Family-School Partnerships 1
Families, Educators, and the Family-School Partnership:
Issues or Opportunities for Promoting Children’s Learning Competence?
Sandra L. Christenson
University of Minnesota
Paper prepared for 2002 Invitational Conference: The Future of School Psychology,
November 14-16, 2002, Indianapolis, Indiana. Correspondence regarding this manuscript
should be directed to Sandra Christenson, University of Minnesota, Department of
Educational Psychology, 350 Elliott Hall, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455
or at chris002@umn.edu
Family-School Partnerships 2
Families, Educators, and the Family-School Partnership:
Issues or Opportunities for Promoting Children’s Learning Competence?
As a speaker at the 2002 Invitational Conference: The Future of School Psychology, I
was asked to: (a) outline critical issues that families face, or will face, in the 21st century relative
to schools and children, and (b) propose roles for school psychology, within constraints of the
shortage, to address these issues. The issues were to include the important role of parents in
education. With respect to these goals, I negotiated with the conference planners to add the
centrality of a quality family-school relationship to enhance the academic, social, behavioral, and
emotional learning of children and adolescents.
As a speaker, I want to thank the conference planners for this opportunity. I also want to
acknowledge that working with parents has been a topic present in previous efforts to examine
school psychological service delivery (e.g., Brown, Cardon, Coulter, & Meyers, 1982; Talley,
Kubiszyn, Brassard, & Short, 1996; Ysseldyke & Weinberg, 1981). Our myriad efforts as a
discipline – researchers, trainers, and practitioners – have resulted in “p” referring to partnership
more than parent at the beginning of the 21st century. It is my hope that this paper provides a
foundation for provocative discussion and new directions with respect to joining family and
school in a genuine partnership to promote the learning progress and engagement of all students.
Introduction
As I reflect on the past two decades of research and practices with respect to family
involvement in education, I am reminded of Charles Dickens phrase from A Tale of Two Cities,
Family-School Partnerships 3
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . .” (p. 1). With respect to partnering with
parents/guardians to enhance the learning experiences and progress of children and youth, the
“best of times” is reflected in an increased awareness of: (a) the effect of family influences on
and contributions by families to children’s educational outcomes, (b) models for family
involvement, (c) the importance of establishing shared goals and monitoring child success, (d)
the characteristics of constructive, collaborative relationships for children with and without
disabilities in grades K-12, and (e) home and school-based activities to engage families in
education (e.g., Chen, 2001; Christenson & Sheridan, 2001; Comer, Haynes, Joyner, & BenAvie, 1996; Epstein, 1995; Nord & West, 2001; Sheridan, Kratochwill, & Bergan, 1996; Swap,
1993). Although shared responsibility for educational outcomes is the rhetoric, school policies
and practices are not always aligned with this notion. Therefore, the “worst of times” is evident
daily across our schools in: (a) the extreme social and physical distance between some educators
and families, (b) diminished resources for implementing family-school programs, (c) challenges
reaching out to all families, many of whom are uninvolved but interested in their children’s
learning, (d) challenges related to addressing the needs of non-English speaking families and
children identified as English Language Learners (ELL), and (e) too little focus on the
interaction process (i.e., prerequisite conditions) that yields a strong relationship as various
activities are implemented (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001; Liontos, 1992).
Although I contend that much more is right than wrong with current family-school
relationships, our job is not done. Furthermore, I speculate that across our schools we have three
broad categories with respect to family-school relationships and children’s learning:
Relationships characterized as “smooth sailing,” “bridge building,” or “troubled terrain.” Often
a positive connection exists between parents and educators; other times, they are strangers “like
Family-School Partnerships 4
people from a different region of the country, each speaking the same language, but in a unique
dialect” (Merseth, Schorr, & Elmore, 1999, p. 6). Both parents and educators want to enhance
educational experiences for students; they want to create a culture for student success. Why then
is our job not done?
In part, the answer lies in understanding that strong family-school connections are
embedded in the demands of schooling and macrosystemic influences. For example, consider
the effect of the current landscape of educational reform on family-school interactions. In at
least 20 states, educators and parents face the effect of high stakes assessment on students’ grade
placement. Thus, many educators and parents are finding themselves facing decisions about
grade retention and/or social promotion, “either-or” decisions that do not guarantee effective
instructional programming. Eighteen states have high school exit exams and six others are
phasing in exams (not yet withholding diplomas) (www.ecs.org). Parents and educators are
concerned about the effect of these exams on drop rates. Also, as part of the No Child Left
Behind legislation (NoChildLeftBehind@ed.gov), schools are being held accountability to
demonstrate improvement for all students, including those with learning and behavioral
challenges and highly mobile and homeless. Standards and accountability are excellent;
however, standards and accountability systems in the absence of supports and opportunities to
achieve are disastrous for many students, undoubtedly mostly for the students about whom
educators are most concerned, and coincidentally, often have the most difficulty connecting with
their parents. Consider also the effect of the belief system about the value and purpose of
education held by the family as well as the parents’ beliefs about appropriate parental roles and
responsibilities. Clearly a challenge is how to ensure family and school supports and
opportunities for student learning in academic, social, emotional, and behavioral domains.
Family-School Partnerships 5
Consensus seems to be emerging that strong family-school connections are essential to
enhance children’s educational outcomes. Fifteen years ago, Dorothy Rich (1987, personal
communication) of the Home and School Institute in Washington DC opined, “Families and
teachers might wish that the school could do the job alone. But today’s school needs families and
today’s families need the school. In many ways, this mutual need may be the greatest hope for
change.” Her statement is highly relevant in 2002, a time when building social capital (Coleman,
1987), where it does not naturally exist, must be a goal.
There is a new awareness about the value of and a willingness to provide mesosystemic
support for children’s learning and development (Bronfenbrenner, 1992). There is also an
interest in promoting positive mental health by helping children learn, relate effectively with
others, and regulate their emotions. Thus, the focus of family-school connections is competence
enhancement – specifically the academic, social, behavioral, and emotional learning of children
and youth. Finally, there is greater appreciation for what constitutes the learning context for
students, moving from an exclusive focus on the classroom environment to encompass the other
“worlds” of children and youth. Ysseldyke and Christenson (2002) contend that it is important
for educators and parents to understand the concept of the total learning environment –
instructional support, home support, and home-school support – when creating successful
learning environments for students. Similarly, Christenson and Anderson (in press), stated, “The
learning context is composed of critical systems (child, home, school, peer, and community or
neighborhood) that affect academic, social, and emotional learning for students in grades K-12.
The learning context is an interwoven structure of circumstances and people that surround the
child across systems at a given point in time and over time. Of particular interest is the
Family-School Partnerships 6
“affordance value” of this context – or how the learning context facilitates or impedes child
adaptation to challenges and demands of schooling.”
Kellaghan, Sloane, Alvarez, and Bloom (1993) have summarized three primary reasons
for the renewed interest and focus on the development of policies and programs to increase
family involvement in education. First, they suggest the cumulative impact of research findings
that underscore the importance of the home in contributing to children’s school progress cannot
be ignored. Parent involvement in schooling is positively associated with many benefits for
students and the kinds of benefits desired by educators - improvement in grades and test scores,
attitude toward schoolwork, behavior, work completion, participation in classroom activities, and
attendance. Also, what parents do to support learning (family process variables) predicts
scholastic ability better than who families are (family status variables). The power of out-ofschool time (community and peer influences) helps to explain school performance differences,
and home influences, especially during summer, are one differentiating factor between low and
high achievers (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001). Finally, the discontinuity students experience
between their school and home environments is another explanatory factor for lower school
performance (Comer et al., 1996; Phelan, Davidson, & Yu, 1998; Swap, 1993).
Second, they suggest that reform efforts focused on school and teacher practices such as
new curricula and strategies in the absence of parent support and reinforcement have not been as
successful in improving achievement as had been hoped. Greater social problems exist today
than existed several decades ago. Related to this is that intervention research has supported that
many child concerns and behaviors (e.g., ADHD, conduct disorders) are more successful when
addressed across home and school environments (August, Anderson, & Bloomquist, 1992;
Family-School Partnerships 7
Webster-Stratton, 1993) and that adolescents engage in less high-risk behavior if parent and
school connections are present (Resnick et al., 1997).
Third, dramatic changes in the structure and function of families has given rise to concern
about families’ capability to provide the conditions that foster children’s school progress. The
changing student population is particularly evident in urban areas, albeit changes are apparent in
first ring suburbs and rural areas throughout the United States. Parents from different ethnic
backgrounds view the purpose of education quite differently (Bempechat, 1998). Also, the
concepts of cultural and social capital are influential (Coleman, 1987; Delgado-Gaitan, 1991).
Growing number of parents have not had the benefit of a positive personal schooling experience
or are new immigrants to the United States. Consequently, they are unfamiliar with school
policies and practices. Less cultural capital makes it more difficult for them to support their
children’s learning and to navigate the educational system, particularly at the secondary level.
Additionally, the amount of time available for parents to support their children’s learning
(especially if it requires being present at school) and to interact with children about personal
