School-Family-Community Partnerships in Middle and High Schools: From Theory to Practice. Report No. 22

摘要

To better understand how some secondary schools are working to encourage continued family and community involvement as children progress from elementary to middle and high school, twenty-two educators, parents, and students at two middle schools and two high schools were interviewed. The four schools are members of the National Network of Partnership Schools, which brings together and provides technical assistance to schools, districts, and states committed to developing comprehensive and permanent programs of school-family-community partnership. This report is organized in five sections. The first section discusses social networks, social capital, and a theory of overlapping spheres of influence to elucidate the conceptual foundation for school-family-community partnerships. The second section outlines and discusses essential elements of a comprehensive program of school-family-community partnerships. This section describes a framework of six types of family-community involvement and an action team approach to partnerships. The third and fourth sections of the paper describe partnership programs at two middle schools and two high schools, respectively. These sections report the schools' progress, and the challenges they face in developing schoolwide programs of partnership.