September/October 1997

Six Types of School-Family-Community Involvement

Joyce Epstein, director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University, has identified six important types of cooperation between families, schools, and other community organizations. They are summarized here.

1. Parenting: Families must provide for the health and safety of children, and maintain a home environment that encourages learning and good behavior in school. Schools provide training and information to help families understand their children's development and how to support the changes they undergo.

2. Communicating: Schools must reach out to families with information about school programs and student progress. This includes the traditional phone calls, report cards, and parent conferences, as well as new information on topics such as school choice and making the transition from elementary school to higher grades. Communication must be in forms that families find understandable and usefulfor example, schools can use translators to reach parents who don't speak English welland it must be two- way, with educators paying attention to the concerns and needs of families.

3. Volunteering: Parents can make significant contributions to the environment and functions of a school. Schools can get the most out of this process by creating flexible schedules, so more parents can participate, and by working to match the talents and interests of parents to the needs of students, teachers, and administrators.

4. Learning at Home: With the guidance and support of teachers, family members can supervise and assist their children at home with homework assignments and other school-related activities.

5. Decision-making: Schools can give parents meaningful roles in the school decision-making process, and provide parents with training and information so they can make the most of those opportunities. This opportunity should be open to all segments of the community, not just people who have the most time and energy to spend on school affairs.

6. Collaboration with the Community: Schools can help families gain access to support services offered by other agencies, such as healthcare, cultural events, tutoring services, and after-school child-care programs. They also can help families and community groups provide services to the community, such as recycling programs and food pantries.

For Further Information

J.S. Coleman. Equality of Educational Opportunity. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966.

J.P. Comer. School Power. New York: Free Press, 1980.

J. Epstein. "Effects on Student Achievement of Teachers' Practices of Parental Involvement." Advances in Reading/Language Research 5 (1991): 261-276.

J.L. Epstein. "Perspectives and Previews on Research and Policy for School, Family, and Community Partnerships." In A. Booth and J.F. Dunn (eds.), Family-School Links: How Do They Affect Educational Outcomes? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996, pp. 209-246.

J.L. Epstein. "School/Family/Community Partnerships: Caring for the Children We Share." Phi Delta Kappan 76, no. 9 (May 1995): 701-712.

J.L. Epstein. "School and Family Connections: Theory, Research, and Implications for Integrating Sociologies of Education and Family." In D. Unger and S. Sussmann (eds.), Families in Community Settings: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Haworth Press, 1990, pp. 99-126.

Family Education Network, 20 Park Plaza, Suite 1215, Boston, MA 02116; 617-542-6500.

A. Lareau. "Social Class Differences in Family-School Relationships: The Importance of Cultural Capital." Sociology of Education 60, no. 2 (April 1989): 73-85.

S. Lawrence-Lightfoot. Worlds Apart: Relationships Between Familties and Schools. New York: Basic Books, 1978.

The National Network of Partnership-2000 Schools, Johns Hopkins University, 3505 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218; 410-516-8818. E-mail: p2000@csos.jhu.edu

Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, U.S. Department of Education, 600 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202-8173. To receive a copy of A Compact for Learning: An Action Handbook for School-Family-Community Partnerships, call 800-USA-LEARN.

S.M. Swap. Developing Home-School Partnerships: From Concepts to Practice. New York: Teachers College Press, 1993.