TOPIC: Parent/Home Involvement in Schools

The following reflects our most recent response for technical assistance related to this topic. This list represents a sample of information to get you started and is not meant to be exhaustive.
(Note: Clicking on the following links causes a new window to be opened. To return to this window, close the newly opened one.)

Center Developed Documents, Resources, and Tools

Articles

• Connecting Schools, Families, and Communities
• Enlisting Appropriate Parental Cooperation and Involvement in Children's Mental Health Treatment

Guides to Practice

• H.S. Adelman, & L. Taylor (2002). Guide 7: Fostering School, Family, and Community Involvement. Guidebook in series, Safe and Secure: Guides to Creating Safer Schools. Developed by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
• Guides to Practice: What Schools Can Do to Welcome and Meet the Needs of All Students and Families

Hot Topic

• Homework as a Mental Health Concern

Introductory Packets

• Parent and Home Involvement in Schools
• Note: Please refer to Section IV of this packet entitled Helping Parents Help Their Children.
• Transitions: Turning Risks into Opportunities for Student Support

Practice Notes

• Involving Parents in Counseling
• Welcoming Strategies for Newly Arrived Students and Their Families

QuickFinds

• The Enabling Component
• Parenting Skills and Parenting Education

Resource Aid Packets

• Addressing Barriers to Learning A Set of Surveys to Map What a School Has and What It Needs

Technical Aid Packets

• Guiding Parents in Helping Children Learn
• Note: Please refer specifically to Section III of this packet entitled Guides and Other Basic Resources Parents can Draw Upon to Enhance Children's Learning and Performance.
• School Based Mutual Support Groups
• Welcoming and Involving New Students and Families

Technical Assistance Sampler

• A Sampling of Outcome Findings from Interventions Relevant to Addressing Barriers to Learning
• Appendix E: Home Involvement in Schooling - Parenting Education
• Appendix E: Home Involvement in Schooling - Adult Education/Family Literacy
• Appendix E: Home Involvement in Schooling - Mobilizing the Home to Address Students' Basic Needs

Tools for Practice

• Home Involvement in Schooling: A Self-Study Survey

Training Tutorials

• Home Involvement in Schooling

• Approaches to Parental Involvement for Improving the Academic Performance of Elementary School Children in Grades K–6
• Bibliography of Family Involvement Research Published in 2005
• Building Effective School-Family-Community Partnerships in a Large Urban School District
• Center for Parent Leadership
• The Changing Face of Parenting Education
• Children Cared for by Relatives: Who are They and How Are They Faring?
• Community and Family Engagement: Principals Share What Works
• Co-constructing Family Improvement, Harvard Family Research Project
• Defining Family Driven Care, Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health
• Developing a Collaborative Team Approach to Support Family and Community Connections with Schools: What can School Leaders do?
• Do Child Characteristics Affect How Children Fare in Families Receiving and Leaving Welfare? (2004) S. Vandivere, et al, Urban Institute
• A Dozen Activities to Promote Parent Involvement!
• Engaging Families in Academic Improvement
• Engaging families to improve achievement
• Enhancing Educational Performance: Three Policy Alternatives
• Ensuring the Education Rights of All Children The 2001 Council Priority.
• Facts For Families (from the AACAP)
• Family and Advocates Partnerships for Education (FAPE)
• Family and community engagement self-assessment
• A Family Guide to Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy & Drug Free
• Family Involvement in Children's Education: Successful Local Approaches
• Family Involvement in ESMH Programs (CSMHA)
• Family Involvement in Elementary School Children's Education
• Family Involvement in Middle and High Schools
• Family Involvement Tips
• "Family Literacy: A Strategy for Educational Improvement"(2002)
• Family Partnerships with High Schools: The Parents' Perspective
• Family perceptions of participation in education planning (2008) P. Jivanjee, et al., School Work Journal, 32(1) 75-92
• Family Strengthening Policy Center
• Grandma and Grandpa taking care of the kids: patterns of involvement
• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
• "The Growing Number of Kids in Severely Distressed Neighborhoods: Evidence from the 2000 Census" (2003) Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Growing Up Drug Free: A Parent's Guide to Prevention
• Helping Parents Prepare for Parent-Teacher Conferences
• Helping Students with Homework in Science and Math
• Helping with Homework: A Parent's Guide to Information Problem-Solving
• Helping Your Child Succeed: How Parents & Families Can Communicate Better With Teachers and School Staff
• Helping Your Child with Homework
• Hispanic Parent Involvement in Early Childhood Education Programs.
• Home Visits. In Beginning Teacher' Tool Box
• The Homework Dilemma: How Much Should Parents Get Involved?
• Hope in the Face of Adversity
• Ideas and Tools for Working with Parents and Families
• "Identifying and Addressing the Needs of Children in Grandparent Care" (2003) C. Scarcela, et al, Urban Institute
• Increasing Welfare Mothers' Education Affects Their Young Children's Schooling
• Institute for Responsive Education (IRE)
• "It Takes a Parent: Transforming Education in the Wake of the No Child Left Behind Act (2006)
• "It's All in the Family: Planning High-Quality Family Literacy Events
• Learning from Families
• Meeting the Challenge: Getting Parents Involved in Schools
• National Clearinghouse on Family Support and Children's Mental Health
• National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University
• New Skills for New Schools: Preparing Teachers in Family Involvement
• New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement
• Online Resources for Parent/Family Involvement. ERIC Digest.
• Pacesetter
• Parent Involvement in Education
• Parent Involvement in Children’s Education: Efforts by Public Elementary Schools
• Parent Involvement in Education
• Parent Involvement at the Secondary School Level
• Parent Engagement as a School Reform Strategy. ERIC/CUE Digest Number 135
• Parent Partners: Using Parents to Enhance Education
• Parent Resource Center Handouts in Spanish
• Parental Involvement in Schools
• Parental Involvement in Student's Education During Middle School and High School
• Parents at School
• A Parent's Guide for Preventing Gangs
• A Parent's Guide to Improving School Achievement
• The Parenting Imperative: Investing in Parents so Children and Youth Succeed
• The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education
• Power of Positive Parenting: 11 Guidelines for Raising Healthy and Confident Children
• Questions Parents Ask About Schools
• Reaching All Families: Creating Family-Friendly Schools. US Dept of Education, Office or Educational Research and Improvement
• Rethinking Parent Conferences (2005) S. Black, American School Board Journal, October 2005
• School and Parent Interaction by Household Language and Poverty Status: 2002-03
• School-Family-Community Partnerships and the Academic Achievement of African American, Urban Adolescents
• Snapshots of America's Families 3: Tracking Change 1997-2002 (2003) Urban Institute
• Staying Involved: Approaches to Helping Our Middle School and High School Students Learn
• Steps You Can Take To Improve Your Children's Education
• A Strategic and Shared Agenda to Advance Mental Health in Schools Through Family and System Partnership
• Study Skills: A Handout for Parents
• Team up for Kids! How Schools Can Support Family Involvement in Education
• Urgent Message for Parents
• U.S. Department of Education Publications for Parents
• Vehicles for Change
• Why Some Parents Don't Come to School
• Working Constructively with Families

