NEA’s Priority Schools Campaign Releases Family-School-Community Partnership Guide

Backed by research that shows parent, family, and community involvement in education correlates with higher academic performance and school improvement, the National Education Association (NEA), joined by Parenting magazine, released the “Family-School-Community Partnerships 2.0,” a tool to  help educators develop more connections between the most important people in their students’ lives.

The guide is a publication from NEA’s Priority Schools Campaign (PSC), the organization’s effort in 17 states to help transform 39 low performing schools.

While there is  general agreement that traditional models for involving parents and community members in schools are outdated and don’t reflect the realities of busy families in a tough economy, little guidance has been provided to educators about how to develop more effective partnerships—until now. The guide highlights the very successful Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project (PTHVP), one of 16 successful partnerships forged by NEA members nationwide. Designed to address the chronic low performance of local schools and a pervasive cycle of blame between school staff and community members, PTHVP trains teachers to make home visits to families, which build relationships and foster parent-teacher collaboration to improve student achievement.

Click here to download the guide and learn more about the 16 partnership programs.

Listen to the audio news release with NEA Vice President Lily Eskelsen.