This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
Schools can use this research-generated framework of six types of involvement to develop a comprehensive program of school, family, and community partnerships (Epstein et al., 2002).
Type 1 – PARENTING: Assist families with parenting skills, family support, understanding child and adolescent development, and setting home conditions to support learning at each age and grade level. Assist schools in understanding families’ backgrounds, cultures, and goals for children.
Type 2 – COMMUNICATING: Communicate with families about school programs and student progress in varied, clear, and productive ways. Create two-way communication channels from school-to-home and from home-to-school so that families can easily communicate with teachers, administrators, counselors, and other families.
Type 3 –VOLUNTEERING: Improve recruitment, training, activities, and schedules to involve families as volunteers and as audiences at the school or in other locations. Enable educators to work with regular and occasional volunteers who assist and support students and the school.
Type 4 – LEARNING AT HOME: Involve families with their children in academic learning activities at home, including homework, goal setting, and other curriculum-related activities and decisions. Encourage teachers to design homework that enables students to share and discuss interesting work and ideas with family members.
Type 5 – DECISION MAKING: Include families as participants in school decisions, governance, and advocacy activities through school councils or improvement teams, committees, PTA/PTO, and other parent organizations. Assist family and teacher representatives to obtain information from and give information to those they represent.
Type 6 – COLLABORATING WITH THE COMMUNITY: Coordinate resources and services for families, students, and the school with community businesses, agencies, cultural and civic organizations, colleges or universities, and other community groups. Enable students, staff, and families to contribute their service to the community.
Schools may choose from hundreds of practices to represent the six types of involvement. Each type of involvement has explicit challenges that must be met to turn an ordinary program into an excellent one. Family and community activities can be designed and implemented for each type of involvement to help students reach specific school goals.
The National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University provides professional development materials on school, family, and community partnerships, research briefs, annual collections of promising practices from schools, districts, and states across the country, descriptions of award-winning partnership programs, and how to join this agenda. For more information , see www.partnershipschools.org.
From Epstein, J. L. et al. (2002). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action, second edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press