matters is shrinking due to increases in single parent and dual income families. Referred to as
the erosion of social capitol, Coleman (1987) argued that the loss of quality student-adult
interaction and time was a primary reason for declines in school performance and for more
children being less well prepared for school tasks in kindergarten.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the U.S. Department of Education has recognized the
importance and value of parental involvement in education and actively is promoting roles for
parents in No Child Left Behind (nces.ed.gov; Partnership for Family Involvement in Education,
2000). Although I view this macrosystemic influence as positive, I also see an emphasis on how
to involve parents in education or tips for parents (Chen, 2001), causing me to question whether
Family-School Partnerships 8
this is the best way to conceptualize the connection between families and school. Rather than
educators asking how to involve uninvolved families, I prefer framing the family- school
connection in terms of enhancing learning competencies for students. A better question is: How
do we improve educational outcomes for students?
Children and youth perform better in school when they have supports and opportunities
to learn from their two primary contexts of development – home and school (Christenson &
Sheridan, 2001). Thus, I have argued that the benefits of working with parents as partners are
best explicated by the degree to which conditions that create or offer promise for enhancing
educational outcomes for students are present. Students’ adaptation to schooling depends in part
on the degree of support, opportunity to learn, and resources available to the child (Pianta &
Walsh, 1996). The benefits of family-school collaboration, which extend far beyond the notion
of involving parents in activities (e.g., home support for learning, volunteering), are many and
varied. They include the power of shared educational goals for countering information from
competing sources such as media and peers (Zill & Nord, 1994), maximizing opportunities for
students to learn at school and at home, building social capital for students through mutual
support efforts of families and educators, circumventing blame when children exhibit learning
and behavior difficulties in school, enhancing communication and coordination among family
members and educational personnel, maintaining home-school continuity in programs and
approaches across school years, sharing ownership and commitment to educational goals,
increasing understanding and conceptualization of the complexities of a child and his/her
situation, and pooling of resources across home and school, which increases the range and
quality of solutions, diversity in expertise and resources, and integrity of educational programs
(Christenson & Sheridan, 2001).
Family-School Partnerships 9
I contend, as have others, that relationships are integral to children’s school success in
academic, social, behavioral, and emotional domains. Pianta and Walsh (1996) emphasized
establishing shared meaning across home and school to move from a culture of failure to a
culture of success. Also, relationships have been viewed as a means to foster resilience – or to
enhance protective factors (Weissberg & Greenberg, 1998). Relationships must be the focus of
school psychology practices if we aim to promote the learning success of children with and
without disabilities. To create and sustain relationships, we must consider the impact of systems
thinking, opportunity-focused attitudes and actions, and clarity about goals of family-school
connections for children’s learning. We must direct our efforts toward a process for creating a
constructive family-school connection for children’s learning.
Systems-ecological and developmental theory provides the framework for organizing the
reciprocal influences between home and school. When students are having academic or
behavioral difficulties in school, it is futile to debate whether the “cause” is at home, school, or
elsewhere. Rather, it is helpful to identify contributing factors, especially the student’s
opportunity to learn at school and outside school, and how the assessment-intervention link
empowers educators and parents in supporting the student to meet the task demands at school
(Ysseldyke & Christenson, 2002). It is equally beneficial to maintain opportunity-focused rather
than problem-focused attitudes and actions. Quite simplistically, this contrast is represented by
the “glass is half full or half empty” philosophy. For example, there is no question that ethnic
diversity in schools has changed markedly in the past decade. Is this change an issue, one that
implies a barrier and/or a problem for which a solution must be found? Or, is this an opportunity
for school psychology to embrace the richness of culture and to learn how to enhance the success
Family-School Partnerships 10
of all students? Is this an opportunity for our discipline to make a contribution to close the gap
in educational outcomes for specific students?
Finally, school psychologists need to ask, Family involvement for what purpose? The
goal of family-school connections for children’s learning is to create a culture of success – one
that enhances the learning experiences, progress, and success of students. The construct of
engagement is promising. Although school personnel have underscored academic engagement
(i.e., time on task, academic learning time), I would suggest, that as school psychologists
interested in social and emotional learning, we must also consider students’ levels of cognitive
engagement (i.e., self-regulated learner, student responsibility, use learning strategies to
complete a task), behavioral engagement (i.e., participation – classroom and extra curricular,
attendance), and psychological engagement (i.e., identification with school, belonging, positive
peer relationships) – all of which are positive, significant low-to-moderate correlates of academic
achievement Christenson & Anderson, in press). Attention to the process for creating and
sustaining relationships with families to enhance student engagement at school and with learning
is essential. However, first we must understand the dramatic changes in the structure and
function of families (Kellaghan et al., 1993), changes that offer the discipline of school
psychology myriad opportunities to make a difference.
In this paper, I: (a) describe characteristics of children and families in America in 2002,
(b) delineate issues facing families, educators, and the family-school relationship, (c) summarize
opportunities relative to a process for creating stronger family-school connections for children’s
learning, and (d) articulate roles for school psychologists. The primary purpose of this paper is
to stimulate discussion. I look forward to your critique, and know that your additions and
Family-School Partnerships 11
modifications will result in an improved agenda for our discipline to make a difference in the
family-school promotion of academic, social and emotional leaning for children and youth.
Who are our Children and Families?
According to the sixth annual report to the Nation on the condition of children in
America, America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2002, there were 70.4
million children under age 18 in the United States, or 26 % of the population, down from a peak
of 36 % at the end of the baby boom (1964). Although children represent a smaller percentage
of the population today than in 1960, they are nonetheless a stable and substantial portion of the
population; children are projected to comprise 24 % of the population in 2020. Eight contextual
factors (child population, children as a proportion of the population, racial and ethnic
composition, difficulty speaking English, family structure and children’s living arrangements,
births to unmarried women, child care, and children’s environment) describe the changing
population and family context in which American children are living. For example, the foreignborn population of the United States has increased dramatically over the past decades. In 1994,
15 % of children living in the United States had at least one foreign-born parent; by 2001 this
had increased to 19 % of children. Furthermore, the percentage of children whose parents have
less than a high school diploma is much higher among children with a foreign-born parent; in
2001, 42 % of foreign-born children with at least one foreign-born parent had a parent with less
than a high school diploma, compared with 35 % of native children with at least one foreignborn parent and 11 % of native children with native parents. Racial and ethnic diversity of
America’s children is projected to increase more in decades to come. In 2000, 64 % of U.S.
children were white, non-Hispanic; 15 % were black, non-Hispanic; four percent were
Family-School Partnerships 12
Asian/Pacific Islander; and one percent were American Indian/Alaska Native with the number of
Hispanic children increasing faster than that of any other racial and ethnic group.
Some statistics represent challenges for schools, particularly in terms of supplemental
resources, which are needed but costly, to adequately address the learning needs of students and
their families. For example, five percent of all school-age children (ages 5 to 17) in the United
States in 1999 spoke a language other than English at home and had difficulty speaking English;
the number of children, which varies by region of the country, doubled since 1979. As of May 1,
2002, Minnesota’s school districts reported 48,680 minority language students who are English
Language Learners (ELL) (www.educ.state.mn.us/lep). Two thirds of the students in the
Minneapolis and St. Paul School districts were eligible for free and reduced lunch, and a quarter
or one third respectively received ELL services. School personnel want to reach out to these
families, but often find linguistic barriers to be overwhelming, given the availability and cost of
interpreters.
Supports for families raising children vary, and for some families are less than desirable.
For example, 65 % of mothers with children under age 6 and 78 % of mothers with children ages
6 to 13 are in the labor force (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000). Additionally, more fathers
are raising children as single parents; the number of father single-parent households rose 62 % in
a decade, doubling from one to two percent of all household configurations
(www.contemporaryfamilies.org). In 2001, 61 % of children (i.e., 12 million) from birth through
age 6 (not yet in kindergarten) received some form of child care on a regular basis from persons
other than their parents, and about half of children in grades K-8 received non-parental child
care. However, availability of affordable child care is an issue; three percent of children in
Family-School Partnerships 13
grades K-3 and 25 % of children in grades 4-8 cared for themselves regularly before or after
school.
A survey conducted in Massachusetts found that 520,000 children have parents who want
more after school programming, with parents citing the following barriers: not enough programs
(51%), programs not affordable (34%), and mediocre quality of exiting programs (31%). A
majority of parents (69%) wanted school-based enrichment activities for all children until 6:00
PM, and believed additional tax dollars should be dedicated to create programs
(www.factsinaction.org). Such an effort would begin to address two other statistics. For one, we
know that children in the higher grades are more likely to engage in some kind of organized
before- or after-school activity than are children in the lower grades; however, low-income
