National Dropout Prevention Center / Network Volume 20 Number 2
Family/School Relationships: Relationships That Matter
We often hear how important the three R's are in dropout prevention: Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships. Looking at the third R, Relationships, we naturally think first about the connections teachers and other school personnel are making with students — engaging them at a personal level; knowing each of them, their interests, their special problems, and their aspirations; caring about them as individuals; and thus not letting them fall through the cracks. And this is extraordinarily important. However, the notion of relationships with parents and families is every bit as significant in order to solve the dropout crisis. Positive personal and school relationships with parents and families translate into strong family engagement, one of the most powerful indicators of student success. View report here.

101 Ways to Create Real Family Engagement

Many schools and districts have proclaimed their "strategies for family engagement" and set about "doing things" but they have not succeeded in engaging all families. At best, many have merely increased the engagement of the already engaged.

Steve Constantino addresses the cultural revolution that must first occur, along with providing strategies and exercises that help schools begin making the tough cultural changes. Readers then learn how to build on that new cultural foundation and create the relationships that motivate family involvement, and ultimately create family engagement. The book contains more than 100 tested ways to create REAL family engagement.

Ordering information.

When Your Child Tells You They Are Being Bullied

Third Annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week

Oct. 5–11, 2008

Did you know that up to one-third of the nation's students will be bullied during the school year and each day more than 60 percent of students will witness bullying situations?

Join with PACER to prevent bullying in children's lives by taking part in the Third Annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week, Oct 5-11, 2008. Visit PACERKidsAgainstBullying.org and PACER.org for activities and ideas. Partnering organizations are asked to share their bullying prevention activities at bullying411@PACER.org and will be listed on PACER's bullying prevention Web site.

The week is sponsored by PACER Center’s National Center for Bullying Prevention and cosponsored by the American Federation for Teachers, National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, National Education Association, National PTA, and School Social Work Association of America.

Public Education Network announces the first-of-its-kind online tool that allows communities to measure their support for their public schools. It's an excellent resource!

The Civic Index is:

• A tool.
• That helps identify what civic behaviors the public believes are critical for quality public schools.
• That leads communities to gain a better understanding of the role civic action plays in the quality of public education.
• Through strategies which can increase civic involvement through public engagement.

Negotiating The Special Education Maze by Deidre Hayden, Cherie Takemoto, Winifred Anderson, and Stephen Chitwood
For more than 25 years, this classic guide has taken parents, guardians, educational advocates, and special educators step-by-step through the special education process. Now revised and updated, reflecting the latest changes to the special education laws, NEGOTIATING THE SPECIAL EDUCATION MAZE continues to provide thorough, time-tested advice based on the authors' years of experience helping parents advocate for their child. More information here.

Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships by Anne Henderson, Karen Mapp, Vivian Johnson and Don Davies
One of American School Board Journal's editors top education books of 2007 is Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships!! It is recommended as one of the must-reads of the year. More information here.

Kentucky Parent Advisory Council Issues Recommendations and Rubric for Parent Involvement. More information here.

The American Association of Colleges of Teacher Preparation (AACTE), with support from the MetLife Foundation (and behind the scenes support from NCPIE), held a Mini Institute for their members in February of 2007 to promote the importance of engaging parents in the academic success of their children in pre-service teacher training programs and in-service professional development programs. The Survey and Findings, as well as the presentations from leading researchers are being made available on their website.

This site will offer various presentations and information for use in addressing the concerns for Parental Involvement. We hope you use this site to develop or begin a program that provides new teacher training and in-service professional development with the tools necessary to effectively work with families to increase academic success for all students.

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