1. Family-school-community partnerships are a shared responsibility and reciprocal process whereby schools and other community agencies and organizations engage families in meaningful and culturally appropriate ways, and families take initiative to actively support their children’s development and learning. Schools and community organizations also make efforts to listen to parents, support them, and ensure that they have the tools to be active partners in their children’s school experience.

Source: Harvard Education

2. 5 Steps to Better School/Community Collaboration

Simple ideas for creating a stronger network.

Great examples of school/community partnerships are happening all over the world. We need more of them, and we need to ensure they are healthy and relevant to the needs of 21st century learners.

Source: Edutopia

3. Putting Family at the Center

In the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), a district of more than 131,000 students and the second-largest in California, they helped lead a systemic approach to family engagement that grappled actively with that question. Over the course of the 2015–2016 school year, in collaboration with district and family leaders, educators, and community partners, they developed a framework with four dimensions, to be integrated with the work of instruction, not positioned as a separate initiative.

Source: Harvard Education

4. How Passion Projects and Community Partners Create Relevant Learning for Teens in School

When a huge flood devastated Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2008 the community was faced with a host of problems more commonly seen in big cities, like homelessness. But in the midst of this tragedy the residents began to see an opportunity to rethink how they would rebuild the core institutions of the town.

“We’re in Iowa, these are not things you deal with,” said Shawn Cornally, co-founder of Iowa BIG, a project-based school that came into being after the flood. “So the entire city was grappling with these giant questions together.”

Source: KQED Mindshift

5. Partnering with Newcomer Families: Strategies for working across language and cultural differences to make families feel at home in new schools

When a student comes to school with limited English skills, or arrives midyear from another country, she’s not the only one who’s feeling out of place. Her parents or other caregivers at home are no doubt feeling disoriented as well, having overcome formidable challenges to get to the United States — or feeling lost or intimidated trying to navigate a new community. Teachers, too, may find it difficult, even uncomfortable, to partner across extreme language and cultural barriers.

Source: Harvard Education

6. Making Math a Family Thing: Strategies for parents and teachers on closing the math gap between home and school

As this conversation suggests, little children have some big ideas about math (as well as some misconceptions). In fact, overall, children are coming into kindergarten today with higher math skills than they were over a decade ago — a finding that holds true across families of all socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. How families engage in young children’s learning at home and in the community is one important explanation.

Source: Harvard Education

7. When a City Tackles the Achievement Gap: Mapping a city-wide approach to education reform that aligns resources to support all kids

Political leaders at all levels, in all parties, continually pledge to expand opportunity and close gaps caused by poverty and inequality. But what would it take to really deliver on those promises?

The initiative — now in its second year, and spearheaded by former Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville — is called By All Means, a project of the Education Redesign Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It involves the mayors, school superintendents, and other civic and municipal leaders from Louisville, Kentucky; Oakland, California; Providence, Rhode Island; and Newton, Salem, and Somerville, Massachusetts.

Source: Harvard Education

8. This toolkit provides resources for school staff to build relationships with families and community members and to support family well-being, strong parent-child relationships, and students' ongoing learning and development.

9. How To Find A School Your Kids Will Love (And That You Will, Too)

As a parent, how can you tell if a school is good? An education expert, known for his wildly popular TED talk, is out with a new book that helps parents navigate the choices.

Source: KQED Mindshift

1. Establishing Real-World Connections in Projects

Students are more engaged when learning relates directly to the world they live in. See how to extend your projects beyond classroom walls.

Source: Edutopia

2. Family Engagement with 2018 Florida Teacher of the Year Jessica Solano

Porch Visits - "I used to think family engagement was the same as parent involvement, and I learned recently that that is not the case."

Source: Teacher 2 Teacher

3. Community Partners: Making Student Learning Relevant

At Hood River Middle School, local experts make student learning come to life. Hood River Middle School GRADES 6-8 | HOOD RIVER, OR

Source: Edutopia

More resources about this school

4. Family, School & Community Partnerships: Supporting Student Success

This video shows how 6 Connecticut school districts are taking unique approaches to family, school and community partnerships in order to increase student engagement and improve student outcomes.

Source: Harvard Foundation

5. Learning Partners: Co-Teaching With Community Experts

Inviting community members into the classroom to share their expertise can help bring lessons and learning to life for students. Crellin Elementary School GRADES PK-5 | OAKLAND, MD

Explore more resources from this school:

Source: Edutopia

6. Parent Workshops: Strengthening the Learning Community

During in-school workshops, parents learn what their kids are studying and how to support that learning at home.