• The battle over homework: Common ground for administrators, teachers, and parents. Cooper, Harris. (2nd ed.). Corwin Press, Inc: Thousand Oaks, CA, US, 2001. xiii, 82pp.
• Connecting home, school and community: New directions for social research. Epstein, J. L., & Sanders, M. G. (2000). In M. T. Hallinan (Ed.), Handbook of the sociology of education (pp. 285 - 306), New York, NY: Kluwer Academic
• Developing Academically Supportive Behaviors Among Hispanic Parents: What Elementary Teachers and Administrators Can Do. Lara-Alecio, R.; Irby, B.J.; Ebner, R. Preventing School Failure v42, n1 (Fall, 1997):27
• The effect of parent participation in strategies to improve the homework performance of students who are at risk. Callahan, Kevin; Rademacher, Joyce A.; Hildreth, Bertina L.; Hildreth, Bertina L. Remedial & Special Education. PRO-ED: US, 1998 May. 19 (3): p. 131-141.
• Families, professionals, and exceptionality: Positive outcomes through partnerships and trust (5th ed.) Soodak, L. C., Erwin, E. J., Turnbull, A.P. & Turnbull, H.R. (2001) http://www.beachcenter.org/resource_library/beach_resource_detail_page.aspx?intResourceID=2267
• Free Appropriate Public Education: The Law and Children With Disabilities. H. Rutherford Turnbull and Ann Turnbull. Denver: Love, 2000.
• From Parent Involvement to Parent Empowerment and Family Support: A guide for Community Leaders, (1998). K. Briar-Lawson, H.A. Lawson, B.J. Rooney, V. Hansen, L.G. White, M.E. Radina, K. L. Herzog Institute for Educational Renewal
• From Parent Involvement to Parent Empowerment and Family Support: A resource guide for school community leaders, (1998). Briar-Lawson, Lawson, Rooney, Hansen, White, Radina & Herzog. Oxford, OH: The Danforth Foundation & The Institute for Educational Renewal at Miami University
• Homework and students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders: A practical, parent-based approach. Journal of Learning Disabilities. Jenson, William R.; Sheridan, Susan M.; Olympia, Daniel; Andrews, Debra. PRO-ED: US, 1994 Nov. 27 (9): p. 538-548.
• Homework: Parent and student involvement and their effects on academic performance. Gorges, Todd C.; Elliott, Stephen N. Canadian Journal of School Psychology. Canadian Association of School Psychologists: Canada, 1995 Spr. 11 (1): p. 18-31.
• The how, whom, and why of parents’ involvement in children’s academic lives: More is not always better. Pomerantz, E., Moorman, E., & Litwack, S. (2007). Review of Educational Research, 77, 373-410.
• Making homework work at home: The parent's perspective. Kay, Pamela J.; Fitzgerald, Martha; Paradee, Carol; Mellencamp, Amy. Journal of Learning Disabilities. PRO-ED: US, 1994 Nov. 27 (9): p. 550-561.
• A new wave of evidence: The impact of school, family and community connections on student achievement. Henderson, A.T. & Mapp, K.L. (2002). Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
• Opportunities for Parental Involvement in Special Education T. W. Osher (1997). Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health.
• Parent involvement in homework: A double-edged sword. Perkins, Peggy G.; Milgram, Roberta M. International Journal of Adolescence & Youth. A B Academic Publishers: United Kingdom, 1996. 6 (3): p. 195-203.
• Parent involvement: more power in the portfolio process. Weldin, Donna J.; Tumarkin, Sandra R.. Childhood Education v75, n2 (Winter, 1998):90
• Parent training and consultation: An analysis of a homework intervention program. Rhoades, Mary M.; Kratochwill, Thomas R. School Psychology Quarterly. Guilford Publications: US, 1998 Fal. 13 (3): p. 241-264.
• Parents' reported involvement in students' homework: Strategies and practices. Hoover-Dempsey, Kathleen V.; Bassler, Otto C.; Burow, Rebecca. Elementary School Journal. Univ of Chicago Press: US, 1995 May. 95 (5): p. 435-450.
