Grassroots Approach
Frameworks for collaboration with families typically include some or all of the six types of parent involvement proposed by Joyce Epstein (2001) for the National Network of Partnership Schools initiative:
- Parent education: Providing information or training about topics important to parents in structured or informal ways.
- Communication: Understanding the ways in which parents and teachers interact with one another and share information.
- Volunteering: Inviting family participation at the educational setting including social events, classroom support, clerical work, and so on.
- Learning at home: Finding ways to involve parents in activities that support their learning at school.
- Decision making: Inviting parent participation in all levels of decisions, from those related to individual children to advisory councils or committees that participate in establishing and enacting policies and initiatives.
- Collaborating with the community: Inviting families to help the program establish relationships with merchants, organizations, and public services such as libraries or health centers.
Teachers and programs seek input from families about what kinds of involvement would best serve their needs, recruit parents who might be interested in leadership roles, and work together to develop and implement plans.
Family Involvement Models
Some programs, especially those funded by the state or federal government, or grants, establish and operate comprehensive family involvement programs with different kinds of features. If you work in a Head Start program, for example, there are clearly defined policies about how teachers and the program will collaborate with families. In a pilot or experimental program such as Leaps and Bounds, the framework might be more open-ended as the program is developed.
Table 5.2 displays a range of examples of family involvement models with a short description of each (Gestwicki, 2004; Lim, 2008; Narvaez, Feldman, & Theriot, 2007; Rhodes, Enz, & LaCount, 2007).