Parent/Family/Community Involvement

Increased involvement of parents and families is often cited as one of the important ways to improve schools. Research shows that when parents/families are involved in their children's education, there is a positive correlation to achievement and positive effects on overall student attitudes and behavior.

Tips for Parents: 35 Things You Can Do to Help Your Children Succeed in School (from the Learning First Alliance)

Yellow Pages for Kids With Disabilities

For help in locating :

educational consultants, psychologists, diagnosticians, health care specialists, academic tutors, speech language therapists, advocates, and attorneys.
government programs, grassroots organizations, special education schools, and parent support groups.

or to request a copy of your state’s special education regulations and other information about special education issues that are published by your state.

Resources for Parents: A wealth of resources to help parents understand and negotiate the educational landscape within and beyond the NYS system. (from the New York State Education Department)

A Literature Review on Parent Child Connectedness - an overview of the existing evidence for the protective effects of Parent-Child Connectedness (PCC) on a variety of adolescent health outcomes, including: identification of possible determinants of PCC, a proposed model for how PCC is established in families, reviews of some of the existing interventions that have addressed PCC and preliminary suggestions to practitioners for incorporating PCC in their work.

Resources from the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE):

NCPIE's mission: To advocate the involvement of parents and families in their children's education and to foster relationships between home, school, and community to enhance the education of all our nation's young people.

A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement A review of recent research on positive impact of parent involvement on multiple school outcomes
Engaging Families to Improve Achievement: Advice from the Research Decades of research strongly suggest that families have a major influence on their children’s achievement in school and through life. When schools support families to be involved at home and at school, students of all backgrounds achieve at higher levels.
No Child Left Behind: Key Leverage Points for Parents and Community Leaders Federal education law contains extensive provisions for parent involvement at the state, district and local school levels; read more on how parent and community leaders can have a major influence on how these provisions are carried out.

Supporting Parents as Leaders: Stories of Dedication, Determination, and Inspiration (from the Institute for Responsive Education)

The Impact Of School, Family & Community
This report examines the impact of different family and community connections on student achievement. "When schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more." (from the National Center for Family & Community Connections with Schools)

The National Parent Teacher Association has developed standards and resources to help schools and their communities work together in cooperation and collaboration. Visit its website for materials and resources.

Real Parents - Real Schools
This brochure, "Real Parents, Real Schools," offers research-based guidelines to help parents, families, schools and communities work together as partners to promote the healthy development and academic achievement of their children. You can download a copy here:

Real Parents, Real Schools (Adobe Acrobat format) (HTML format)
Spanish - Verdaderos Padres, Verdaderas Escuelas (MSWord format) (HTML format)
Haitian - Paran toutbon – Lekòl toutbon (Adobe Acrobat format) (MSWord format

(Click here for help downloading Adobe Acrobat files.)