Leadership for Family and Community Involvement
- Paul D. Houston - Center for Empowered Leadership
- Alan M. Blankstein - Founder, Solution Tree and HOPE Foundation, NYC
- Robert W. Cole - Educational Consultant, Edu-Data, Louisville, KY
"Establishing school-family-community partnerships to promote the social, emotional, and academic learning of students is the most important challenge for 21st-century education. In this volume, leading practitioners and researchers compellingly convey the rationale and inspiration for these partnerships. They also share many practical, innovative, and effective strategies that readers can readily implement to engage partners in raising knowledgeable, responsible, caring, and contributing children."
—Roger P. Weissberg, Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor
University of Illinois at Chicago
Making schooling a community endeavor!
Because schools are the heart and soul of a community, educational leaders have a responsibility to bring the community into the school, as well as to make the school a part of the surrounding community. This volume in the Soul of Educational Leadership series goes beyond administrative skills to examine educators' pivotal role of leading family and community involvement in school success.
With articles written by leading authorities and practitioners in the field, this resource discusses how school leaders can build successful family and community partnerships that flourish even in trying circumstances and over time. Readers will find:
- Contributions from Alan M. Blankstein, Pedro A. Noguera, Mavis G. Sanders, Paul D. Houston, Edward H. Moore, and others
- Inspiring and unique perspectives on the interplay of family and community in school success
- Ideas for engaging families as partners
"Establishing school-family-community partnerships to promote the social, emotional, and academic learning of students is the most important challenge for 21st-century education. In this volume, leading practitioners and researchers compellingly convey the rationale and inspiration for these partnerships. They also share many practical, innovative, and effective strategies that readers can readily implement to engage partners in raising knowledgeable, responsible, caring, and contributing children."
"This is a wonderful resource for all levels of educational leaders, new or seasoned. The foundational concepts, research-based strategies, and real-life examples offer useful information for involving families in schooling and student learning. Additionally, the attention paid to the values, attitudes, and behaviors of families is much appreciated. This is not a recipe book. Rather, it is a compilation of what matters for thoughtfully engaging all families."
"It takes leadership to establish mutually respectful and responsible family-school partnerships. This book is very timely because the authors provide insight about how this leadership might take shape and offer guidance for establishing effective partnerships that engage families in the academic lives of their children. The guidance is based on real experiences in schools and districts. This book moves us forward—together."
"This important collection of papers by many of the nation’s educational leaders provides specific and concrete ideas that practitioners can use to support the whole school community and the whole child."
"It is rare to find a book on family and community involvement that is insightfully sensitive to the needs of parents. This book offers clear examples and methods to create authentic partnerships that will benefit everyone, especially our children.”