deci-sions at the school, Zink notes, the school’s struc-tures and policies have begun to change. Take, forexample, the development of the SNAC: The com-mittee has 10 to 20 members—including parents, arepresentative from the local neighborhood associa-tion, community partners, school service providers,the principal, and school staff. It used to be “teacherdriven,” says Zink, but now is run by the members.“They can reach out to hard-to-reach familiesbecause peer-to-peer outreach is far more effectivethan official-to-parent [outreach].”

Over the past two and one-half years, the SNAC andthe school together have undertaken to solve a dan-gerous and difficult transportation problem plaguingthe community. Elliott is located in a high-trafficarea, which makes walking to school unsafe. Limitedparking around the school used to keep parents sit-ting in their cars and double-parked for 15 to 20 min-utes to safely take turns picking up their children.

An unused access road beside the school had previ-ously been closed by the city because it was a site fordrug dealers and deemed unsafe. The SNAC lobbiedthe city for more than two years to open this road tothe school, encouraging members and other parentsto call city officials and pressure them to solve thisproblem. Last year, they succeeded, and now theyare educating parents on how to use the road andeducating kids on how to exit the building safely. Toprevent future drug dealing, they have spread theword in the community that this road is only for useby children and their families.

In its continuing efforts to develop safety measuresaround the school, SNAC is now working toimprove road conditions for walkers. With a smallgrant from the local public health department, thecommittee initiated a Safe Walk to School Week,during which parents and community members vol-unteer to walk 5 to 10 kids to school along designat-ed routes. To kick-start the program last spring,funds were used to give incentives to students whouse this “walking school bus” five times or more.The program is integrated into the school’s physicaleducation program, and teachers instruct the chil-dren on safe walking habits, such as how to usecrosswalks safely.

Setting the Tone

According to Elliott’s principal, DeAnn Currin, twocomponents have been critical to successfully engag-

The Heritage Feast held the first weekof school sets the tone of collaborationfor the year. Parents assist in organiz-ing the food and sharing their cultures,and students prepare songs to sing.



ing families at Elliott. First, the school staff havedeveloped a positive and welcoming climate at theschool, “building relationships with parents so theycan show us their strengths and we can better meettheir needs.” The Heritage Feast held the first weekof school, for example, is a big event that sets thetone of collaboration for the year. Parents assist inorganizing the food and sharing their cultures, andstudents prepare songs to sing. “This feast repre-sents how we want Elliott to be thought of in thecommunity and how we can, in some small way,make the world a more peaceful place,” says Currin.Second, the school district itself supports theschool’s efforts. Parent involvement is a majoremphasis throughout the district, notes Currin, andefforts by individual schools to meet these needs areappreciated and recognized.

“As each year goes by, I figure out new relationshipsand how to better make the connections,” saysCurrin, who has been principal at Elliott for 11 years.“There are so many people in the greater communi-ty who can help foster understanding and help fami-lies. We look carefully at community needs beyondthose that can be addressed by a teacher and see howwe as a learning community can better meet thoseneeds.” Through such community partnerships,Elliott Elementary has successfully created a positivelearning environment for students and promotedparent leadership and decision making.

Money Is Not the IssueFamily Partnership ProjectSeattle, Washington

“Money for program-ming is not theissue—it’s core beliefsin parent engagementand passion for doingwhatever it will taketo make systemic

changes in schools that count,” says the FamilyPartnership Project’s director, Adie Simmons. AsSimmons puts it, “One more dinner or carnival orworkshop for parents and families” is not going tochange the ways teachers and staff interact withfamilies “if respectful, equal partnerships have notbeen created.”

Often, school and agency staff develop ideas to workwith parents without consulting the local populationto learn what is most meaningful to them. For exam-ple, one Seattle school found that although manyschools had been celebrating Cinco de Mayo, mostMexican-American parents in the city celebrateMexico’s day of independence from Spain, inSeptember, instead.

Parents want to be welcome at their children’sschool. They want opportunities to make a differenceand to participate as equal partners in their children’seducation. They want to be respected for their cul-ture, language, and beliefs. They want opportunitiesto develop activities for themselves and their chil-dren; the school does not need to do it all. Parentsknow best what will work to bring families into theschools, but they are often not consulted.

Parent involvement is a major empha-sis throughout the district, and effortsby individual schools to meet theseneeds are appreciated and recognized.



Building the Partnership Project

How can schools better recognize the strengths andappreciate the needs of families? What will it take toestablish meaningful partnerships with parents andteachers? What will these partnerships look like?How should they be evaluated? How do they con-tribute to student success? These and many otherquestions are being addressed by the FamilyPartnership Project, a unique initiative in SeattlePublic Schools.

The project is a collaborative endeavor of SeattlePublic Schools and the City of Seattle, funded by thecity’s Family and Education Levy. Both the city andthe district, recognizing that parent involvement is akey contributor to student academic success, identi-fied the need for teacher/principal training and sup-port for school staff as critical to the success ofinvolving parents in city schools—and earmarkedfunds to develop the project.