Design 39 Campus

GRADES K-8 | SAN DIEGO, California

Explore more resources from this school

Source: Edutopia

1. Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family/school Partnerships

by Anne T. Henderson (Author), Karen L. Mapp (Author), Vivian R. Johnson (Author), Don Davies (Author)

Countless studies demonstrate that students with parents actively involved in their education at home and school are more likely to earn higher grades and test scores, enroll in higher-level programs, graduate from high school, and go on to post-secondary education. Beyond the Bake Sale shows how to form these essential partnerships and how to make them work.

2. Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher's Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success

by Karen Mapp (Author), Ilene Carver (Author), Jessica Lander (Author)

Teachers and administrators will learn how to create the respectful, trusting relationships with families necessary to build the educational partnerships that best support children’s learning. The book will cover the mindset and core beliefs required to bond with families, and will provide guidance on how to plan engagement opportunities and events throughout the school year that undergird effective partnerships between families and schools.

3. Your School Rocks: Passionately Pitch and Promote the Positives Happening on Your Campus

by Ryan McLane (Author), Eric Lowe (Author)

Great things are happening in your school every day! It's time to tell people! Your School Rocks... So Tell People! is a practical guide to using social media tools to keep your students' families and community connected, informed, and excited about what's going on in your school. Packed with tips and insights from educators who are effectively using social media, Your School Rocks... So Tell People! will inspire you to find the communication tools that work best for your school community.

4. School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action

by Joyce L. Epstein (Author), Mavis G. Sanders (Author)

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, this fourth edition of a bestseller provides tools and guidelines to use to develop more effective and equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, this foundational text demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-oriented programs. Readers will find:

5. Engage Every Family: Five Simple Principles

by Steven M. (Mark) Constantino (Author)

Family engagement increases student achievement but how do schools connect with families who don’t participate yet? Educators can easily become frustrated trying to reach the disconnected and often fall back to engaging the already engaged. Is it possible to win over everyone? Discover how to move beyond theory to change your culture for better family engagement and student achievement. Through practical steps, reflections, and case studies, you will discover and address:

• How and where family engagement breaks down, and
• How to create a truly inviting culture for successful community and family partnerships

1. Education Elements Communication toolkit : Communicating Personalized Learning to Families and Stakeholders

As districts and schools look to shift to more student-centered environments, a lack of understanding, alongside a lack of knowledge of the benefits of personalized learning, remain a consistent barrier to large-scale systemic change and support. It is of critical importance that we are able to effectively communicate personalized learning not only to educators (which is hard enough) but especially to families less steeped in education jargon and practices.

2. Priority Schools Campaign

Family-School-Community Partnerships 2.0 Collaborative Strategies to Advance Student Learning

3. The National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement advances high-impact policies and practices of family, school, and community engagement.

4. The Kansas Parent Information Resource Center (KPIRC) promotes meaningful family engagement at all levels of education and provides information and resources to help parents, educators and other organizations promote the educational success of every Kansas child.

5. The Global Family Research Project connects research, innovation, and practice to support learning for children and families around the globe.

We believe all children and youth, from birth on, deserve quality learning opportunities and experiences.

Children learn anywhere, anytime. For all children to succeed, powerful family and community engagement and high-performing schools are essential.

6. 4‑H is delivered by Cooperative Extension—a community of more than 100 public universities across the nation that provides experiences where young people learn by doing. Kids complete hands-on projects in areas like health, science, AGRICULTURE and citizenship, in a positive environment where they receive guidance from adult mentors and are encouraged to take on proactive leadership roles. Kids experience 4‑H in every county and parish in the country—through in-school and after-school programs, school and community clubs and 4‑H camps.

6. PTA's mission is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.

7. Institute for Educational Leadership

Family, school, and community engagement is a shared responsibility and a continuous process that occurs wherever children learn and throughout their development into young adults.

8. At PowerMyLearning, we believe that students are most successful when supported by a triangle of strong learning relationships between students, teachers, and families. We partner with schools and districts nationwide to transform teaching and family engagement through innovative coaching and workshops, and through our award-winning digital platform, PowerMyLearning Connect. As a non-profit, PowerMyLearning is especially committed to students from low-income communities, students with learning differences, and English Language Learners.