children (less than $1500 per month) are half as likely to participate in sports, lessons, or clubs as
children from higher income families ($4500 or more per month). Second, monitoring of
child/adolescent behavior is a positive, significant correlate of school success (Steinberg,
Mounts, Lamborn, & Dornbusch, 1991), and monitoring of high risk behavior is achieved with
age appropriate after school participation. Middle school youth left home alone after school
reported greater use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana than those who were in adultsupervised settings (Dwyer, 1990).
One in six (11.6 million children) live in poverty and the number of parents a child lives
with is strongly linked to the resources available to children and their well-being. Also, more
than three-fourths of all poor children live in working families. Many children who are U.S.
citizens do not receive food stamps and other benefits because their parents, who are immigrants,
are unaware of the social system (www.childrensdefense.org). Children who live in a household
Family-School Partnerships 14
with only one parent are substantially more likely to have incomes below the poverty line than
are children who live in a household with two parents (biological, step, or adoptive). In 2001,
69 % of American children lived with two parents, 22 % with only their mothers, four percent
only with their fathers, and four percent with neither of their parents. For the first time ever, less
than a quarter of American households consist of nuclear families
(www.contemporaryfamilies.org).
Two significant changes have occurred for families. One dramatic development is a
sharp increase in families headed by unmarried partners. Nationally, the number of unmarried
partners grew by 71 % in the 1990s. Additionally, 33 % of all births in 2000 were to unmarried
women. The second change related to affordable housing and shelter. In 1999, 35 % of U.S.
households (both owners and renters) with children had one or more of three housing problems:
physically inadequate housing, crowded housing, or housing that cost more than 30% of
household income. Homelessness is increasing, and identifying homeless and highly mobile
children and youths is required by the new Title 1 and McKinney-Vento legislation. During the
2001-02 school year, 11,840 (20.7% of registered students) of school aged children and youth
were estimated homeless in the Minneapolis Public Schools, and 3,218 (six percent of
enrollment) of school aged children and youth lived in shelters. The daily average for students
living in shelters was 600.
Twenty four indicators depict the well-being of children in four domains: economic
security, health, behavior and social environment, and education (America’s Children, 2002).
Selected statistics for the four domains are presented in Table 1; however, interested readers are
referred to www.childstats.gov/ac2002 (a 137 page document) for a more complete picture. The
economic security indicators document poverty and income among children and the accessibility
Family-School Partnerships 15
of basic necessities such as food, housing, and health care. The health indicators document the
physical health and well-being of children by presenting information on their health status,
immunization coverage, death rates, and teenage births. The behavioral and social environment
indicators present information about the participation of youth in illegal or high-risk behaviors
(e.g., smoking, drinking alcohol, using illicit drugs, and engaging in serious violent crimes).
Finally, the education indicators examine how well we are succeeding in educating our children,
including preschoolers’ exposure to reading and early education, measures of student
achievement, rigorous course taking in high school, and indicators of how many young adults
complete high school and college.
Another way to describe the conditions of children’s lives in America is presented by the
Children’s Defense Fund (www.childrensdefense.org/keyfacts.htm). Twenty-five facts about
American children from the State of America’s Children Yearbook 2001 are listed in Table 2. As
school psychologists and other school personnel have known, the variability in children’s lives –
children who cross our school doors - is tremendous. Fortunately, some of the statistics are
alterable variables. For example, each day in America (based on 180 days of seven hours each)
2,543 public school students are corporally punished, 2,861 high school students drop out, and
17, 297 public school students are suspended.
Families need support so that they can assist their children’s adaptation to the demands of
schooling. For example, the Center on Education Policy has collected information on the
percentages of students who pass state high school exit exams on the first attempt (www.ecs.org).
The data, which are recent, ranging from 2000 to 2002 across 14 states, vary from 58% to 95%
of students passing, depending on content of the exam. When percentages of students passing by
subgroups for three states in Math and English are examined, the findings reveal a range of 65%
Family-School Partnerships 16
to 82% of all students. Asian and White students perform well; however, the subgroups of
students that are well below the rate for the total population include Black and Hispanic students,
students on free/reduced lunch, students with disabilities, and English Language Learners.
Although selected findings from the Metropolitan Life Survey suggest many favorable
teacher and student perceptions about family involvement in education (Binns, Steinberg, &
Amorosi, 1997), there were notable differences in student responses as a function of grades in
school. For example, 84% of the 1036 high school students reported that their parents were
available to help with schoolwork. However, students who received mostly A’s and B’s (87%)
reported that their parents were available to help with schoolwork, whereas 24% of students who
received grades lower than C reported that their parents were unavailable to help with
schoolwork. Also, parental interest stood out. Although 80% of students reported their parents
were very, or somewhat, helpful with problems they were having with teachers, classmates, or of
an emotional nature, 54% of the 1035 secondary teachers reported that most or many parents
took too little interest in their children’s education, citing in particular, lack of parental support
as the most frequent obstacle for students completing schoolwork at home. These data along
with the gaps noted in outcome data collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics
and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) serve to identify populations with
whom the discipline of school psychology should take special note.
How is the picture painted by the statistics helpful? Clearly, many of the statistics
represent structural or status variables (i.e., demographic characteristics) over which educators
have little or no control. Despite this, the statistics allow us to identify individual or groups of
students for whom additional educational and psychological supports may be warranted to meet
the standards and expectations set by teachers and parents, and more recently No Child Left
Family-School Partnerships 17
Behind. To ignore the apparent gaps in educational outcomes for students is to “admire the
problem.” For example, consider the national dropout rates for nonwhite students compared to
white students or the fact that performance gaps in reading and mathematics on the Minnesota
Basic Skills Test exist between the highest scoring groups of students and those classified as
ethnic and racial minorities (Davenport & Davison, 2002).
I contend that how we, as school psychologists, conceptualize the statistics is critical. Do
we view the statistics in terms of a hopeless situation (e.g., poverty rates, ELL services) or an
attribution for poor school performance? Or do we view the statistics as an opportunity for
school psychologists, in collaboration with others, to make a difference for children, to help
children and youth develop learning competencies? Do we embrace the cultural and ethnic
diversity of our country as an opportunity to learn of new ways to educate students and support
students and their families? Do we dwell on the negative percentages – percent not having the
desired characteristic – or do we see the percentage of students for whom that is not true and set
a goal to include all students? For example, do we focus on explanations for the 13% dropout
rate or do we emphasize the 87% school completion rate, striving to create family-school
interventions that enhance the probability that 100% of students will complete high school with
skill sufficiency?
To ensure better outcomes for students, the discipline of school psychology can provide
leadership in identifying groups of students for systematic intervention [e.g., district data on
mandated tests, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data], designing
mesosytemic intervention programs (i.e., supports that are focused on alterable variables to attain
standards), and evaluating the effectiveness of the family-school programs, thereby adding to our
Family-School Partnerships 18
knowledge base of evidenced-based interventions (Gutkin, in press). This, of course, means we
have the wonderful opportunity to work with diverse families.
Issues Facing Families, Educators, and the Family-School Relationship
When students are not meeting the standards in school, and one in three students is
behind a year or more in school (www.childrensdefence.org) , educators often may say, “I never
see the families I want to see.” This comment reflects a serious omission, namely, an analysis of
how school and educator practices influence parent participation. Most often barriers or issues
for parents – reasons for lack of their involvement – are delineated. This is an incomplete picture
as barriers/issues exist for families, educators, and the family-school relationship with respect to
addressing children’s learning needs.
There are many ways to categorize issues, which extend far beyond the typical logistical
concerns, albeit important, of transportation and daycare. For example, the systems-oriented
categorization of issues by Liontos (1992) - for families, educators, and the relationship - is
particularly helpful because it suggests that issues/barriers are present for the partners and the
family-school relationship (see Table 3). Conceptualizing issues for each socializing system as
well as the relationship may serve to promote perspective taking and enhance the understanding
of constraints involved for all individuals.
There is some evidence for a systems-ecological perspective to explain the extent of
parental involvement in education. For example, Smith and colleagues (1997), found empirical
support for a model in which parental background and attitudes, teacher practices, and school
and neighborhood climate were contributors to involving parents as collaborators in their child’s
schooling, both at home and school. Their work lends support for working at a systemic level by
Family-School Partnerships 19
enhancing active communication, joint problem solving, mutual support, and recognition of
overlapping roles across parents and teachers. Similarly, Grolnick, Benjet, Kurowski, and
Apostleris (1997) have shown that teacher practices aimed at involving parents have the
strongest impact when other factors are in place, namely when parents see themselves as
teachers, efficacious, and the context is optimal for the parent. They defined parent involvement
as the dedication of resources by the parent to the child in terms of behavior (activities at home
and school), cognitive-intellectual (intellectually stimulating, enriching environment), and