Funded in 2001, the Family Partnership Project wasdesigned as a four-year demonstration project.“There were many surprises along the way!” saysSimmons. For example, project planners decided notto target the funds to specific schools but to makethem available as grants for all 103 schools through-out the district through a request for proposals.Interestingly, only 40 of the 103 district schoolsapplied for these resources, and most were located incentral, south, or southwest Seattle neighbor-hoods—those most highly impacted by poverty andrecent immigration to the area.

The final application process included face-to-faceinterviews with each building principal, during whichinterviewers reviewed their degree of “readiness” toparticipate and willingness to dedicate four years ofstaff time to the project. Once again, interesting les-sons were learned: Principals may have used the rightwords to describe the academic benefits of parentinvolvement, and they may have been familiar withsome of the literature, but were school staff ready tofully embrace parent involvement and family sup-port? Of the 40 applicant schools, only 23 were qual-ified for funding; today, 22 buildings remain in theproject: 17 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, 2high schools, and 1 alternative high school.

The project funds are used by each building to sup-port professional development, provide extra pay formeetings and planning time, develop family involve-ment activities, and provide incentives for parentparticipation, including childcare and transportationsupport as needed. School staff meet as a team withparents to design family involvement work plansthat develop solutions for community issues. Somedesign family activities; others have boosted parents’decision-making capacities and trained parents forleadership roles. All activities must be part of eachschool’s improvement plan and aligned with aca-demic goals—thus integrating parent involvementand family support with academic goals for learning.To be refunded each school year, participatingschools submit to the project director their FamilyPartnership Annual Work Plans, which are reviewedby a team of Seattle Public Schools and City ofSeattle officials.

The Key to Success

When asked to describe a successful site, Simmonsnotes an elementary school that went from almostlosing a grant to receiving additional funds and sup-port. “A new principal, with a terrific attitude and

Of the 40 applicant schools, 23 werequalified for funding; today, 22 build-ings remain in the project: 17 elemen-tary schools, 2 middle schools, 2 highschools, and 1 alternative high school.



passion for this work, made all the difference,” shesays. The school serves between 400 and 500 chil-dren each year from a multiplicity of ethnic back-grounds, many of whom speak English as a secondlanguage (the predominant home language spoken isSpanish). It started out by reviewing school data tolearn more about enrolled students: What languagesare spoken at home? How many families live inpoverty? Where do children live in the community?Its staff then conducted focus groups with parents tofind out what they thought was needed by the com-munity and what would best support families in theschool’s neighborhoods. Parents said they wantedleadership training opportunities so they could helptheir children and the school. Together, the principaland parents decided the school would offer a six-week Parent Effectiveness Leadership Training(PELT) training, a curriculum developed in Yakima,Washington, especially for Hispanic families. A totalof 26 parents were trained in the first year, and par-ent leaders have formed a Hispanic Parent Councilto raise funds for school events and are taking anactive role in decision making.

How did this school succeed in its outreach to fami-lies while others have tried to offer leadership train-ing without success? According to Simmons, theschool’s principal and a group of dedicated staff weredetermined to meet the needs of families. The prin-cipal attended all of the training sessions that wereoffered in a six-week period, extending her workdaylong into the night. Her teachers are aware of howmuch she cares about serving families. They witnesseach day how she treats each parent with respect andgenuinely listens to their concerns about their chil-dren, making a special effort to reach out to fathers

in the community for their input about the schooland curriculum. She consistently tells families she isa member of the community and cares about thefuture of their children. While she commandsrespect for her position and authority, she modelsthe sharing of power and decision making with thecommunity. Her staff were so impressed with heractions that the ESL teachers and instructional assis-tants volunteered to offer childcare to make theleadership training events possible for any parentwho wanted to participate.

While not all schools in the Family PartnershipProject are as successful, all are making gains intheir work with families. To ensure that these gainsbecome part of the systemic change needed in thedistrict, Simmons is working with the school boardto rewrite the district’s parent involvement policiesand to ensure that all district schools work to buildstrong, meaningful partnerships with families. Adistrict policy that says more than “we believe inparent involvement” is needed, she says. With thehelp of school board members, Simmons hasreviewed the policies of similar-sized districts andcities across the nation, comparing their inclusive-ness and commitment to parent partnerships andfamily support. The board policies and standardscrafted by Minneapolis Public Schools inMinnesota, she notes, have helped her team devel-op new policies to be approved by the Seattle PublicSchools’ Board of Directors.

It’s not enough to be familiar with and understandparent involvement and family support, saysSimmons—you must have an understanding ofinstitutional development and community collabora-tion to sustain change in school districts over time.Passion, commitment to core values (such as thepremises and principles of family support), and apositive attitude that embraces and respects all par-ents—these qualities make all the difference!

