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Dear FINE Member,

Here are this month's FINE member announcements. Please feel free to forward this information to friends and other education colleagues.

New on the FINE Website

• Member Insight by Larry and Virginia Decker

  Larry and Virginia Decker, coauthors of the new book Home, School and Community Partnerships consider the following question: Are schools doing enough to learn about families? The Deckers reply with a resounding “no.” They suggest that schools develop a “planned, comprehensive initiative to learn more about the families they serve and how to involve them in student learning.”

• Member Insight by Dana McDermott

  Dana McDermott, a Resident Faculty at the School for New Learning at DePaul University, also believes that schools are not doing enough to learn about families. She points out that a perceived lack of parent involvement may suggest parent disagreement with school goals and directives. McDermott advocates that educators look at research on adult learning to involve and collaborate with parents, and to incorporate the home culture into what is learned in school.

• Teaching Case: Can We Talk About Family?

  What do teachers need to know about the families of the children they teach? How can teachers best communicate with and involve families with different family structures, such as the increasingly common phenomenon of grandparent-headed households? The teaching case Can We Talk About Family? considers one young teacher's dilemma in deciding how to approach a grandmother who is raising Keon, one of her students.

  Two expert commentaries accompany the case. Philip Olson at the University of Missouri in Kansas City directs a grandparent outreach program, and notes that the dilemma in the case arises, in part, from the teacher's lack of knowledge about households headed by grandparents. He says, “Elementary school teachers especially need education to understand this growing population and how to work constructively with them.”

  Linda Dannison and Andrea Smith from Western Michigan University conduct research on and develop resources for custodial grandparent families. Their commentary considers the case within a broader research context about grandparents, the children they raise, and some of the common problems that arise. They suggest that developing a “reciprocal home-school partnership is a critical step in meeting Keon's academic and emotional needs.”

Suggested Reading

• Winter 2003 Issue of Parent News Offline

  The National Parent Information Network's winter edition of Parent News Offline is now available. This edition spotlights national efforts to engage parents in education through volunteer school-parent groups, a feature on an innovative approach to address the achievement gap at an elementary school in Illinois, articles for parents on choosing a school and assisting with homework, and ways parents and teachers can promote students' critical thinking about media to which students are exposed.

• Parental Involvement in Migrant Education

  How does a traditional conception of parent involvement work with migrant education? Gerardo Lopez, a researcher from Indiana University School of Education, argues that teachers' traditional notion of parent involvement as parents visiting their children's schools and classrooms does not build on the ways in which Latino migrant families are often involved in their children's education. Read a press release about Lopez's research.

• Proven and Promising Practices in Child-Parent Centers

  This 15-year longitudinal study considers the effects of Chicago's Child-Parent Centers efforts to provide school-based educational and family support to economically disadvantaged children in grades pre-K–3 and their parents. The report includes evaluation methods and key findings.

New Books

• Promising Practices to Connect Schools With the Community

  This new volume in the Family School Community Partnership Issues series, edited by Diana Hiatt-Michael of Pepperdine University, explores ways in which schools can partner with communities. University, business, and museum partnerships are just a few of the school-community connections discussed in this volume. The book is available from Information Age Publishing.

• Home, School, and Community Partnerships

  What resources and strategies are available for creating and sustaining collaboration among home, school, and community? Larry and Virginia Decker's new book seeks to help educators take some of the best ideas for engaging families and communities and fine-tune them to fit in a specific community. The book is available from Scarecrow Press.

• All Else Equal: Are Private and Public Schools Different?

  Three education experts, Luis Benveniste, Martin Carnoy, and Richard Rothstein, examine the arguments of voucher proponents by analyzing the differences between private and public schools. They use case studies of eight private and eight public schools to refute theories about the organizational and cultural differences and advantages of privatized schools. The authors' findings suggest the surrounding community and parent involvement are important factors in determining a school's culture, and, furthermore, these factors are associated with socioeconomic characteristics. Their analysis also shows that public schools are actually more responsive to public demands around curriculum than are private schools. The book is available from RoutledgeFalmer.

New Resources

• The Impact of Parent/Family Involvement on Student Outcomes: An Annotated Bibliography of Research From the Past Decade

  This new online bibliography is divided into three areas: (1) studies that evaluate the effectiveness of school-based programs and interventions to promote parent/family involvement on student outcomes, (2) studies that evaluate family behaviors and characteristics and their effect on student outcomes, and (3) studies that analyze parent/family involvement research.

• Families and Schools: Resolving Disputes Through Mediation

  How can the mediation process be used in special education? An online publication from CADRE (the Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education) offers five real-life stories to help parents, teachers, and administrators understand the flexible and collaborative nature of mediation in special education.

Upcoming Conference

• Educational and Career Pathways in Community Building

  On May 17th, 2003 this conference in Boston, Massachusetts on community building will bring together practitioners and residents to strengthen partnerships between groups, organizations, and individuals. Participants will consider the obstacles, resources, and career opportunities to support community building. Participants will have a chance to share their knowledge and experiences with each other. If you are interested in attending, please contact Joel Nitzberg at jknitz@rcn.com.

Contact Us

Have a problem with the website or questions and comments concerning our work? Send an email to fine@gse.harvard.edu.

Enjoy!

FINE - The Family Involvement Network of Educators