International Perspectives on Contexts, Communities and Evaluated Innovative Practices: Family-School-Community Partnerships

Research and practice in the vast field of school-family-community relations have evolved dramatically over the last thirty years. Schools throughout the world face enormous challenges due to demographic changes and societal problems, making partnerships among schools, families and community groups a necessity. Specific issues such as poverty, school dropout, violence and suicide, the wider diversity of students and parents, the higher accountability demanded of school systems, the implementation of school reforms and a multitude of government strategies and policies all contribute to a rapidly changing educational world. But as this book shows, even though research is often being undertaken independently in different countries, strong similarities are apparent across countries and cultures. School-family-community collaboration is no longer a single country issue.
The book brings together contributions from culturally and linguistically diverse countries facing these common situations and challenges. It details practices that have proved effective alongside relevant case examples, and covers a wide variety of topics, including:



challenges arising from the application of parent-school legislation at national level


the work of schools with migrant groups, low-income parents and parents with behaviour problems.


evaluation of various family-school-community partnerships programs


the way ahead for Family-School-Community Relations

With contributions from distinguished researchers from throughout the world (including the United States, Canada, the UK, Europe, China and Australia). It is a perfect companion to International Perspectives on Student Outcomes and Homework, also edited by Rollande Deslandes, and published simultaneously by Routledge.

Rollande Deslandes is a full tenure Professor in the Department of Education at Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres, Quebec (Canada). She received a Research Excellence award from the University in 2004. For several years she has been involved with the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Family-School-Community Partnership Sig, the European Research Network of Parents in Education (ERNAPE) and the Association Internationale en Education Familiale (AIFREF).

1. Four key policy questions about parent engagement recommendations from the evidence, by Kenneth Leithwood 2. Family/school partnership in theory and practice of the czech schools: conflict between ideal and reality, by Milada Rabusicova 4. Home school collaboration in two Chinese Societies: Hong Kong and Macao, by Esther Sui Chu Ho 5. ‘Class acts’: home/school involvement and working-class parents in the UK, by Diane Reay 6. Creating effective family/schoolpartnerships in highly diverse contexts. Building partnership models and constructing parent typologies, by Frederik Smit and Geert Driessen 7. The challenge of co/education in a disadvantaged context, by Willy Lahaye, Jean-Pierre Pourtois and Huguette Desmet 8. Indigenous family and community involvement in Australian curriculum development, by Neil Hooley and Maureen Ryan 9. Observatory on family/school/community partnership in Spain. A longitudinal programme to promote quality in education and social development, by Raquel-Amaya Martinez-Gonzalez, Mª del Henar Perez-Herrero, Lucia Alvarez-Blanco, and Mª Paz Garcia-Gonzalez 10. Using evaluation to prove and improve the quality of partnership programs in schools, by Steven B Sheldon 11. School/community collaborations and measures supporting academic achievement in two underprivileged Montreal neighbourhoods: An evaluation of processes and effects, by Angèle Bilodeau, Jean Bélanger, Francis Gagnon, and Nathalie Lussier 12. Family/school/community partnerships: What has been done? What have we learned? by Rollande Deslandes 13. More than services: Community Organising and Community Schools, by Mark R. Warren and Soo Hong 14. Evaluation of comprehensive prevention/intervention partnership programs for school children, by Mary E. Walsh and Kristin M. Wieneke 15. Capturing complexity: Evaluation of the Yale Child Study Center School Development Program, by Christine L. Emmons and James P. Comer