Collaborating with parents to establish a better home-school connection is tantamount to academic success. Teachers and administrators often search for effective ways to involve parents in their children's education. Venues, such as workshops, can provide an excellent opportunity for parents and teachers to interact in a positive manner. The purpose of this project was to determine whether or not using Parents' Workshops could increase parental collaboration and promote a better home-school connection. This project focused on improving collaboration with Latino families to develop more positive communication between parents and educators during their child's academic years. Furthermore, it aimed to show how Latino parents could be taught to help their children to achieve academic success. The workshops were designed to teach Spanish-speaking Latino families how to help their child with Literacy tasks at home. The parents completed questionnaires and the information provided was analyzed to help improve future workshops. The workshops created a place where parents and children could interact with the teacher while learning about Literacy strategies. The importance of parental involvement in their child's academic success became evident throughout the series of workshops. This project shows the benefits that can be obtained when schools collaborate with Spanish-speaking Latino parents to make a better home-school connection. Key words: English Learners, Home-School Collaboration, Latino Families, Literacy Workshop, Parental Involvement

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! 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, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

Research has consistently shown that student success is directly related to the strength of the relationships between parents and schools. In The School-Home Connection, the authors draw on original research and their professional experiences to identify the common sources of both negative and positive school-home relationships. The book presents a comprehensive approach to building closer connections and includes: Tools to help educators develop a deeper understanding of the communities they serve Strategies for improving interpersonal skills and communication skills A chapter on the importance of documenting and celebrating school events Guidelines for creating three distinct levels of parental participation in schools With suggestions for cultivating a community network of support services and a summary of lessons for forging constructive relationships, The School-Home Connection is an essential tool for educators looking to strengthen the learning community and increase student achievement.

Home-School Relations examines the contemporary family and its relationship to the school and provides educators practical advice for developing strong partnerships with their students' families. Supporting parents as full partners in education, this text stresses the need for educators to have positive working relationships with the students that they teach by understanding the families from which their students come. In addition to covering the traditional topics of ethnic families, change in families, and parent-teacher communication, Olsen, Fuller, and their contributors delve further into the issues facing families today. Looking at the effects of poverty, advocacy, the role of fathers, domestic violence, bullying, school violence on families, the authors offer practical techniques that give educators the tools to cope with the many factors affecting their students. Integrating diversity (cultural, racial, religious and sexual orientation) throughout the text, Home-School Relations is the best text available to prepare educators for all the forms of diversity they will encounter in the field. practical examples of building good home-school partnerships and fostering parent involvement.

Learn how to work with and relate to the family of each child in an early childhood education program. Includes ideas about transforming the way schools and programs relate to families - each one according to their unique assets and needs with the goal of enriching and enlivening the school community and ensuring better outcomes for each child and the entire program. It will emphasize strategies for getting to know each family the way you get to know an individual person, and learn about their interests, their strengths, their style of interacting and their needs/challenges to encourage programs to move away from one-size-fits-all approaches to family engagement.

Filled with practical suggestions and reflective opportunities, Home, School, and Community Collaboration, Third Edition uses the culturally responsive family support model as a framework to prepare teachers to work with diverse families. This text includes contributions from 22 experts in the field, offering a wide range of perspectives on issues of family involvement that today’s teachers are likely to encounter. Authors Kathy B. Grant and Julie A. Ray offer the latest research on family demographics, including those with children who have special needs. Numerous real-life vignettes and case studies have been incorporated throughout the text to show readers the practical application of culturally responsive family engagement.

Home, School, and Community Collaboration uses the culturally responsive family support model as a framework to prepare teachers to work effectively with children from diverse families. Authors Kathy B. Grant and Julie A. Ray skillfully incorporate numerous real-life vignettes and case studies to show readers the practical application of culturally responsive family engagement. The Fourth Edition contains additional content that enhances the already relevant text, including: a new section titled “Perspectives on Poverty” acknowledging the deep levels of poverty in the United States and the impact on family-school relations; increased coverage of Latino/Latina family connections; and updated demographics focusing on the issues impacting same-sex families, families experiencing divorce, children and family members with chronic illnesses, military families, and grandparents raising children. With contributions from more than 22 experts in the field offering a wide range of perspectives, this book will help readers understand, appreciate, and support diverse families.