Argues that an infrastructure must be built that involves parents in all aspects of their children's schooling. Key aspects of this infrastructure are (1) promoting parents as educators, (2) training teachers to cooperate with families, (3) promoting cooperation among families, (4) involving the larger community, and (5) presenting family learning…

Parents in Anchorage, Alaska, and Rochester, New York, have been rating their children's teachers. From these report cards arise three major concerns: how well teachers know and care about teaching, about their children, and about communicating with parents. Educators can capitalize on parent reports, on getting credit for what they do well, and…

This article offers simple ways for teachers to coax reluctant parents into the classroom. Suggestions include showing and telling parents how welcome they are, developing a sensitivity to differences in cultures and educational backgrounds, providing food, and making home visits to the parents. (SM)

This booklet contains a collection of more than 100 activities designed to promote school-home and school-community relations. Activities are organized into seven categories: (1) communicating word from home to school, (2) people to people, (3) educational events, (4) volunteers--hands on in the classroom, (5) utilizing community resources, (6)…

Describes how teachers can soothe difficult parents and eventually turn them into friendly partners by learning to understand the behavior and responding correctly (for example, listening carefully, focusing on the child, showing respect, voicing concern for the child's interests, considering the other person's viewpoint, and calling for backup if…

Teachers and parents, working together, can help students reach their potential. They must set realistic, achievable goals and realize that no one makes progress all the time. The paper discusses what to do when a child underachieves and how teachers can prepare parents to deal with a student's poor grades. (SM)

The following two major questions are addressed in this paper: How can the mounting research on the relationship of the home to children's school success be translated into practical action in communities across the nation? And, how can all families become meaningfully involved in children's education? Part of the answer to both those questions is…

This handbook was designed to help teachers promote parent-home involvement in children's learning by providing them with specific techniques and materials to use in working with parents. The handbook begins with a general article discussing why parent-home involvement is important in the educational process and goes on to present 10 tips for…

Emphasizing the importance of the family in education, this book presents a sampling of strategies for fostering a strong parent-teacher-community partnership. The first chapter discusses the need for parent and community involvement; lists strategies to help administrators, teachers, and parent and community leaders in working with one another;…

Parents can play a key role in attaining the United States' National Education Goals, a main component of which is that all children will be ready to learn when they enter school. This guide for parents provides basic information on factors related to school success and a series of activities that parents can do with their children, ages 5 through…