A compact is (1) a commitment to sharing responsibility for student learning and (2) an action plan for a family-school-community partnership to help children in your school get a high-quality education. This user-friendly handbook is designed to walk your family-school compact team through the steps of building a compact. It provides information, strategies, examples, and checklists to help parents, educators, and community members develop effective, workable compacts that can improve your school and increase student achievement. The handbook includes activity sheets to assist your partners in the creation and use of a compact.

A Compact for Learning is part of a continuous improvement series that will highlight key issues of interest to teachers, parents, and principals who want to make their schools better and work towards standards of excellence. These materials are available on the U.S. Department of Education Web site with links to resources, examples, and other school improvement aids.

This handbook and the Web site are both works in progress. We welcome your comments and hope that you will share your experiences with family-school compacts. Please mail your ideas or a copy of your compact to:

The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education
600 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20202-8173

Many of these compacts and tips will be put on the Partnership Web site, which is available through the U.S. Department of Education's home page at www.ed.gov/PFIE/.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Richard W. Riley
U.S. Secretary of Education