During the summer of 2003, a statewide committee of representative educational stakeholders on "cooperative rulemaking" was convened jointly by the Department of Education and the Education Law Center. The Supreme Court in "Abbott X" had directed the establishment of this committee to develop new regulations more consistent with the Abbott rulings than had been promulgated in the past. As a direct result of parent and parent-advocate participation on this committee, through regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Education on September 9, 2003, the role of parents and families was elevated to a new prominence. For the first time, the Abbott regulations contain a section on "Supports for parents and families." This section requires "schools to facilitate opportunities for families, teachers and other school staff to work together and get to know each other." (6A:10A-3.6(a)). The Abbott mandates create other tools to assure improved parent participation and support for schools. Every elementary school must have on staff at least one full-time parent liaison to coordinate parent engagement activities, while secondary schools are authorized to have such a staff person if the need is documented. Further, and most important, all Abbott schools must participate in whole school reform, including a collaborative school-based team to assess, plan, budget, and oversee implementation of all programs and reforms. Each team must include representative parents and community members. This chapter on parent, family and community engagement is designed to assist implementation of these important new opportunities for school-family partnerships. As such it is part of an Abbott Resource Guide series. This chapter is organized from the general to the specific. The Abbott requirements are discussed first, followed by the argument in favor of making the effort to engage parents and community members. This may be useful to the individual reader and also as a ready-made argument to present to others whose buy-in may be necessary in order to undertake programming or policies to engage parents and community. The following are appended: (1) Involving Parents in Powerful Ways; (2) How Family-Friendly Is Your School; (3) Setting Up a Family Center; (4) Family-School Compact Tip Sheet; (5) Engaging Families in Education--What Works?; (6) Tips for Visiting School; (7) Award-Winning Kindergarten Transition Program; (8) Building Blocks of a Successful Program; and (9) Web Sites with Resources on Parent, Family, and Community Involvement. [Support for this resource guide was provided by the Victoria Foundation and the Schumann Fund for New Jersey.]