personal (knowing about child progress, keeping abreast of what child is doing). Parents were
able to dedicate these resources provided the demands of their personal lives were reasonable
and their sense of self-efficacy was adequate; situations that do not map on automatically to the
conditions of all children’s lives.
As categorized in Table 3, issues for families, educators, and the family-school
relationship can be characterized in terms of structural aspects, which tend to dominate schoolbased discussions, and psychological (i.e., attitudes) aspects. Both are important; however, the
former ensures access to parents and the latter reflects the interpersonal piece with parents or
quality of family-school interaction. It is important to note that these issues are not exhaustive
and there is no belief that they are weighted equally.
Issues are not necessarily negative. In fact, they can (and I would agree with my friend
and colleague Dr. Sue Sheridan) and do present an opportunity to change practices in a way that
increases perspective taking and understanding between families and educators. Thus, the good
news is that issues, if identified, understood, and thought of as opportunities, can lead to positive
service delivery changes. It is helpful to think of an issue as a problematic situation that requires
Family-School Partnerships 20
the attention and ideas of both parties. Doing so, often leads to changes in school practices for
reaching out to families or new roles and responsibilities for families.
Issues Facing Families
Issues experienced by families related to the schooling of their children are seminal to
educators’ developing sensitivity and responsiveness to families’ needs and desires for their
children’s schooling experiences. Research has been conducted to identify parental factors that
are related to involvement in education. Home and family factors include those that are
structural or status-oriented (e.g., SES, parental education, number of adults in the home;
Grolnick et al., 1997; Lareau, 1987; Stevenson & Baker, 1987), and psychological or processoriented (including parents’ role conceptions, sense of self-efficacy related to involvement,
attitudes toward education, expectations for their child’s performance, and what they say and do
to communicate these to the child; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997).
A cautionary note for interpreting research results is in order. Research on the
relationship between family factors and parental involvement should not be interpreted to mean
that all families sharing certain demographic features are identical on any dimension. In other
words, there is likely as much variability within demographic groups as between them. Results
of research must be interpreted with the understanding that all individuals within a group are not
equal or identical in terms of what they do or believe vis-à-vis children’s learning (Phinney,
1996). Furthermore, process variables have been demonstrated to be relatively more powerful
than status variables in predicting school outcome (Delgado-Gaitan, 1991; Scott-Jones, 1987).
Based on a review of 66 studies, Henderson and Berla (1994) concluded, as have others, that the
most accurate predictors of student success in school are the ability of the family, with the help
Family-School Partnerships 21
and support of school personnel, to create a positive home learning environment, communicate
high and realistic expectations for their children’s school performance and future careers, and to
become involved in their children’s schooling. All emphasize the value of education. And,
lower-income parents are involved when the school has an inclusive policy that values and
supports families (Lewis & Henderson, 1997).
Our quandary is that parents’ sense of self-efficacy and role construction are critical
variables (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997). Many individuals have discovered the kernel of
truth in Delgado-Gaitan’s (1991) belief that the difference between parents who participate and
those who do not is that those who do have recognized that they are a critical part in their
children’s education. If parents do not see how they impact their children’s learning, how does
this affect educators’ efforts to partner or create home-school coordinated interventions?
Issues for Educators
In practice, issues for parents receive the most attention; however, issues for educators
must be considered equally (see Table 3). Understanding and altering these issues are necessary
as most programs suggest that the responsibility for engaging parents in education lies with
educators. Many educators are also parents; consequently, they may face many issues as they
think about reaching out to all families.
At the school level, it appears that strong leadership and administrative support are
essential to increasing meaningful family involvement. Schools that are responsive to the needs
of parents, such as providing transportation and child care, report higher levels of parental
involvement. Likewise, those that are friendly and welcoming to parents report greater success
(Berninger & Rodriguez, 1989; Haynes, Comer, & Hamilton-Lee, 1989). Schools can function
Family-School Partnerships 22
as an important liaison by linking families with other resources and providing parents support
that allows them to focus more of their energy to their child’s education (Smith et al., 1997). In
that school policies communicate expectations, guidelines, and incentives, they can serve as
macrosystemic influences on the type and frequency of parental involvement. For example,
school policies may provide guidelines for the frequency and type of home-school
communication, process of parent-teacher conferences, and expectations regarding other ways of
involving parents.
Some school practices “fail” families. For example, responding only in a crisis, defining
(and labeling) the family solely by structure (e.g., single parent”), and viewing the family as
deficient are far too common examples of school practices that result in an uncomfortable
atmosphere for discussion and interaction between families and school personnel. As a result,
there is too little outreach to families and children about whom school personnel are most
concerned.
Attitudes that characterize differences as deficits are often conveyed in schools. Schools
in America generally typify a culture characteristic of a middle-class, educationally-oriented,
Euro-American lifestyle. Furthermore, schools tend to perpetuate the values, norms, and
practices of individuals who “fit into” this culture. Families who differ are often seen as
“deficient” (Davies, 1993). In many cases, there is an overemphasis on labels. Common labels
often surround “what” parents and families are (such as uneducated or poor) or what they are
failing to do (how they are failing their children) as defined by the school’s agenda.
Concomitantly, there is a lack of attention to personal characteristics of a parent or family
(“who” they are) and what they do to support their children. In fact, parents who experience
diverse ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, linguistic, and educational backgrounds are involved in
Family-School Partnerships 23
the lives of their children, regardless of whether or not they are formally involved in their school
life (Bempechat, 1998; Edwards, Fear, & Gallego, 1995). Furthermore, many families are
involved in the education of their children, albeit in ways that school personnel may not consider
because they see no concrete outcome or product (Wright & Smith, 1998).
A focus on status variables (e.g., educational level, income, family structure) rather than
individuals and actions often leads quickly to stereotypes and preconceived judgments. We fail
as educators when we form conclusions based on what we believe families need. This is
heightened when we fail to consider how families may be supporting their children’s education
already. For example, educators may believe that families need help supporting their children’s
homework, when they may not need that form of assistance at all. Rather, other forms of
assistance, such as how to best communicate with teachers or understand school policies or
practices, may be necessary. In such scenarios, it is the schools, not the families, who fail
students.
Our quandary for the relationship is that school personnel, as the formal educators, are
considered the stimulus for creating connections with parents, the informal educators
(Bronfenbrenner, 1991). If educators portray an attitude that families are “dysfunctional,” how
can a constructive partnership for children’s learning occur (e.g., Cavell, 2000)?
Issues Facing the Family-School Relationship
The responsibility for sustaining relationships for children’s learning is shared between
parents and educators. Although parents and educators prefer and strive for collaborative
relationships, in practice, many issues face the development of this kind of relationship (see
Table 3). In addition to those listed, the impact of limited assessment and intervention that
Family-School Partnerships 24
focuses on family and schools as contexts for children’s development and learning (i.e., thinking
systemically) is a primary issue facing the quality of family-school interaction. Consider also
how the different perspectives held by parents and educators influence communication between
families and educators. For example, parents are (and should be) concerned with their child’s
individual progress and needs. Educators are (and should be) focused on the progress and needs
of the whole class or group. This difference must be discussed, understood, and valued by
parents and educators as they create assessment-intervention links for individual children or the
probability of communication difficulties, often reflected in blaming and finger pointing, are
heightened.
Elements of collaboration include mutual respect for skills and knowledge, honest and
clear communication, open and two-way sharing of information, mutually agreed upon goals,
and shared planning and decision making (Vosler-Hunter, 1989). These elements are very easy
to verbalize, but often difficult to implement in practice. Parents and educators want to
communicate and collaborate; however due to the frequency of ritualized contacts (e.g., back to
school night, 15-20 minute elementary or 5 minute arena style secondary level parent teacher
conferences) there is far to little time for dialogue and problem solving (Swap, 1987). There is
no question that the structure and frequency of our interactions are issues for establishing quality
family-school relationships. Another critical issue is how the role of funding mechanisms for
children’s services precludes honest communication about referrals for services.
The issues described and listed in Table 3, can be conceptualized as problem-focused ones that seems insurmountable for connecting family and school for the benefit of children’s
learning. The issues can also be conceptualized as opportunity-focused – ones that provide
school psychologists with an expanded role for meeting our role as consultants for creating
Family-School Partnerships 25
successful learning environments. School psychologists, I would argue, are in an ideal position
to provide consultation and leadership with respect to how school personnel can create
constructive family-school relationships for children’s learning (i.e., the process).
Opportunities Relative to the Process of Joining Families and Schools
There is consensus that a new social contract between families and schools – one that is
partnership-oriented - is needed (Lewis & Henderson, 1997). According to Christenson and
Sheridan (2001), families and schools working as partners refers to:

