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It’s the fall semester and parent-teacher conferences are being held in schools across the country. These meetings—in which parents and guardians meet with a teacher for 15 to 20 minutes once or twice a year—are often a staple of a school’s parent engagement efforts. According to the nonprofit data bank Child Trends, nearly 9 in 10… READ MORE →

Ask educators to define parent engagement and you’ll often hear about events or activities designed to bring families into the school building: parent-teacher conferences, movie showings, book fairs and evenings focused on a subject area such as reading and math. These events are usually attended by families who are already tuned in to their child’s… READ MORE →

Recently, family engagement in schools has shifted from being a low-priority endeavor to an integral part of academic reform. For many schools and districts, parent engagement has been a ‘nice-to-have’ more than a solidified goal. The concept of parent engagement has had success for increasing students’ reading and math comprehension as well as overall engagement… READ MORE →

A movement has emerged and the power of this movement is not to be underestimated. Parents, teachers, community organizers, and education leaders are coming together as partners and advocates in new and powerful ways. Creating effective partnerships with parents and community organizations to support student success is recognized as one effective strategy within education reform… READ MORE →

The term “social capital” dates as early back as 1916 when L. J. Hanifan described it as: “goodwill, fellowship, mutual sympathy and social intercourse among a group of individuals and families who make up a social unit.” Recently, social capital has landed back into the collective consciousness through Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of… READ MORE →