Handbook of School-Family Partnerships

Sandra L. Christenson is Birkmaier Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Minnesota.Amy L. Reschly is Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology & Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia.

• Part I: The Backdrop: Theoretical and Empirical Bases of Partnerships. Application of a Developmental/Ecological Model to Family-School Partnerships. Motivation and Commitment to Family-School Partnerships. Elements of Healthy Family-School Relationships. Diversity in Families: Parental Socialization and Children's Development and Learning. Culturally-based Worldviews, Family Processes, and Family-School Interactions. Part II: Partnerships Across Children’s Development/Schooling Levels. The Home Learning Environment and Achievement During Childhood. Parent Involvement in Early Education. Partnering to Foster Achievement in Reading and Mathematics. A School-Family Partnership: Addressing Multiple Risk Factors to Improve School Readiness and Prevent Conduct Problems in Young Children. Stormshak, Dishion, Falkenstein, Family-centered, School-based Mental Health Strategies to Reduce Student Behavioral, Emotional, and Academic Risk. School-Family Partnerships to Promote Social and Emotional Learning. School Connectedness and Adolescent Well-being. Family-School Partnerships and Communication Interventions for Young Children with Disabilities. Creating School-Family Partnerships in Adolescence: Challenges and Opportunities. Part III: Driving the Research Agenda to Inform Policy and Practice. Debunking the Myth of the Hard-to-reach Parent. Family-centered Helpgiving Practices, Parent-professional Partnerships, and Parent, Family and Child Outcomes. Mapping Family-School Relations in Comprehensive School Reform Models and Charter School Designs: A Call for a New Research Agenda. Future Directions in Family-School Partnerships. Methodological Issues in Family-School Partnership Research. From Periphery to Center: A New Vision and Strategy for Family, School, and Community Partnerships. Moving Forward in School-Family Partnerships in Promoting Student Competence: From Potential to Full Impact.

"This is a valuable compilation of writings highlighting the conceptual, empirical, historical, and practical issues related to involving families in children’s education and advancing the associated research agenda....if the ideas in the Handbook are implemented, school-family partnerships will be more cohesive, more affirming, and-most importantly-more effective in propelling children to greater academic success." - The School Community Journal"The editors and contributors address many of the questions, tensions, and controversies in contemporary early childhood education through the synthesis of research in developmental science. A powerful overall theme framed by the editors and echoed by the contributors is that science and education would be served well by more and better engagement; educators would more effectively support children's learning with better understanding of child development theory and research, and researchers would be more adept at defining and studying problems when informed by children in classrooms. This recommendation is more than abstract, however, as each chapter contains specific recommendations based on research evidence....Researchers, graduate students, teacher preparation faculty, and administrators of educational systems would likely appreciate and benefit from what the Handbook has to offer." - Julia Torquati, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Vol. 31, No. 3, May-June 2010