A student-focused philosophy wherein educators and families cooperate, coordinate, and
collaborate to enhance learning opportunities, educational progress, and school success
for students in four domains: academic, social, emotional, and behavioral.

A belief in shared responsibility for educating and socializing children – both families
and educators are essential and provide resources for children’s learning and progress in
school. Options for active, realistic participation are created.

An emphasis on the quality of the interface and ongoing connection between families and
schools. Creating a constructive relationship (how families and educators work together
in meaningful ways) to execute their respective roles in promoting the academic and
social development of children and youth is important.

A preventive, solution-oriented focus, one where families and educators strive to create
conditions that facilitate student learning, engagement, and development.
Process variables that influence the quality of family-school connections for children’s learning
are integral to the success of this new social contract. Equally important is leadership; creating
family-school partnerships requires time and a concerted effort, one which I would encourage
Family-School Partnerships 26
school psychology to consider an exciting opportunity to enhance outcomes for students and to
provide supports for meeting established educational standards.
Four A’s – approach, attitudes, atmosphere, and actions – represent conditions necessary
for quality family-school interactions (see Table 4). Prerequisite conditions consist of approach,
attitudes, and atmosphere; they must be addressed for actions to be implemented effectively and
enhance outcomes for students. Typical school-based practices have focused on the
implementation of activities, driven by the question: How can we involve families? Offering
parent involvement activities devoid of a healthy family-school relationship have yielded less
than desired levels of active parental participation, particularly for some families.
An activity in the absence of critical prerequisites for collaboration is insufficient for
enhancing student outcomes. Focusing on process variables is important for partnering with
parents; perhaps more important than implementation of specific parent involvement activities in
isolation. Activities provide good ideas; however, not all good ideas work in every parentstudent-teacher context. A goal in selecting activities to enhance children’s and adolescent’s
academic, social, and emotional learning is to achieve a match or goodness of fit for the parent,
teacher, and student. Thus, the approach taken, attitudes parents and educators hold about each
other, and atmosphere for collaboration, set the stage for effective intervention practices to work.
School personnel who attempt to put interventions into place in the absence of constructive
attitudes and a healthy atmosphere will experience limited success.
Approach: The Framework for Interaction with Families
As argued elsewhere (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001), the framework for interaction with
families – or the approach – that is supported by several theories and research findings views
Family-School Partnerships 27
parents as essential, not merely desirable, for children’s optimal performance in school. This
approach focuses on systems perspectives; the access, voice, and ownership of parents and
educators are essential for promoting success of students with and without disabilities. For
example, consider the potential impact of parents’ and educators’ access (i.e., rights to inclusion
in decision making processes), voice (i.e., feeling that they were heard and listened to at all
points in the process), and ownership (satisfaction with and contribution to any action plan
affecting them) during family-school meetings. Critical questions for educators include: What
approach will be used to foster positive family-school connections for children’s learning? How
can the approach be communicated and implemented flexibly to allow for different or unique
situations?
Systems-ecological and developmental theory provides the broad framework for organizing
the reciprocal influences between home and school. Our goal is to understand development-incontext by noting the relevance for child outcomes of “immediate settings” (i.e., microsystems)
and the “larger contexts” (i.e., mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems) in which the immediate
settings are embedded, focusing on reciprocal relationships among systems rather than on the
properties or practices characteristic of one system, and attending to the individual’s perception
and meaning of a given situation to make sense of the variability in the circumstances in which
children live and learn (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; 1992). The power of macrosystemic variables are
particularly relevant for family-school partnerships. The macrosystem encompasses the concept
of “a cultural repertoire of belief systems” (Bronfenbrenner, 1992, p. 228). To Bronfenbrenner,
the belief systems of the significant individuals in a child’s world (e.g., value of school) create a
context that influences family goals and practices, and ultimately child behavior and
Family-School Partnerships 28
performance. With respect to schools, legal mandates (e.g., No Child Left Behind, IDEA) are
macrosystemic influences that affect school-based policies and practices.
Other theoretical underpinnings for this approach exist. Coleman (1987) theorized
schools do make a difference for children; however, they do not have an equal effect on children
because educational outcomes result from the interaction of the qualities that the child brings
from home and experiences in school. According to Coleman, there is greater variation in
family resources than school resources for children’s learning. Basically, some, but not all,
children learn attitudes, skills, values, and behaviors at home that prepare them well for the tasks
of school (Sloane, 1991). Also, his notion that home and school provide different inputs for the
socialization process of children has significant implications for school psychologists to foster
motivational, not only academic, support for learning. One class of inputs - opportunities,
demands, and rewards - comes from schools; the second class of inputs - attitudes, effort, and
conception of self - comes from the social environment of the household.
Pianta and Walsh (1996) underscore the quality of relationships, represented in the
pattern of family-school interactions over time or the shared meaning that is created for the
purpose of supporting children’s learning. Specifically, they delineated the relationship in terms
of the child/family system interacting across school years with the school/schooling system.
They have denoted a clearer understanding of risk for school failure by extending the discussion
beyond status characteristics (e.g., poverty) to include the effect of the quality of family-school
relationships, or lack thereof, as a primary contributing factor to level of child risk. For
example, they opined that children are educated in low-risk circumstances if the child/family
and schooling systems are functional; home and school communicate, providing children with
congruent messages about their learning. In contrast, high-risk circumstances occur when
Family-School Partnerships 29
children derived meanings from home or school that resulted in conflicting emotions,
motivations or goals.
Risk is distributed across systems as is resilience, which is not a property of children, but
resides in the interactions, transactions, and relationships among the multiple systems that
envelop children. Children’s level of academic, social, and behavioral competence cannot be
understood or fostered by locating problems in child, family, or school in the absence of a focus
on the dynamic influence of relationships among the systems. Therefore, the kind of question
that will advance our knowledge of students’ academic, social, behavioral, and emotional
outcomes is: How are resources of the child and the learning context (total learning environment)
organized to respond to problems or help the child meet developmental demands or demands of
assigned tasks in school over time? Collectively, the work of these researchers and theoreticians
underscore the critical nature of continuity across socializing systems and the cumulative effect
of positive transactions between the child/family and schooling systems for educating children.
Practically speaking, a partnership orientation is congruent with the notion that parents
are essential. Fantuzzo, Tighe, and Childs (2000) have defined partnership as shared goals +
contributions + accountability. Note that the significant role of the student in learning outcomes
is not lost or minimized. Rather, students, in transaction with others, are active participants in
their learning (Sameroff, 1983). As noted by David Seeley in his book, Education Through
Partnership, “the product of education---learning---is not produced by schools, but by students
with the help and support of schools, parents, peers, and other community resources” (1985, p.
65).
Finally, a focus on students’ use of in- and out-of school time is a descriptive way to
encourage shared responsibility for learning outcomes. Ysseldyke and Christenson (2002) have
Family-School Partnerships 30
confirmed conditions (instructional support for learning, home-support for learning, and homeschool support for learning) that enhance the probability students will be optimally successful in
school and/or engaged as learners. Conceptualization of research findings in this manner
provides parents and educators with a common language for discussing students’ learning
progress and performance and increases understanding of the multiple influences for children’s
school success. The degree to which children’s family and school contexts are learning
environments, and complementary (not symmetrical) roles are created, represents a much
needed, new perspective for advancing educational outcomes for students.
Opportunities for school psychology. Adopting the perspective that families and the
family-school relationship are essential for the optimal performance of children and youth in
school, provides new opportunities and exciting challenges for the field of school psychology to
frame psychological and educational outcomes for children and youth in terms of a partnership.
Educators often ask: How can schools get families to support their values and practices?
Coincidentally, families often ask: How can families get schools to be responsive to their needs
and aspirations for their children? Together they seldom ask: How do we work together to
promote the educational experiences and learning opportunities, and progress and performance,
of students and/or this student? With respect to assessment and intervention practices, we can
actively include parents as assessors and presenters of reports (Harry, 1993) and maximize the
power of the target student’s use of in-school and out-of-school time with mesosytemic
interventions (e.g., Galloway & Sheridan, 1994). Throughout the assessment-intervention link,
school psychologists can model the relevance of a quality family-school partnership by fostering
bi-directional communication, enhancing problem solving across home and school, encouraging
shared decision making, and reinforcing congruent home-school support for students’ learning.
Family-School Partnerships 31
Attitudes: The Values and Perceptions Held about Family-School Relationships
Working constructively with parents is an attitude---not solely an activity to be
implemented. And yet, schools tend to be activity driven, despite the fact we know gaining the
cooperation and collaboration of parents is not primarily a function of the activities provided.
Rather, working as “partners” is way of thinking about forming connections between families
and schools. Forming connections means developing an intentional and ongoing relationship
between school and family designed to directly or indirectly enhance children’s learning and
development, and to address the obstacles that impede it (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001). It is
not about how educators can “fix the family.” Critical questions for educators include: What
attitudes about family involvement, and among teachers, parents, and students, are evident? How
can positive attitudes be enhanced to promote healthy home-school relations?
Attitudes are among the most salient and powerful precursors to healthy partnerships with
parents. Constructive attitudes, which adopt a collaborative stance and make the relationship a
priority, allow school personnel and parents to ask: How can we work together to address a
concern or shared goal? The development of positive and constructive attitudes between parents
and educators is the responsibility of both educators and parents. Attitudes can be positive and
promote effective relationships, or they can be negative and preclude constructive relationships.
The good news is that parent and teacher attitudes for working as partners are known, and
existing attitudes can be altered or modified.
In collaborative relationships, there is shared ownership for identifying and working
toward solutions and goals. Likewise, there is recognition of and respect for individual and
cultural differences in developing and adapting to changes that come out of mutual and shared
Family-School Partnerships 32
decision making. Collaboration involves both equality – the willingness to listen to, respect, and
learn from one another, and parity – the blending of knowledge, skills, and ideas to enhance the
relationship, and outcomes for children. Thus, parents and teachers “share joint responsibilities
and rights, are seen as equals, and can jointly contribute to the process” (Vosler-Hunter, 1989, p.
15). There is a commitment to interdependence; that is, parents and educators in collaborative
relationships depend on one another equally and reciprocally (Welch & Sheridan, 1995). One
person cannot achieve to the best of his or her ability and contribute fully without the other. That
is, teachers cannot bear the sole responsibility for educating children to their greatest capacity
without the active involvement of families, and vice versa.
In collaborative patterns of interaction, there are clear and flexible boundaries. Each
individual (parent, teacher, school psychologist) defers to the other in their respective domain,
works together in a reciprocal and complementary fashion, and complements each other’s efforts
(Power & Bartholomew, 1987). Three important characteristics of collaboration identified by
Power and Bartholomew include: (a) the understanding of inherent constraints of systems; (b)
the lack of rigid roles and responsibilities but clearly defined boundaries; and (c) the opportunity
to voice concerns without being perceived as a “problem” by the other parties. A helpful
nonjudgmental attitude is to assume that parents (and educators) are doing the best they can.
Families and children are going to be at different points with respect to their connection to
schooling and learning, and some families are dealing with unique situations that make it
extremely difficult for them to be involved and available.
In practice, constructive attitudes are demonstrated and modeled by parents and educators
when they: (a) listen to one another’s perspective; (b) view differences as strengths; (c) focus on
mutual interests; (d) share information to co-construct understandings and interventions; (e)
Family-School Partnerships 33
respect the skills and knowledge of each other by asking for ideas and opinions; (f) plan together
and make decisions that address parents’, teachers’, and students’ needs; (g) share in decision
making about a child’s educational program; (h) share resources to work toward goal attainment;
(i) provide a common message about schoolwork and behavior; (j) demonstrate a willingness to
address conflict; (k) refrain from finding fault; and (l) commit to sharing successes (Christenson
& Sheridan, 2001).
Opportunities for school psychology. The distinction between constructive and
destructive attitudes in the family-school relationship offers new opportunities and exciting
challenges for the field of school psychology. School psychologists are in an ideal position to
embrace the attitude that the family-school relationship is a priority. There is no question that
extra time is required to collaborate with parents; however, the benefits of establishing shared
goals and delivering a unified message to students about the value of school and learning are
(and must be considered by parent and educators) to be worth the effort. Collaboration is seen as
an evolving process that enables parents and educators to develop better educational
programming. We know that behavioral and academic difficulties for students do not
“disappear” with one problem-solving session or intervention. Sometimes home and school will
work together within and across school years to continue to address mutual concerns and provide
mutual support for enhancing the learning progress of children and adolescents. Thus, educators
working as partners with parents this year strengthen the partnership for subsequent years. As a
discipline, we can help to answer:

What kinds of family-school interactions and experiences will be beneficial in
creating and reinforcing constructive attitudes?
Family-School Partnerships 34

With respect to the role of problem solving, how can school psychology provide
leadership in terms of creating and implementing problem solving structures that
include perspective taking, learning from each other, and sharing constraints of each
system?
Second, school psychologists can reinforce that positive working relationships are
fostered when educators accommodate parents by beginning where they are, not where educators
think parents should or could be. Sensitivity to differences for parents in terms of their time,
skills, and knowledge helps to avoid harsh judgments. Before concluding what is going on,
educators can strive to understand parental perspectives and desires. Some questions we, as a
discipline, should strive to answer are:

How can school psychologists reach out to parents who are identified as “hard to
reach” for the purpose of learning what would help them foster their children’s
learning competence?

