"More than 20 years of research indicates that children benefit from family-school collaborations that provide parents with opportunities to shape their children's learning."

Heather Weiss, Harvard Family Research Project

On Day 2, we addressed the importance of including parents and caregivers on your planning team. Families also can -- and should -- play a significant role in your district's overall prevention initiative. Young people require support at home and at school to develop the critical-thinking, social, and emotional skills needed to avoid high-risk behaviors, build rewarding relationships, and achieve academically.

Research-based drug and violence prevention programs typically incorporate classroom-based instruction to foster the development of these skills, and schools often establish and enforce policies that further guide appropriate behavior. These efforts will succeed only if they are reinforced at home.

There are many ways that your school can partner with families to prevent substance use and violence, including the following:

Keep families informed about prevention efforts. Communication with parents and caregivers about school-based efforts to prevent high-risk behaviors increases their awareness of the different skills their children need to lead safe, healthy, and productive lives; helps them understand what they can do at home to support the development of these skills; and lets them know how their children are progressing. Your planning team and other school personnel might consider strategies like newsletters, phone calls, progress reports, personal notes, and home visits to stay in touch with students' families. Frequent and positive communication increases parents' self-confidence, comfort with the school, and willingness to become involved.

Click on the icon for another recommended school-home communication strategy. (Click here to read these comments.)

Invite parents and caregivers into the classroom and school. Parents and other family members should feel welcome at their children's school and have opportunities to visit with school staff, observe and volunteer in classrooms, and participate in different education and prevention activities. Some schools have even created parent centers that are equipped with comfortable furniture, coffee, and resource materials.

Build family capacity to support students' health and education. One important way to promote students' well-being is to increase the capacity of their parents and caregivers to address school- and health-related issues. Consider offering family education workshops as part of your district's prevention initiative.

As your planning team examines different research-based prevention programs, make sure to identify if and how they promote family involvement. Many research-based prevention programs include tools such as sample informational letters for students' families, agendas for parent meetings, classroom-based sessions that call for parent volunteers, and manuals for family education courses. Part of your role as a middle school coordinator is to support the implementation of these and other program elements.