A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Center for Research on the Education of Disadvantaged Students (CDS)

Project #7129: School and Family Connections

Project Description: School and Family Connections will provide schools with information on successful parent involvement practices at all grade levels. This project includes two activities: (1) an evaluation of the effects of alternative programs and practices of five types of involvement of families of disadvantaged students, and (2) the design and testing of a series of modules for teacher in-service and pre-service training to prepare teachers of disadvantaged students to conduct parent involvement as part of their regular teaching practice.

Project Director: Epstein, Joyce L.

Institution: Johns Hopkins University

List of Selected Publications

Statement of Finding(s): Schools and researchers can work together to produce programs of family-school connections that have positive benefits for students, teachers, and parents. Implementing family-school connections on a large scale can be enhanced through pre-service teacher training that includes family-school connections as part of the curriculum.

Description of Finding(s): Evaluations of school-family partnerships provide information on the implementation, and effects on students and parents, of specific practices in schools that serve disadvantaged students. The project has documented and completed five reports on parent innovations carried out by five inner-city schools, including innovations on parent orientation, use of newsletters (in elementary and middle grades), use of summer home learning packets, and use of reading activity packets. Each of the reports evaluates the implementation of the parent innovation with data from students, parents, and teachers. The reports include evaluation instruments that can use used/adapted by other schools, districts, and researchers to evaluate the effects of similar parent involvement practices.

Are data from the study available? Yes

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