Partnering with Families for Student Success

This book helps teachers gain confidence and build sensitivity when interacting with caregivers and families who speak different languages and may come from different cultural, racial, and social backgrounds. By presenting various scenarios, the authors invite readers to reflect on issues they will face as practicing teachers in classrooms and across school districts. Chapter modules cover common challenges teachers face in a variety of situations, including conducting honest parent–teacher conferences, dealing with discipline issues, responding to confrontational parents, and educating neurodiverse students. Each module includes questions, worksheets, and background information for developing asset-based approaches, and each explores more than one solution to the challenges presented. This essential resource shows teachers how to consider caregivers’ and students’ underlying needs so they can better shape responses to the unique, changing situations in which they find themselves.

Book Features:

• Suggests strategies for navigating a variety of challenging situations teachers may face in working with caregivers to support students.
• Employs co-author Dr. Rand Spiro’s Cognitive Flexibility Theory to help teachers build a repertoire of flexible responses to the many variations of caregiver situations that will arise.
• Offers a format designed so that readers can practice how to select, adapt, and combine knowledge to fit their unique situations and experiences with families.

Patricia A. Edwards is a member of the Reading Hall of Fame, professor of language and literacy, and bestselling author. Dr. Edwards received the 2020 Literacy Research Association's Oscar S. Causey Award to recognize a LRA member for outstanding contributions to literacy research. She received the 2024 International Literacy Association (ILA) William S. Gray Citation of Merit for outstanding contributions to multiple facets of literacy development, including research, theory, and practice. Rand J. Spiro, Lisa M. Domke, Ann M. Castle, Marliese R. Peltier, and Tracy H. Donohue are all at Michigan State University; and Kristen L. White is at Northern Michigan University.

"If you and your school are looking for a clearly written, nuanced guide to making sense of local challenges in order to create an environment where all families feel welcome and empowered to participate in the schooling of their children, then this may be the book you have been waiting for."

—Teachers College Record

" Partnering with Families for Student Success helps teachers gain confidence and build sensitivity when interacting with caregivers and families who speak different languages and may come from different cultural, racial, and social backgrounds. By presenting various scenarios, authors invite readers to reflect on issues they will face as practicing teachers in classrooms and across school districts."

—Sir Read a Lot

"This book is a trove of treasured stories about how to communicate with diverse families to support student success in school. Teachers will keep this reference handy because they will meet similar challenges. The message is clear: Family and community engagement should be part of teacher education because it is part of every teacher’s professional work"
—From the foreword by Joyce L. Epstein, director, Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and National Network of Partnership Schools, Johns Hopkins University

“This books begins where the others leave off—addressing the challenging questions that educators have about how to build partnerships with families. The modules offer practical suggestions for handling difficult conversations and for empowering families. If you’ve ever been confused or discouraged about building partnerships with families, this book provides research-based, practical strategies that you can use to work effectively with all families.”
—Laurie Elish-Piper, Northern Illinois University

“Partnering with Families for Student Success: 24 Scenarios for Problem Solving with Parents is a practice-focused book steeped in both the relevant literature on family, school, and community partnerships and in the theory of how practitioners learn from cases. It is accessible and trustworthy, a timely and important contribution to K–8 teacher preparation. This is a gem of a resource for teacher educators and teacher preparation programs looking to support the development of teachers who can work in responsive, thoughtful partnership with all families.”
― Judy Paulick, Curry School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia

“This book is a must-read for everyone involved in education—teachers, teacher educators, researchers, social workers, and the para-professionals that often serve as a liaison between school and home. Edwards and her colleagues provide a process for resolving differences that extends far beyond the interactions between educators and caregivers—a process applicable to interactions between colleagues in academe and between professors and students. The modules are comprehensive, and the case scenarios for each of the 24 modules are realistic and engaging. I've rarely seen a volume that I can recommend—without equivocation—to everyone involved in education.”
—Elfrieda (Freddy) H. Hiebert, president and CEO of TextProject

Contents

Foreword by Dr. Joyce L. Epstein

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. The Importance of Family–School Partnerships

Chapter 2. Tools to Deepen Understanding and Develop Solutions: Exploring the Module Format

Chapter 3. Preparing Teachers for Interactions with Parents: Some Thoughts on Using Case Modules from the Perspective of Cognitive Flexibility Theory

Modules—Part I: Reaching Out to Caregivers
   Module 1: Caregivers Who Do Not Respond
   Module 2: Caregivers with Low Print-Literacy Levels
   Module 3: Caregivers Experiencing Homelessness
   Module 4: Caregivers with Complex Job Situations
   Module 5: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Caregivers
   Module 6: Caregivers Who Speak Limited or No English
   Module 7: Caregivers Who Are Immigrants or Refugees
   Module 8: Extended, Reconstituted, or Blended Families
   Module 9: Families with Incarcerated Caregivers
   Module 10: When School/Neighborhood Demographics Change
   Module 11: What to Do When You Have Tried It All

Modules—Part II: Handling Difficult Conversations
   Module 12: Honest Caregiver–Teacher Conferences
   Module 13: Discussing Academic Concerns
   Module 14: Discussing Discipline Issues (Positive Discipline)
   Module 15: Advocating for a Neurodiversity Paradigm
   Module 16: Families with Students Experiencing Life-Altering Developmental Disabilities
   Module 17: Caregivers Who Challenge Teaching
   Module 18: Caregivers with Frequent Concerns
   Module 19: Adversarial/Confrontational Caregivers
   Module 20: Caregivers of Students Who Have Suffered Trauma

Modules—Part III: Involving and Empowering Caretakers
   Module 21: Curriculum-Based Versus Event-Based Caretaker Involvement
   Module 22: Connecting Caretakers with Community Resources
   Module 23: Caregiver Empowerment: Making Caregivers Feel Comfortable at School
   Module 24: Technology and Literacy

Appendix A: Tasks for Section 2: Exploring Current Perspectives

Appendix B: Tasks for Section 4: Listening to Expand Perspectives

Appendix C: Tasks for Section 5: Fixing It

Index

About the Authors

Download online supplementary materials, including a table presenting an overview of the module topics and how they connect to the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) standards and sample instructions and completed tasks for the following modules: Module 1: Caregivers Who Do Not Respond, Module 3: Caregivers Experiencing Homelessness, and Module 18: Caregivers with Frequent Concerns.