• Programs & Projects Home
• HIV Education
• Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP)
• STUDENT HEALTH ADVOCACY COALITION (SHAC)
• Making the Connection
  • Health Education
  • School Health Services
  • Family and Community Partnerships
  • Health Promotion for Staff
  • Counseling, Psychological and Social Services
  • Physical Education
  • School Nutrition Services
  • Healthy and Safe School Environment
• State Updates

Download Printable Version

Making the Connection II
Family and Community Partnerships

DEFINITION OF COMPONENT

Engaging parents and community members in the work of the school promotes the important message that healthy students are better able to learn. Students need support from their families, the school, and the community to succeed. Schools must actively solicit parent involvement and engage community resources to respond effectively to the wide variety of health and safety needs of students.

Family and Community Partnerships have made
vital contributions to coordinated school health
programs across the country. Involvement can range
from participation on a school wellness council to the
full-service community schools models. A fullservice
community school features partnership with community agencies; health, mental health, and family welfare services; case management; mentoring; and other activities that prepare students for work and life. This model has indicated a positive impact on educational outcomes. (1,
2, 3, 4, 9)

IMPACT ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Over thirty years of research point to numerous positive outcomes to parent involvement in schools. Students with involved parents perform better academically, tend to have fewer behavior problems, and are more likely to complete secondary school, as well as to enjoy school, to have higher educational aspirations, and increased motivation to succeed. Teachers of students with highly engaged parents tend to give greater attention to those students and identify potential problems at earlier stages.
When educators communicate clearly with families regarding specific information about student attendance, school rates of average daily attendance increase and chronic absenteeism decreases. Research has also found that students perform better in school if their fathers as Family and Community Partnerships well as their mothers are involved, regardless of whether
the father lives with the student. Schools that actively welcome parental engagement and involvement are more likely to have highly involved parents. (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12)

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Un Niño, Una Comunidad (One Child, One Community)

Educators at Highlands Middle School in Kennewick, Washington, saw an alarming increase in gang activity, especially among Hispanic students. The Action Team for Partnerships and the school’s vice principal reached out to law enforcement and local
clergy for help and together decided to hold a parent information session at the local Catholic church. Community members
and parents advertised the program on Spanishlanguage radio stations and in newspapers. The event was so successful,
they plan to hold a second event for English-speaking parents.

Tribal Transportation Safety for the Lummi Nation The Lummi tribe in Bellingham, Washington, proposed the installation of a bench as a part of its Safe Routes to School plan. Located in front of the congregate care facility for the tribe’s elders, the bench faces outward towards the street. The idea for the bench was generated during a community-wide discussion about how to make tribal children safer while walking to school. “It was a fascinating discussion about what the community values,”
says Kirk Vinish, the Lummi Tribal Transportation Officer. “The bench allows the elders to watch over the kids during their walk to school, acting as the eyes of the community.”

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEST PRACTICE

Schools can:

1. Engage the business, health care, and education communities together with youth, teachers, and parents on local wellness committees.
   
2. Host meetings and events at times that coincide with the schedules of working parents and offer child care, meals, and transportation to remove barriers to involvement.
   
3. Have parents and students reach out to other parents and community members to invite them to meetings and events; use emails, phone chains, local radio stations, newspapers, and business displays to get the word out.
   
4. Respect diverse audiences by hosting meetings and events in the preferred languages of participants or by employing bilingual interpreters so that multiple voices can be heard.
   
5. Assist parents and students in leading effective meetings and help them prepare presentations for the school board, town council, or other governing bodies.

Parents can:

1. Reinforce skills and messages in the health and physical education curricula.
   
2. Communicate with school personnel regarding their child’s health, development, and academic progress.
   
3. Attend information sessions and parent nights to learn more about their child’s school experience and effective parenting skills.
   
4. Serve on health advisory committees.

Community members can:

1. Meet with school personnel to determine what support is needed to advance the district’s health and academic objectives.
   
2. Provide mentoring and after-school programs to give children safe havens from violence and alternatives to drug use.
   
3. Nurture relationships between schools and community organizations that can provide youth with physical and mental health services.
   
4. Speak at community forums, write letters to the editor, and update organizations to which they belong about child and adolescent health issues.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (selected references)
1. Blank MJ, Berg A. All Together Now. ASCD. 2006.
2. Washington, DC, Coalition for Community Schools. Making the Difference:
Research and Practice in Community Schools. 1993.
3. Dryfoos JG. Evaluation of Community Schools: Findings to Date, 1998.
Available for download at: html://www.communityschools.org/evaluation/
evalprint.html Accessed June 1, 2009.
4. Epstein J. Developing and Sustaining Research-Based Programs of
School, Family, and Community Partnerships. National Network of
Partnership Schools, Johns Hopkins University. September 2005.
5. Gutman LM, Midgley C. The Role of Protective Factors in Supporting the
Academic Achievement of Poor African-American Students During the
Middle School Transition. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 2000; 29(2).
6. Hawkins JD, Kosterman R, Catalano RF, Hill KG, Abbott RD. Effects of
social development intervention in childhood fifteen years later. Archives of
Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2008; 162: 1133-1141.
7. Henderson A, Mapp K. A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School,
Famil y, and Community Connections on Student Achievement, 2002.
National Center for Family and Community Connections With Schools.
8. Henderson A, Mapp K, Johnson V, Davies D. Beyond the Bake Sale: The
Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships. New York: The New Press,
2007.
9. Hutchins D, Maushard M, Colosino J, Greenfeld M, Thomas B, eds.
Promising Partnership Practices, 2009. National Network of Partnership
Schools, Johns Hopkins University.
10. Jeynes WH. A Meta-Analysis: The Effects of Parent Involvement on
Minority Children’s Academic Achievement. Education and Urban Society.
2003; 35: 202-218.
11. Reynolds A, Clements M. Parental Involvement and Children’s School
Success, 2005. In: Patrikakou E, et al., eds. School-Family Partnerships:
Promoting the Social, Emotional, and Academic Growth of Children. New
York: Teachers College Press, 2005.
12. Weiss HB, Bouffard SM, Bridglall BL, Gordon EW. Reframing Family
Involvement in Education: Supporting Families to Support Educational
Equity. Research Review, Teachers College, Columbia University.
December 2009. http://www.equitycampaign.org.