How can school psychology learn from and be responsive to the needs of parents
whose children are not being successful in school and/or parents of groups of children
who represent “gaps” in educational outcomes at a national level?
Atmosphere: The Climate in Schools for Families and Educators
An atmosphere that facilitates collaborative, family-school partnerships is one that is
characterized by trust, effective communication, and a mutual problem-solving orientation
(Christenson, 1995). Quality family-school interactions result in participants feeling more
connected, optimistic, respected, and empowered with respect to supporting the student’s overall
learning progress (CORE Model; Minke, 2000). It is the responsibility of both educators and
Family-School Partnerships 35
parents to communicate openly and honestly to build a climate conducive for meaningful and
effective interactions on behalf of children. However, of particular importance is the degree to
which educators have examined the school climate to ensure that it is welcoming and inclusive
for all families. In a recent study of ethnically diverse parents’ perspectives of welcoming
environments in an urban school district in the Midwest, 85% of parents (N=240) reported
feeling very welcome at their child’s school (Zorka, Godber, Hurley, & Christenson, 2002). The
researchers found that parents overwhelmingly identified relationship variables as the most
significant determinants of welcoming school environments. Furthermore, parental perspectives
did not vary as a function of ethnicity (white vs. nonwhite) or educational service delivery
(regular vs. special education); however there were significant differences as a function of school
level (elementary vs. secondary). Elementary schools were viewed as more welcoming on
several dimensions.
Schools want parents involved, but involvement depends on parents being invited,
informed and feeling included. Unfortunately, not all school practices invite, inform and include
families - especially for families where cultural capital (i.e., knowledge of school policies and
practices) is low. Critical questions to be addressed are: In what type of atmosphere will
families, educators, and students interact? How can the atmosphere facilitate a constructive
home-school interface?
A prerequisite to any effort to involve parents in educational partnerships is an
atmosphere characterized by trust (Haynes, Ben-Avie, Squires, Howley, Negron, & Corbin,
1996). Adams and Christenson (1998) have defined trust as “confidence that another person will
act in a way to benefit or sustain the relationship, or the implicit or explicit goals of the
relationship, to achieve positive outcomes for students” (p. 6). We know trust is an intangible
Family-School Partnerships 36
characteristic that develops over time with repeated contact and exposure. However, we also
know that trust building between home and school often runs counter to practices in schools
wherein quick and efficient solutions are sought. In many such circumstances, efficiency is
valued over the interaction process that requires time to build trusting relationships and get to
know one other. Too often parental involvement is initiated in the midst of a crisis situation, such
as when a child’s behavior at school becomes uncontrollable. Trust between parents and
teachers in such situations is vital to yield a positive outcome for the student (e.g., the
development and implementation of an intervention plan to address the behavioral concerns). If
trust between home and school has not already been established, the intentions, communications,
and subsequently, outcomes for the student will be less than optimal.
It is a reality that some families may be willing to trust school personnel more readily
than others, particularly if they are accustomed to the traditional practices and norms established
in schools. Family members who vary in terms of culture, values, or language may appear more
hesitant to interact freely and openly. “One-shot” events or interactions with family members do
not allow educators to learn about family beliefs, practices, values, or preferences. They do not
allow families to explore their feelings about the school microsystem, or their comfort level with
adults in that environment who may be different from them on a number of important
dimensions. And, they do not provide ongoing opportunities to allow parents and educators to
learn from and about each other, increase acceptance of each other, and build trust with each
other. Many parents may avoid interfacing with school personnel due to their own feelings of
insecurity or uncertainty about what the school promotes or believes. They may view the school
as an institution that is static, unwelcoming, distant, and inflexible. This is particularly likely for
Family-School Partnerships 37
parents whose previous experiences with schools and other agencies have been adversarial,
intimidating, or otherwise uncomfortable.
Data from two studies examining parent and teacher differences in trust are informative
with respect to the role of teacher attitudes within the family-school relationship (Adams &
Christenson, 1998; 2000). Because teacher and school practices have been shown to be a strong
predictor of parent involvement (Dauber & Epstein, 1993), a critical concern raised by their
findings is how teacher attitude can serve as a deterrent to parent involvement. In general, the
researchers found that parent trust of teachers was significantly higher than teacher trust of
parents at elementary, middle, and high school grade levels; however, significant differences
between parents and teachers emerged only at elementary and high school levels. They also
found that parent trust for teachers was significantly higher at the elementary than the middle or
high school levels, and teacher trust for parents was significantly higher for elementary than for
high school teachers. Regardless of school level, parents and teachers identified communication
and parental dedication to education as important means to increasing mutual trust between
families and schools, and satisfaction with the parent-teacher relationship was a predictor of trust
for both parents and teachers. Finally, parent trust for teachers was a significant, positive
correlate of credits earned per year, GPA, and attendance for students in grades 9 – 12, although
the amount of variance accounted for was very low (i.e., 4%).
Effective communication, considered by many as the foundation of all family
involvement in education, sets the tone for a positive atmosphere or “climate building” between
family and schools. According to Weiss and Edwards (1992), an underlying goal of
communication is “to provide consistent messages to families that the school will work with
them in a collaborative way to promote the educational success of the student” (p. 235).
Family-School Partnerships 38
Accordingly, all communications should strive to convey at least four consistent themes to
families: the desire to develop a working partnership with families, the crucial nature of family
input for children’s educational progress, importance of working together to identify a mutually
advantageous solution in light of concerns, and clarity about conditions that foster students’
academic, social, behavioral, and emotional learning. Of the 8 guidelines for communication
that have been articulated by Christenson & Sheridan (2001), three deserve particular emphasis:
ensuring that parents have needed information to support children’s progress; creating formal
and informal opportunities to communicate and build trust between home and school, which is
the “essential lubrication” for more serious intervention; and underscoring all communication
with shared responsibility between families and schools (e.g., discussing co-roles, partnership
agreements).
Communication must inform parents about the policies and practices of schools, ways to
enhance students’ learning and development, and monitoring students’ progress. In a study
sponsored by the National Association of School Psychologists, parents (regardless of income
level, ethnicity, or their child’s academic and behavioral performance) overwhelmingly indicated
they would use information on how schools function (e.g., how grades are earned, scheduling,
transitions, homework) to assist their children’s school performance (Christenson, Hurley,
Sheridan, & Fenstermacher, 1997). In fact, the top 11 of 33 parent involvement activities (with
the exception of establishing before and after school programs) were oriented toward informing
parents about school and student learning and behavior. Also, on our Early Truancy Prevention
Project implementing Check & Connect, a school engagement model, with 363 elementary
students at high risk for school failure, parents have overwhelmingly reported that they desire
more information about their children’s ongoing progress and performance in school (Lehr,
Family-School Partnerships 39
personal communication). Finally, we must be concerned about “disconnects” between home
and school perspectives and practices. For example, a recent national study (Chen, 2001)
revealed discrepancies between schools’ and parents’ reports on school practices, particularly
related to conveying information and including parents in decision making. For each school
practice, public K-8 school personnel were more likely than parents to indicate that schools used
the practice. Our concern must be focused on why educators’ practices are not informing parents
as intended.
Adopting a mutual problem-solving orientation or shared decision making is yet another
opportunity to communicate effectively with families, particularly in terms of providing
optimistic and realistic messages about students’ learning competence. Effective communication
not only informs, but it invites parents to participate and includes parents in decision making.
Problem solving structures provide an opportunity for bi-directional communication, view
parents and school personnel as resources for addressing educational concerns, and help to foster
optimism about what the partners can accomplish by working together.
Opportunities for school psychology. Creating an atmosphere for effective collaboration
provides new opportunities and exciting challenges for the field of school psychology. School
psychologists (and educators) must be concerned both about access to and relationships with
families. Consider the following:

The potential impact of leadership by school psychology to ensure that ample trust
building events between parents and schools (e.g., multi-cultural potlucks/student
celebrations, principal’s hour, family fun nights, committees designed to address homeschool issues, workshops where parents and school personnel learn together) occur before
Family-School Partnerships 40
serious decisions are made with respect to educational programming (e.g., special
education placement, grade placement).

