Having trouble viewing a PDF file? You may need to download the latest Adobe Reader available FREE from the following site.
Adobe Acrobat Reader Official Download
School, Family, and Community Partnerships
At a time when many educators feel pressured to focus narrowly on test scores, leaders in schools, districts, states, and organizations are taking a broader view. They know that in addition to strengthening academics, it is necessary to spark students’ interests, mobilize support for education, and implement effective partnerships to have successful schools and students. Partnerships with family, community organizations, foundations, and business leaders are essential to creating strong schools that prepare all students for success in college, career, and civic life.
National Network of Partnership Schools
The Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships conducts research on the nature and effects of family and community involvement, and through the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University, guides schools, districts, and states to implement research-based partnership programs. Using a framework of six types of involvement and an action team approach, every elementary, middle, and high school can strengthen and sustain goal-linked partnerships that contribute to student success in school. When families and community partners are involved in productive ways, more students follow clear paths to high school graduation and postsecondary education and training. NNPS provides members with professional development, tools, publications, and on-going guidance to build capacity for leadership on partnerships.
Learn more about the National Network of Partnership Schools here.
Learn more about the Promising Partnership Practices Guide here.
Learn more about School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action here.
Improving student attendance with a school-wide approach to school-family-community partnerships.
Researchers and policy makers have questioned the efficacy of family-involvement interventions. They believe that more studies are needed to compare outcomes of students whose families received a partnership intervention with those who did not. The author used data from the state of Ohio to compare student attendance in elementary schools that developed school-wide programs of school, family, and community partnerships with the attendance of students in schools that did not develop the programs. Analyses showed that in schools working to implement school, family, and community partnerships, student attendance improved an average of .5%, whereas in comparison schools, rates of student attendance declined slightly from one year to the next. Further analysis suggested that school outreach to families was the driving mechanism that caused this effect.
Improving student attendance with a school-wide approach to school-family-community partnerships. Sheldon, S. B. (2007) Journal of Educational Research, 100, 267 - 275.