If families are to work with schools as partners in education (1) ______
of their children, schools must provide them with the opportunities
and support their need to become involved. Too often schools
expect families to do it all alone. Developing effective partners (2) ______
with families requires that all school staff (administrators, teachers,
and support staff) create a school environment welcomes parents (3) ______
and encourages them to raise questions and voice their concerns
as well as to participate appropriately in decision making. Developing
partnerships also requires that school staff provide parents with
the information and training they need them to become involved (4) ______
and they reach out to parents with invitations to participate in their (5) ______
children’s learning.
Schools that are most successful on engaging parents and other (6) ______
family members in support of their children’s learning look beyond traditional
definitions of parent involvement--participating in a parent-teacher
organization or signing on quarterly report cards--to a broader (7) ______
conception of parents as full partners in the education of their children. Rather
than striving only to enlarge parent participation in school-based (8) ______
activities, successful schools seek to support families in their
activities outside of school that can encourage their children’s
learning. Schools that have developed successful partnerships
with parents view student achievement as a sharing responsibility, (9) ______
and all stakeholders--including parents, administrators, teachers,
and community leaders--play important roles in supporting children’s learning.
Successful school-family partnerships require the sustained mutual
collaboration, support, and participation of school staffs and families at
home and at school in activities that can directly effect the success (10) ______
of children’s learning.