The school’s principal and a group ofdedicated staff were determined tomeet the needs of families.



ResourcesOrganizations

Coalition for Community Schools c/o Institute for Educational Leadership1001 Connecticut Ave., NW, Ste. 310Washington, DC 20036202/822-8405www.communityschools.org

An alliance of national, state, and local organizationsworking to improve education and help studentslearn and grow while supporting and strengtheningtheir families and communities. Community schoolsbring together many partners to offer a range of sup-ports and opportunities to children, youth, families,and communities—before, during, and after school,seven days a week.

Families and Schools Together Wisconsin Center for Education ResearchUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison1025 W. Johnson StreetMadison, WI 53706 608/263-9476www.wcer.wisc.edu/fast

A multifamily group intervention designed to buildprotective factors for children 4 to 12 years old andempower parents to be the primary preventionagents for their own children.

Family Involvement Network of EducatorsHarvard Family Research ProjectHarvard Graduate School of Education3 Garden StreetCambridge, MA 02138617/495-9108 www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine.html

A national network of more than 2,000 higher educa-tion faculty, school professionals, directors and train-ers of community-based and national organizations,parent leaders, and graduate students interested inpromoting strong partnerships between children’seducators, their families, and their communities.

National Coalition for Parent Involvement inEducation 3929 Old Lee Highway, Ste. 91-AFairfax, VA 22030703/359-8973www.ncpie.org

A coalition of major education, community, publicservice, and advocacy organizations working to cre-ate meaningful family-school partnerships in everyschool in America.

Publications

America’s Family Support Magazine: FamilySupport and SchoolsVol. 18, No. 3, 1999Family Support America312/338-0900www.familysupportamerica.org

Special focus section highlights successful communi-ty-school partnerships and offers tips to help fami-lies, school staff, and other community memberswork together to support students and their families.

A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School,Family, and Community Connections on StudentAchievement By Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp2002, 244 pp.National Center for Family and CommunityConnections with Schools800/476-6861www.sedl.org/connections/

A synthesis of 51 studies that examines the growingevidence that family and community connectionswith schools make a difference in student success.Includes effective strategies to connect schools, fam-ilies, and community.

Parents Are Powerful1997Center for Law and Education202/986-3000www.cleweb.org

A full-color guide that gives parents practical adviceto guide their children from preschool through high



school. Also informs parents of their rights and whatto expect from such key federal programs as Title I,IDEA, and Vocational Education. Available inSpanish.

School-Based Child Maltreatment Programs:Synthesis of Lessons LearnedU.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin.for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau2003http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/focus/schoolbased.cfm

This publication reports on the School-BasedMaltreatment Prevention, Identification, andTreatment Services Demonstration Projects. It wasprepared by Jacqueline Smollar, Ph.D, of James BellAssociates. Organizations wishing to implementschool-based programs for identification, prevention,and intervention regarding child maltreatment canuse the lessons learned from these demonstrationprojects to build more successful programs.

School, Family, and Community Partnerships: YourHandbook for Action, 2nd Ed.By Joyce L. Epstein, et al. 2002, 392 pp.Corwin Press800/818-7243www.corwinpress.com

Guides school, district, and state leaders to organizeand implement positive and permanent programs ofschool, family, and community partnerships.Includes new research summaries and useful toolsfor developing and evaluating programs of family andcommunity involvement.

Multimedia

Principals Speak Out! VHS, 25 minutesInstitute for Responsive Education617/373-2595www.responsiveeducation.org

Features interviews with three principals of schoolswith highly successful parent and community con-nections and programs, who share their thoughts onwhy partnerships are important; what the benefitsare to schools, parents, and the community; andhow administrators can foster meaningful partner-ships. Highlights points for beginning discussionsamong administrators and school staff.

Public Campaign

Results for America—A Campaign of the CivilSociety Institutewww.resultsforamerica.org

Designed to give the public schools the tools theyneed to educate candidates, policymakers, themedia, and each other, the project continues theinstitute’s ongoing work on issues of health, educa-tion, environment, and national security. Its educa-tion initiative, the Campaign to Put Learning Backin Education, is designed to focus public attentionon current education policy, put proven solutionsfront and center, and bring the voices of parents,students, and communities into the discussion onpublic education.

FRIENDS, a service of the Children's Bureau, is theNational Resource Center for Community-BasedChild Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) program grants,under a cooperative agreement between FamilySupport America and the Office on Child Abuse andNeglect, ACF, HHS. FRIENDS assists and supports theCBCAP state lead agencies by providing training,technical assistance, and information. Contact:FRIENDS Director, Family Support America, 20 N.Wacker Dr., Ste. 1100, Chicago, IL 60606, 312/338-0900, www.friendsnrc.org.

Are Schools Ready for Families? - WeArePCAPS...hood locations and accessibility by parents and...

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