The potential impact of leadership by school psychology to address home-school
communication in terms of streamlined system-wide strategies (regular progress reports,
contact time and person) as well as teacher specific or individual strategies (for unique
situations) on blaming.

The potential impact of leadership by school psychology to ensure that all families, even
those with limited contact with schools and/or negative personal experience with schools,
understand the language of schooling (i.e., how schools function).

The potential impact of school psychology to remove obstacles for families that
inadvertently discourage active participation (e.g., provide information systematically to
parents about children’s school performance and resources (materials, consultation time)
to assist student learning).

The potential impact of leadership by school psychology in fostering shared
responsibility for educational outcomes by inviting parental assistance to resolve schoolbased concerns, helping parents foster personal goals for children and youth, and finding
out what parents desire to fulfill their commitment to their children’s educational success.

The potential impact of leadership by school psychology for describing service delivery
to parents in a non-pejorative way, i.e., one that focuses on the kinds of supports parents
would find helpful to assist their child’s learning. Parental needs vary; perhaps there are
parents who need information (i.e., information only), need attention to unique situational
demands/circumstances in the family context (i.e., information + attention), and need
support on an ongoing basis (i.e., information + attention + support).
Family-School Partnerships 41

The potential impact of leadership by school psychology for working with diverse
families to ensure they, and their children, feel connected at school and with learning. We
have much to learn from families. For example, what does the purpose of education mean
to families from varied cultural backgrounds? How do families see their roles vis-à-vis
their children’s schooling? How can we truly embrace (and help others to) cultural
differences and address the needs of non-English speaking families or parents of students
identified as English-Language Learners?
Actions: Strategies for Building Shared Responsibility
Partnerships to enhance student learning outcomes and experiences require shared goals
+ shared contributions + shared accountability. Specific actions must be implemented to foster
partnerships; a concerted effort is required. Critical questions include: What actions will be
taken to achieve a balanced, collaborative relationship to address learning for students? How
will these actions address the primary goal of promoting partnerships for children’s learning?
Christenson and Sheridan (2001) have described in detail seven broad actions to enhance
family-school connections for children’s learning: garnering administrative support, acting as a
systems advocate, implementing family-school teams, increasing problem solving across home
and school, identifying and managing conflict, supporting families, and helping teachers improve
communication and relationships with families. Actions are purposefully distinguished from
activities, because actions focus on the relationship or connection between family and school for
children’s school performance, whereas activities represent a narrow focus on how to involve
families in education. Thus, actions are oriented toward building shared responsibility for
educational outcomes. To be successful in this goal, school personnel must consider pre-
Family-School Partnerships 42
requisite conditions that set a tone for partnership, namely the approach adopted toward the role
of families, the degree to which constructive attitudes between families and educators exist, and
the atmosphere or climate present for participation and interaction between families and
educators in their particular school context. Approach, attitudes, and atmosphere are the
“backdrop” for successful application of actions.
Opportunities for school psychology. Actions to build a strong connection for children’s
learning with families, including diverse families, abound and present the discipline of school
psychology with new opportunities and exciting challenges. Consider the following:

What would an analysis of current school practices for working with or interacting with
families reveal? I suspect such an analysis would reveal infrequent use of practices that
focus on family and schools as contexts for children’s development and learning (e.g.,
bi-directional communication strategies; routine articulation of clear parent, teacher, and
student roles and responsibilities for improved outcomes during parent-teacher
conferences, family-school problem solving meetings, and IEP meetings or in the form
of a system-wide partnership agreement or contract).

How might school psychology work with other school personnel and parents to develop
a comprehensive infrastructure for family-school collaboration at the district level? For
example, the Family Resource Coalition has suggested three levels: school readiness,
developmentally appropriate constructive family-school relationships K-12, and schoollinked/integrated services. In the future, I speculate that school readiness will be an even
more critical area than it is at present. We must find ways to impact early language
development to foster greater school success for students (Hart & Risley, 1995).
Family-School Partnerships 43

Using our evidence base (Christenson, 2000), how might the discipline provide
leadership to promote home and school support for learning? For example, schools tend
to emphasize the value of academic support for learning. As psychologists, and given our
knowledge base, we should also be concerned about motivational support for learning.
Bempechat (1998) has cogently called for parents and teachers to make education and
learning a priority, arguing that motivational support for learning (encouraging student
effort, reinforcing the value of learning, persisting in the face of challenge, structuring
time for studying) is critical to socialize students as learners.
Many opportunities for the discipline of school psychology to work with families have
been explicitly stated or implicitly suggested throughout this paper. From my viewpoint, the
impact of our discipline will be greater if we can hone in on fewer rather than more roles. Very
importantly, given the shortage of school psychologists, we need to be thoughtful and methodical
in how we proceed.
Roles for School Psychology
At the beginning of the 21st century, school psychologists can have a truly significant
impact on student engagement with learning, learning experiences, and educational outcomes for
all students. We can focus our efforts on the “affordance value” of students’ total learning
environment – or how the family-school context facilitates or impedes students’ adaptation to
challenges and demands of schooling. We must attend to critical macrosystemic influences such
as the effect of No Child Left Behind and high school exit exams on the learning status of
individual and groups of students as well as the national focus on teaching students to read,
which includes working with parents (i.e., Reading First). We must understand the belief
Family-School Partnerships 44
systems of families, and be sensitive to the kinds of information and supports they desire to
assist their children in meeting educational standards. And reinforcing resources families bring
to achieve the standards is also important.
I believe a viable way to think of our roles is in terms of those for the discipline of school
psychology and those for a school psychologist. What impact can we have as a discipline? As
school psychologists at a district level? As a school psychologist at a building level?
Roles for the discipline of school psychology. This is the “best of times” for the
discipline of school psychology to embrace exciting opportunities to expand our roles by
espousing the value of family and school contexts for optimal learning (i.e., thinking
systemically), working to close gaps in educational outcomes for specific students and groups of
students, and providing leadership in working with diverse families. I would encourage our field
to make family-school partnerships a priority in our assessment and intervention practices. Also,
as systems thinkers, I hope we would react to the reports on percentages of students passing
required tests disaggregated by schools. These reports may serve to demoralize many teachers
and certainly do not include parental responsibility for educational outcomes.
Our discipline can be instrumental in serving groups of students who are performing less
well than desired in our schools by creating constructive family-school partnerships to enhance
their performance, and hopefully achieve the intended consequences of implementing No Child
Left Behind or high school exit exams. As revealed by the statistics presented in this paper, we
have “gaps” in national educational outcomes. I encourage our discipline to work to embrace
with a vengeance the goal of program development and evaluation to close the gaps in
educational performance for student subgroups.
Family-School Partnerships 45
I hope our discipline will embrace working with diverse students and families, seeing this
as an incredible opportunity to make a difference in students’ learning experiences and
outcomes. In a grant writing experience this summer, I repeatedly heard from professionals at
technical assistance centers and from principals in elementary and middle schools that the most
challenging situation with respect to training needs was helping school personnel work
effectively with families from diverse backgrounds. Diversity is broad and varied, including
characteristics related to ethnicity, socioeconomic status, language, culture, and sexual
orientation. I hope the discipline of school psychology will embrace the concept of diversity and
strive to build capacity for families and school personnel to work together through knowledge
development and skill building opportunities.
Roles for the school psychologist. School psychologists can be very effective systems
consultants with the regards to the development of quality family-school relationships and
family-school collaborative programming. We have the capacity to consult about a process for
creating and sustaining quality family-school relationships across schools years. We have the
capacity to implement family-school teams in our schools to: (a) ensure parents’ and educators’
input to resolve meaningful student concerns, (b) create a model for ongoing data-based
problem-solving in the school, and (c) establish congruent family-school practices that promote
students’ learning. We have the capacity to implement and evaluate the effect of family-school
interventions on students’ academic, social, emotional, and behavioral learning. And, school
psychology practitioners play a major role in helping to ensure that family-school interventions
are contextualized; “one size does not fit all.” The process for creating family-school
connections for children’s learning that was articulated will be successful to the degree that it fits
the specific student-family-school context.
Family-School Partnerships 46
In no way would I discourage school psychologists’ involvement in direct services to
families. In fact, I wish school psychologists had greater opportunity to view the child/family
system as their primary client (Pianta & Walsh, 1996). However, I recognize that services to
families will vary across school contexts. In some schools, they may be a luxury; in some
schools they will undoubtedly be oriented toward reaching many parents, whether through
groups or parent support parent programs; and in other schools, consultation with individual
families may be a reality. Without a doubt, a major contribution the school psychologist can
make is to ensure that families have accurate information about their children’s school progress
and resources to assist their children. We can model inviting parents, informing and being
informed by parents, and including parents to reach learning goals for students.
A caveat about family-school partnerships. I agree with Pianta and Walsh (1996) that
children are educated in low risk circumstances when there is communication and congruent
family-school messages about students’ learning goals, expectations, and supports. As a
discipline, however, I think we would be remiss to conceptualize family-school partnerships as a
panacea for improving educational outcomes; what students and teachers do daily is paramount.
Although the benefits of family engagement with schooling is quite clear, we need also to
understand under what circumstances a family-school connection may not be beneficial.
Closing Comments: The Future
It is time to raise the bar for all children’s performance in school; creating family-school
partnerships is a viable way to enhance academic achievement and positive mental health of
youth. As stated previously, it is my hope that school psychologists will take the initiative to
raise the bar for students’ performance in school by heeding John Fantuzzo’s (1999) advice to
Family-School Partnerships 47
make “partner” a verb with all families, including those whose children may be doing less well
than desired or feel disengaged from the schooling process. With leadership, families and
educators can be partners in education and co-promoters of child and adolescent outcomes. In
doing so, they are also partners in prevention of school failure for children and youth.
Family-School Partnerships 48
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Family-School Partnerships 57
Table 1
Selected Statistics of Children and Families
______________________________________________________________________
Economic Security Indicators
 In 2000, 16 percent of children lived in families with incomes below the poverty
threshold, which represents the lowest poverty rate among children since 1979.
 The percentage of children who had at least one parent working full time, all year has
steadily increased from 70 percent in 1980 to 80 percent in 2000.
 In 2000, 18 percent of children lived in households reporting any level of food insecurity.
Health Indicators
 By 2000, 70 percent of children living in poverty and 85 percent of children living at or
above poverty were in very good or excellent health.
 The birth rate for adolescents continued to decline in 2000 to 27 births per 1,000 females
ages 15 to 17, representing the lowest rate ever recorded.
Behavior and Social Environment Indicators
 Cigarette use among 8th and 10th graders shows continued indications of decline from
2000 to 2001; however, daily smoking rates did not change significantly for high school
seniors.
 Since 1993, the violent crime victimization rate and the violent crime offending rate for
youth ages 12 to 17 has decreased by 63 and 67 percent respectively.
Education Indicators
 In 2001, 58 percent of children ages 3 to 5 were read to daily by a family member;
however the rates varied as a function of mother’s educational level (73 percent of
children whose mother’s graduated from college; 42 percent whose mothers did not finish
high school).
 In 1999, among children ages 3-5 not yet enrolled in kindergarten, those with multiple
risk factors (i.e., status variables) were generally less likely than those without risk
factors or with only one to engage in literacy activities frequently with their families.
 In 2000, 87 percent of young adults had completed high school with a diploma or an
alternative credential (e.g., GED).
 In 2001, 33 percent of high school graduates ages 25-29 had earned a bachelor’s or a
higher degree. Although white, non-Hispanic were more likely than nonwhite students to
earn degrees, the percentage of black, non-Hispanic college graduates increased from 14
percent in 1985 to 20 percent in 2001.
_______________________________________________________________________
Source: America’s Children (2002). www.childstats.gov
Family-School Partnerships 58
Table 2
Twenty-five Key Facts About America’s Children
__________________________________________________________________________
























