“The Boss of My Brain”: Explicit Instruction in Metacognition Puts Students in Charge of Their Learning
This article in Educational Leadership, highlights the importance of teaching students of all ages metacognition strategies. It discusses setting the stage by teaching students about neuroplasticity—that they can teach themselves to “become smarter” through learning. It also provides specific strategies and examples for teaching metacognitive skills at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Lastly,… Read More ›
Seeing is Believing: Promising Practices for How School Districts Promote Family Engagement
This report explores the role of districts in promoting family involvement. The report looked at six districts that are working to build the core components of systemic family engagement by fostering district-wide strategies, building school capacity, and reaching out to families directly. The report includes a description of the practices used by each district to build… Read More ›
Harvard Family Research Project
This organization seeks to promote family and community involvement in children’s education anywhere and anytime they learn, be that in the home, at school, in community programs, or through digital media. To that end, the Harvard Family Research Project conducts research and documents promising practices, creates frameworks and policy papers, and provides tools for professional… Read More ›
A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement
This often-cited report synthesizes over 50 research studies on the impact of family and community involvement on academic outcomes conducted between 1995 and 2002. The authors provide an overview synthesis of findings across the studies as well as a detailed summary of each individual study. The synthesis of the research studies found that parents of… Read More ›
PTA National Standards for Family-School Partnerships: An Implementation Guide
This guide introduces the six standards for family-school partnerships developed by the National Parent Teacher Association. The standards, welcoming all families, communicating, supporting student success, speaking up for every child, sharing power, and community collaboration, are described in detail along with vignettes of local success stories. For each of the six standards the guide also… Read More ›
Reimagining Parent Engagement in California: Moving from 1.0 to 2.0
This report explores the characteristics of family-friendly schools. It presents clear indicators in key areas: welcoming environment, effective family-school communication, meaningful resources, shared leadership, conflict resolution, and financial resources. Though designed by family advocates to help the state of California create regulations, this guide could be used by any school to asses its level of family… Read More ›
Parents SEE
This 12-week leadership program is for parents in Connecticut. Participants learn how to become partners with schools in developing policies and programs to increase student success. Participants of the Parents Supporting Educational Excellence (Parents SEE) program focuses on training to become actively involved in governance and policy development at the school, district, and state levels as community… Read More ›
Parent School Partnership Program (MALDEF)
This program established in 1989 by the MALDEF trains parents to become leaders and change agents in their community. The 12-session training covers topics that introduce parents to the school system such as parents rights and responsibilities, parent/teacher partnerships, how the school and district function, and the path to postsecondary education. It also covers leadership skills such… Read More ›
ASPIRA Parents for Educational Excellence
Since 1961 ASPIRA has been dedicated to improving the education and leadership opportunities for Puerto Rican and Latino youth. ASPIRA has state associate programs in 8 states, including Connecticut, Delaware, and Massachusetts, and works with partner CBOs across the country. In addition to their youth development programs, they also offer a parent leadership program, ASPIRA… Read More ›
Building Local Leadership for Change: A National Scan of Parent Leadership Training Programs
This report, while written to inform the development of parent training centers in NYC, provides an excellent overview of four exemplary parent training programs that may be of interest to any school or district that wants to begin or strengthen their own program. A scan of national programs revealed four major types of parent training… Read More ›
Know Your Rights/ Derechos Educativos Federales Folleto
This pamphlet developed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund describes federal education laws relevant to parents. Using parent-friendly language it provides an overview of the right to review your child’s records, the right of disabled students to receive special education services, the right of immigrant students to equal access to k-12 public… Read More ›
Student Voice Collaborative
This organization works in NYC to support student involvement in school change. Students from 16 schools come together to support each other and build the skills they identified in effective community leaders, such as speaking and listening, conducting sound research, collaborating and organizing, solving problems fairly and with flexibility, and understanding school systems. One research… Read More ›