Family-School Partnerships
Family-school partnerships are interactive associations that are purposely developed between families and schools to boost learners' academic improvement and psychological well-being. These associations are instrumental because they build communication, assist in the accomplishment of students, and establish a communal feel, thus, the mentioned outcomes benefit both students and schools.
Family-school partnerships can work towards inclusiveness of the communication, mutual respect, shared responsibility for student learning, and active participation of parents in extracurricular activities. About this point, schools may organize regular meetings or workshops that parents are invited to attend to get involved in their children's education and promote teamwork between schools and home.
Schools are able to fully involve families with the help of various strategies such as family nights, providing resources for home learning, and creating opportunities for them to volunteer in school activities. For example, the school can plan a 'Family Literacy Night,' where parents can learn about reading strategies, which they can further use to help their children with the learning process at home and thus, strengthen the partnership.
Family-school partnerships turn out to be more useful for students since they not only can improve their academic performance, but also increase their motivation to learn and enhance their social skills. Studies have illustrated that students who have their parents being active/held part in their studies have generally achieved higher grades and good attendance, and this suggests the benefits of the above-mentioned partnerships.
Schools might face hurdles which include variations in culture, lack of time from families, or insufficiency of resources to back up the engagement initiatives. For instance, schools located in multicultural neighborhoods would need to devise means of telling parents in other languages what are the ways they can be included and informed.