School, Family, and Community Partnerships

The Parent & Educator Partnership is committed to helping Local Education Agencies across Illinois in constructing, implementing, and sustaining school-based programs of family and community involvement.  We believe parents and educators must co-construct this process.

Our staff will assist Local Education Agencies with understanding the family engagement requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Title 1, Section 1118).  The standards for partnership building are:

1. Welcoming all families into the school community;
2. Communicating effectively;
3. Supporting student success;
4. Speaking up for every child;
5. Sharing power; and
6. Collaborating with community.

Click here for the National Standards Implementation and Assessment Guide.

To review the National Standards Family Survey, click here.

Every school district involves parents; however, the vitality of partnerships is dependent on the intentionality of each school district.  In order to have successful partnerships with families and the communities, school district shall commit to successfully meeting each standard.  The PEP will assist in understanding, implementing, and evaluating those standards.

To learn more about how we may provide your school district in-kind support, please e-mail us and place "SFCP" in the subject line.  For more resources, search "SFCP" in the search engine to the right.

Research

Research strongly supports school-parent partnerships as effective in improving school climate and student performance. According to a comprehensive survey of 85 research studies cited in two National PTA publications, National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs (1998), and Building Successful Partnerships: A Guide for Developing Parent and Family Involvement Programs (2000), the influence of parent involvement is profound and provides comprehensive benefits for students, families, and schools when parents and family members become active participants in their children's education and lives.

Anne T. Henderson, Senior Fellow, Annenberg Institute for School Reform, 2007 testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Anne Henderson's testimony, "Effective Strategies for Engaging Parents and Communities in Schools," shares what she has been tracking for over 25 years:

• The research on how and why engaging families can have a positive impact on student learning.
• Effective policies and practices of schools, school districts and community organizations that are working to build and sustain strong family-school partnerships.

The testimony was her participation in the hearing on reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Click on Testimony to read the document.

Nothing Motivates a Child More...

"The research is abundantly clear: nothing motivates a child more than when learning is valued by schools and families/community working together in partnership…These forms of [parent] involvement do not happen by accident or even by invitation. They happen by explicit strategic intervention."

--Michael Fullan (1997)

Resources

• National Network of Partnership Schools
  This website is a resource for educators, administrators, families, state organizations, and communities to help develop goal-oriented programs of family involvement and community connections. Dr. Joyce Epstein, Director of the National Network of Partnership Schools and the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships has conducted research and worked with elementary, middle, and high schools, districts, and state departments of education for many years to help educators build more effective programs of school, family, and community partnerships.
• Promising Partnership Practices, is published by National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) annually for its members and features activities that have worked well for members of that they want to share with others.  The editors choose some basic activities for startup programs and some innovative ideas to advance well-established programs to be promising practices. 
  You may review the latest 2010 edition and all previous editions on the web, click here.
• Beyond Input: Achieving Authentic Participation in School Reform
  Identifies the seven qualities of family involvement.
• Harvard Family Research Project
  Since 1983, the Harvard Family Research Project has "helped stakeholders develop and evaluate strategies to promote the well-being of children, youth and families and their communities." This website is a wealth of information about family engagement for educators and families. Take time to read "The Evaluation Exchange" and the "FINE Network"on the right side of the home page.
• National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE)
  A coalition of major education, community, public service, and advocacy organizations working to create meaningful family-school partnerships in every school in America.
• No Child Left Behind Legislation on Family Involvement Section 1118
• Other information regarding Section 1118 of No Child Left Behind
• Illinois State Board of Education: Sample Templates for District Policy on Family Involvement
• Illinois State Board of Education: Sample Templates for School Policy on Family Involvement
• NCLB Action Briefs: Parental Involvement