Standards for Family & Community Partnerships
Watch the video for an introduction to the Standards for Family & Community Partnerships.
Review the following standards and consider:
How does your school address these standards in your family and community partnerships?
Standard 1: Welcoming All Families into the School Community
What does it mean?
Families are active participants in the life of the school, and feel welcomed, valued, and connected to each other, to school staff, and to what students are learning and doing in class.
Goal 1: Creating a Welcoming Climate: When families walk into the building, do they feel the school is inviting and is a place where they “belong”?
Indicators of Success
- Developing personal relationships
- Creating a family friendly atmosphere
- Providing Opportunities for Volunteering
Goal 2: Building a Respectful, Inclusive School Community: Do the school’s policies and programs reflect, respect, and value the diversity of the families in the community?
Indicators of Success
- Respecting all families
- Removing economic obstacles for participation
- Ensuring accessible programming
Standard 2: Communicating Effectively
What does it mean?
Families and school staff engage in regular, two-way, meaningful communication about student learning.
Goal 1: Sharing Information Between School and Families: Does the school keep all families informed about important issues and events and make it easy for families to communicate with teachers?
Indicators of Success
- Using multiple communication paths
- Surveying families to identify issues and concerns
- Having access to the principal
- Providing information on current issues
- Facilitating connections among families
Standard 3: Supporting Student Success
What does it mean?
Families and school staff continuously collaborate to support students’ learning and healthy development both at home and at school, and have regular opportunities to strengthen their knowledge and skills to do so effectively.
Goal 1: Sharing Information About Student Progress: Do families know and understand how well their children are succeeding in school and how well the entire school is progressing?
Indicators of Success
- Ensuring parent-teacher communication about student progress
- Linking student work to academic standards
- Using standardised test results to increase achievement
- Sharing school progress
Goal 2: Supporting Learning by Engaging Families: Are families active participants in their children’s learning at home and at school?
Indicators of Success
- Engaging families in classroom learning
- Developing family ability to strengthen learning at home
- Promoting after-school learning
Standard 4: Speaking Up for Every Child
What does it mean?
Families are empowered to be advocates for their own and other children, to ensure that students are treated fairly and have access to learning opportunities that will support their success.
Goal 1: Understanding How the School System Works: Do parents know how the local school and district operate and how to raise questions or concerns about school and district programs, policies, and activities? Do they understand their rights and responsibilities under federal and state law as well as local ordinances and policies?
Indicators: of Success
- Understanding how the school and district operate
- Understanding rights and responsibilities under federal and state laws
- Learning about resources
- Resolving problems and conflicts
Goal 2: Empowering Families to Support Their Own and Other Children’s Success in School: Are parents prepared to monitor students’ progress and guide them toward their goals through high school graduation, postsecondary education, and a career?
Indicators of Success
- Developing families’ capacity to be effective advocates
- Planning for the future
- Smoothing transitions
- Engaging in civic advocacy for student achievement
Standard 5: Sharing Power
What does it mean?
Families and school staff are equal partners in decisions that affect children and families and together inform, influence, and create policies, practices, and programs.
Goal 1: Strengthening the Family’s Voice in Shared Decision Making: Are all families full partners in making decisions that affect their children at school and in the community?
Indicators of Success
- Having a voice in all decisions that affect children
- Addressing equity issues
- Developing parent leadership
Goal 2: Building Families’ Social and Political Connections: Do families have a strong, broad-based organization that offers regular opportunities to develop relationships and raise concerns with school leaders, public officials, and business and community leaders?
Indicators: of Success
- Connecting families to local officials
- Developing an effective parent involvement organization that represents all families
Standard 6: Collaborating with Community
What does it mean?
Families and school staff collaborate with community members to connect students, families,and staff to expanded learning opportunities, community services, and civic participation.
Goal 1: Connecting the School with Community Resources: Do parent and school leaders work closely with community organizations, businesses, and institutions of higher education to strengthen the school, make resources available to students, school staff, and families, and build a family-friendly community?
Indicators of Success
- Linking to community resources
- Organizing support from community partners
- Turning the school into a hub of community life
- Partnering with community groups to strengthen families and support student success
References
PTA National Standards for Family-School Partnerships Assessment Guides (Publication). (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2017, from PTA website: http://s3.amazonaws.com/rdcms-pta/files/production/public/National_Standards_Assessment_Guide.pdf