Parent-school partnerships
Through communication across home and school, parents and teachers can share information about children’s progress and discuss their needs and interests to find the right opportunities to promote learning experiences. Meaningful dialogue between parents and teachers creates mutual understanding and enhances both parents’ and children’s experiences with school.
Partnering for school success (PSS) programs and resources aim to:
- Strengthen the interaction and partnerships between parents and children, and parents and schools.
- Increase parents' knowledge and skills to navigate the school system.
- Build parents' self-efficacy to help their children succeed in school.
- Increase the number of students graduating from high school and continuing on to higher education.
Find out more and access Partnering for school success programs and resources below.
Education: Our Best Legacy — Explore the school success program intended to be delivered by Spanish-speaking educators to Latino parents or caregivers with middle school-aged children.
Hmong families and schools promoting students’ success — Learn how the Education: Our best legacy program is being adapted for use with Hmong families.
Partnering for school success take and teach lessons — Find short lesson plans that can be used with parents to help them better support their children's education
Partnering for school success CYFAR project (PSS CYFAR) — Get more information about the Partnering for school success CYFAR project that focuses on Latino families.
More about the project — Learn about the focus groups research with different cultural groups, and the development of the Partnering for school success project.
Partnering for School Success project — Get an overview of some important developments in the Partnering for school success project.
Attend the Education: Our Best Legacy Facilitator Training and get access to the curriculum for free! See our Upcoming trainings.
Related resources
Family, school and community engagement — Minnesota Department of Education — Find resources to assist parents, schools, and districts in strengthening partnerships between schools, families, and their communities to increase student achievement.
Back to school video — Positive Parenting cable TV show — Gain a better understanding of why parent's involvement in their children's education is so critical for their school success. This video features Katheen A. Olson, Program Director — Partnering for school success.
Building shared responsibility for educational outcomes — Gain a better understanding for how to turn common school events and activities, like Back to school night, into a partnership building opportunity.
Creating constructive school-family connections — Use this inventory to look at the conditions that enhance productive school-family relationships: approach, attitude, atmosphere, and actions.
Effective communication for family-school partnerships — Explore these guidelines and practices that school staff can use for effective communication.
Four models of parent involvement — Review four models of parent involvement and identify where your own school is at on the spectrum.
How to engage the uninvolved parent — Consider these suggestions for engaging parents from removing barriers, improving communication, and more.
Nuts and bolts of communication with parents and families — Get communication tips relating to attitudes, behaviors, and more.
Practices that promote schools as welcoming communities — Try these family outreach efforts to create a welcoming environment for parents.
The eight 'p' philosophy for effective school-parent partnerships — Enact these eight “P”s in your school to help build effective school-parent partnerships.
What can parents do to strengthen parent-school connections? — Follow these easy-to-do steps to help strengthen your parent-school relationships.