Building Partnerships Through Classroom-Based Events, Debbie Zacarian & Michael Silverstone

Building Partnerships Through Classroom-Based Events, Debbie Zacarian & Michael Silverstone

In the lead article of the Sept. issue of Ed Leadership, here’s how educators can design events that make families feel welcome, share their children’s learning, and integrate the rich assets they bring.

As educators, we all want to build partnerships with families. We know that students benefit from the cooperation, care, and shared inspiration that such partnerships can create.

But deepening family engagement can be a challenge, especially in ethnically diverse schools. The traditional approaches that schools use—parent-teacher conferences, back-to-school nights, and so on—sometimes put parents in a passive role, unwittingly distancing the very people we most want to include. Simply inviting families to an occasional school music program or open house doesn’t guarantee that they’ll feel welcome and become more involved in their children’s school

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