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Building and maintaining effective partnerships with families and members of the community are probably the most challenging tasks facing educators today. Together We Can explains why these partnerships are difficult to create and how they can be successfully established.
In an accessible question-answer format, Barclay provides a thorough overview of the research in parent involvement. Primary types of involvement and standards from the National PTA, National Association for the Education of Young Children, and Association for Childhood Education International are presented, as is critical information from the No Child Left Behind legislation regarding parental involvement.
Many barriers prevent schools and parents from forming strong partnerships. Barclay addresses factors such as lack of teacher knowledge about involving families, attitudes and beliefs about parents, time and economic restraints, parents’ education and income levels, and the increasing diversity of families. The racial, ethnic and cultural diversity of families is explored, as are the barriers of poverty, homelessness, abuse and neglect.
In this second edition, three new chapters with research and strategies specifically for involving special populations, such as families of English Language Learners, children with special needs, and adolescents are included. Administrators, teachers and future teachers will also gain important information about how to engage parents in the Response to Intervention (RTI) process.
Very practical strategies for establishing strong home-school communication, conducting open houses and home visits, planning and implementing a variety of parent education options, utilizing community resources, and building positive public relations many classrooms and schools are portrayed and evaluative instruments are provided to assist teachers and schools in assessing their current school handbook, newsletters and other activities. In the final chapter, a survey is provided for use in evaluating current efforts in parent and community involvement, and guidelines and examples are included for creating long-range plans with short-term action steps for establishing a comprehensive program.