• Parents who get what they want: on the empowerment of the powerful.(parental participation in schools) Birenbaum-Carmeli, Daphna. Sociological Review v47, n1 (Feb, 1999):62 .
• Preparing Educators for Partnerships with Families. M. S. Ammon (1997). California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 1812 9th Street, Sacramento, California 95814-7012.
• Putting the cart before the horse: parent involvement in the Improving America's Schools Act. Johnson, Daniel. California Law Review v85, n6 (Dec, 1997):1757-1801.
• Recommendations for homework-communication problems: From parents, classroom teachers, and special education teachers. Jayanthi, Madhavi; Sawyer, Valerie; Nelson, Janet S.; Bursuck, William D.; and others. Remedial & Special Education. PRO-ED: US, 1995 Jul. 16 (4): p. 212-225.
• Resolving homework-related communication problems: Recommendations of parents of children with and without disabilities. Harniss, Mark K.; Epstein, Michael H.; Bursuck, William D.; Nelson, Janet; Jayanthi, Madhavi. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties. Taylor & Francis: US, 2001 Jul-Sep. 17 (3): p. 205-225.
• Rethinking family-school relations: A critique of parental involvement in schooling. De Carvalho, M.E.P. (2001). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• A School Parent Group Which Supports Families, Education and Community. Vandrick, S.(1999). In Education v120, n2 (Winter, 1999):249.
• Six pathways to healthy child development and academic success: The field guide to Comer schools in action. Comer, J.P., Joyner, E.T., & Ben-Avie, M. (2004) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
• Teachers' views of parents: Family decision making styles and teacher-parent agreement regarding homework practices and values. Pratt, Michael W.; Filipovich, Tania; Bountrogianni, Marie. Alberta Journal of Educational Research. Alberta Journal of Educational Research Faculty of Education Publication Services: Canada, 1995 Jun. 41 (2): p. 175-187.
• Toward a Grounded Theory of Parent Preschool Involvement. A.J. Petrie, & I.F. Davidson. (1995). Early Child Development & Care, Special Issue:Focus on Caregivers, 111, 5-17.
• When mom and dad help: Student reflections on parent involvement with homework. Balli, Sandra J. Journal of Research & Development in Education. Univ. of Georgia: US, 1998 Spr. 31 (3): p. 142-146.
• Why do parents become involved in their children's education? Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., & Sandler, H. M. (1997). Review of Educational Research, 67(1), 3-42
• Working with Culturally Different Families. D.P. Flanagan, & A.H. Miranda. (1995). In A. Thomas, & J. Grimes, (Eds.). Best Practices in School Psychology - III. Washington, DC: National Association of School Psychologists.
• Working with Families and Communities. A. Bouie. Center for the Development of Schools and Communities. 202-328-5412.

We hope these resources met your needs. If not, feel free to contact us for further assistance. For additional resources related to this topic, use our search page to find people, organizations, websites and documents.  You may also go to our technical assistance page for more specific technical assistance requests.

If you haven't done so, you may want to contact our sister center, the Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

If our website has been helpful, we are pleased and encourage you to use our site or contact our Center in the future.  At the same time, you can do your own technical assistance with "The fine Art of Fishing" which we have developed as an aid for do-it-yourself technical assistance.