Reaching Out: A K-8 Resource for Connecting Families and Schools

Front Cover
SAGE Publications, 2002 M07 19 - 127 pages
Noting that developing a strong relationship between the elementary or middle school and the family can help prevent students feelings of alienation and problems in learning, this guidebook provides a resource to help K-8 educators involve the entire family in the educational experience. Chapter 1 of the book outlines the vision for parent involvement at the elementary and middle school level and provides background material relating parent participation and student achievement. Chapter 2 expresses the necessity and presents strategies for building trust with families, as the basis for the remainder of the family involvement strategies. Chapter 3 deals with communicating in positive ways with families, and provides examples of how elementary and middle school teachers invite participation through their communication. Chapter 4 deals with the implementation of family workshops. Chapter 5 concerns family visits, detailing how trust is built through the visits and exploring the academic benefits from this practice. Chapter 6 focuses on instructional practices, illustrating how classroom instruction can be contextualized in the lives of the students and how this pedagogy illustrates professional teaching and student learning standards. Chapter 7 provides examples of innovative homework ideas involving families. In concluding, the book asserts that only by reaching out and connecting with families can teachers have the knowledge needed to maximize student learning. Two appendices list books of interest for elementary and for middle school students and their families. (Contains 68 references.) (KB).

About the author (2002)

Diane W. Kyle is a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Louisville. She has coauthored Reaching Out: A K–8 Resource for Connecting Schools and Families and Reflective Teaching for Student Empowerment: Elementary Curriculum and Methods, coedited Creating Nongraded Primary Classrooms: Teachers’ Stories and Lessons Learned, and published in such journals as Language Arts, Peabody Journal of Education, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, Education & Equity, Teaching Children Mathematics, and Elementary School Journal. Her most recent project, codirected with Ellen McIntyre, is “Sheltered Instruction and Family Involvement: An Approach to Raising Achievement of LEP Students,” funded by the US Department of Education. She also codirected with Ellen McIntyre a research project, “Children’s Academic Development in Nongraded Primary Programs,” funded by the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

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