1 in 2 will live in a single parent family at some point in childhood
1 in 3 is born to unmarried parents
1 in 3 will be poor at some point in their childhood
1 in 3 is behind a year or more in school
1 in 4 lives with only one parent
2 in 5 never completes a single year of college
1 in 5 was born poor
1 in 5 is born to a mother who did not graduate from high school
1 in 5 has a foreign-born mother
3 in 5 preschoolers have their mother in the labor force
1 in 6 is poor now
1 in 6 is born to a mother who did not receive prenatal care in the first three months of
pregnancy
1 in 7 has no health insurance
1 in 8 lives in a family receiving food stamps
1 in 8 never graduates from high school
1 in 8 is born to a teenage mother
1 in 12 has a disability
1 in 13 was born with a low birth weight
1 in 15 lives at less than half the poverty level
1 in 24 lives with neither parent
1 in 26 is born to a mother who received late or no prenatal care
1 in 60 sees their parents divorce in any year
1 in 139 will die before their first birthday
1 in 1,056 will be killed by guns before age 20
Source: Children’s Defense Fund (2001). www.childrensdefense.org
Family-School Partnerships 59
Table 3
Issues for Families, Educators, and the Family-School Relationship
________________________________________________________________________
Families
Structural Issues
 Lack of role models, information, and knowledge about resources
 Lack of supportive environment and resources (e.g., poverty, limited access to
services)
 Economic, emotional, and time constraints
 Child care and transportation
Psychological Issues
 Feelings of inadequacy
 Adopting a passive role by leaving education to schools
 Linguistic and cultural differences, resulting in less “how to” knowledge about
how schools function and their role
 Suspicion about treatment from educators
 Experiencing a lack of responsiveness to parental needs
Educators
Structural Issues
 Lack of funding for family outreach programs
 Lack of training for educators on how to maintain a partnership with families
 Time constraints
Psychological Issues
 Ambiguous commitment to parent involvement
 Use of negative communication about students’ school performance and
productivity
 Use of stereotypes about families, such as dwelling on family problems as an
explanation for students’ performance
 Stereotypic views of people, events, conditions, or actions that are not descriptive
of behavior, but portray a casual orientation.
 Doubts about the abilities of families to address schooling concerns
 Fear of conflict with families
 Narrow conception of the roles families can play
Family-School Relationship
Structural Issues
 Limited time for communication and meaningful dialogue
 Communication primarily during crises
 Limited contact for building trust within the family-school relationship
Family-School Partnerships 60



Limited skills and knowledge about how to collaborate
Lack of a routine communication system
Limited understanding of the constraints faced by the other partner
Psychological Issues
 Partial resistance toward increasing home/school cooperation
 Lack of belief in a partnership orientation to enhance student learning/ development
influences interactions
 A blaming and labeling attitudes that permeates the home/school atmosphere
 A win-lose rather than a win-win attitude in the presence of conflict.
 Tendencies to personalize anger-provoking behaviors by the other individual.
 Misunderstanding differences in parent-educator perspectives about children’s
performance
 Psychological and cultural differences that lead to assumptions and build walls
 Limited use of perspective taking or empathizing with the other person
 Limiting impressions of child to observations in only one environment
 Assumption that parents and teachers must hold identical values and expectations
 Failure to view differences as a strength
 Previous negative interactions and experiences between families and schools
 Failure to recognize the importance of preserving the family-school relationship
across time
Sources: Christenson & Sheridan, 2001; Liontos, 1992; Moles, 1993; Weiss & Edwards,
1992.
Family-School Partnerships 61
Table 4
A Process for Creating and Sustaining Family-School Relationships for Children’s Learning
__________________________________________________________________________
Approach:
The framework for interaction with families
 Parents are viewed as essential, not merely desirable, for children’s optimal learning
outcomes.
 The family-school relationship impacts students’ academic, social, behavioral, and
emotional learning.
 The power of the synergistic effect of home and school and the interaction of different
inputs or resources for socialization of the child as a learner is considered.
 Positive habits of learning are maximized when there is congruence across home and
school about the value of education and support for educational programming.
 There is less risk for school failure when shared goals and meaning are established over
time.
 The engagement of the student with the support of home, school, and peers is critical.
Attitudes:
The values and perceptions held about family-school relationships
 An attitude that embraces collaboration as a central mode of operating.
 An attitude that parents are integral to attaining optimal educational goals for students.
 An attitude that maintains the focus of the family-school connection on student progress
and success.
 An attitude that considers the effect of mutual influences (“ no pure school time or home
time”) on student performance in school.
 An attitude that values sharing information about the child’s academic and social
behavior across settings to “co-construct” the bigger picture.
 An attitude that encourages active parental involvement in decision making; educators
invite, inform, and include parents to help address concerns for students’ learning.
 An attitude that promotes problem solving and no-fault interactions, and suspends
judgment and jumping to conclusions.
 An attitude that fosters a positive and strength-based orientation – parents and teachers
are doing the best they can.
 An attitude that reflects there are no problematic individuals (parents, teachers or
students), only a problematic situation that requires the attention of the student, home,
and school, all for the benefit of the student.
 An attitude that preserving the family-school relationship is paramount.
 An attitude that emphasizes perspective taking across home and school.
 A “win-win” attitude in the presence of conflict is essential---the needs of parents,
teachers, and students must be considered in educational programming.
Atmosphere: The climate in schools for families and educators
 A climate that aims to build trust between families and schools.
Family-School Partnerships 62





A welcoming climate focuses on relationship building.
Use of bi-directional communication strategies that stress working together to improve
educational outcomes for groups of and individual students.
A climate that ensures parents are invited, informed, and included in decision making.
A climate that stresses parents’ and educators’ access, voice, and ownership in decision
making.
A problem-solving, non-blaming climate that fosters hope and optimism for children’s
learning.
Actions:
Strategies for Building Shared Responsibility
 Garnering administrative support.
 Acting as a systems advocate.
 Implementing family-school teams.
 Increasing problem solving across home and school.
 Identifying and managing conflict.
 Supporting families.
 Helping teachers improve communication and relationships with families.
___________________________________________________________________________
Source: Christenson & Sheridan (2001).
Family-School Partnerships 63
Author Notes
1. Several sections of this paper are drawn word for word from the book, Schools and
families: Creating essential connections for children’s learning, co-authored by my
friend and colleague, Dr. Susan Sheridan. I also want to acknowledge her thoughtful
comments during my preparation of this paper.
2. The statistics for this paper have been drawn from the indicated web sites. To avoid
any misrepresentation, I have reported them in almost all cases word for word as
indicated from the specific source.
3. The author is aware that funding for school psychology positions is linked to federal
special education dollars; however, the author is also aware that discretionary funds
are being used to fund positions in schools, presumably because the school
psychologist is “indispensable” in fostering better adaptation to the learning
environment or outcomes for students.
4. The terms parent and family have been used interchangeably in this paper. Also, the
author recognizes that many students live with guardians and extended family such as
grandparents. All terms should be thought of as potential individuals with whom
educators build a relationship to enhance children’s learning.