Family-School Partnerships in Context

This volume focuses on context considerations in family-school partnership research. The book examines how cultural diversity, including differences in parenting (e.g., race, education, family history) and diverse school variables (e.g., location, population, organization,) can affect family-school partnerships. Its bio ecological perspective pinpoints critical areas that studies need to address for real-world utility, such as parental commitment and developmental considerations. Although the book’s focus is research, chapters present program designs and evaluations along with ideas for community involvement and policy. The authors also explore the changing landscape for home-school partnerships resulting from the impact of technology, which is rapidly becoming a central player in organizing research and bringing interventions to life.

Topics covered include:

• Complexities in field-based partnership research.
• Family-centered, school-based interventions.
• A district leadership approach to school, family and community partnerships.
• Research issues to forward a policy agenda supporting family-school partnerships.
• Testing statistical moderation in research on home-school partnerships.
• Integrating current and evolving knowledge toward future directions for research.

Contexts of Family-School Partnerships is a valuable resource for researchers, professionals and graduate students in child and school psychology, educational policy and politics, family studies, developmental psychology, sociology of education, sociology and anthropology.

• Cultural diversity and family-school partnerships
• Culture and family-school partnerships
• Diversity and student outcomes
• Family history and family-school partnerships
• Family-school partnerships
• Geographic locale and family-school partnerships
• Household practices and family-school partnerships
• Methodological advances in family-school partnerships
• Organizational factors and family-school partnerships
• Parenting diversity and family-school partnerships
• Population density and family-school partnerships
• Race and family-school partnerships
• Research agenda in family-school partnerships
• School policy and family-school partnerships
• Statistical methods and family-school partnerships

• Nebraska Center for Research on Children Youth, Families and Schools, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA

  Susan M. Sheridan, Elizabeth Moorman Kim

Susan M. Sheridan, Ph.D., is a George Holmes University Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, well known for her research on family-school partnerships and family engagement. She has managed numerous significant federal grants investigating the efficacy of a consultation-based partnership model, which have resulted in several publications and professional presentations. She has received several professional awards and has served in many leadership positions in the fields of school and educational psychology.

Elizabeth Moorman Kim received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently co-principal investigator of a federally funded research project examining the effects of interventions targeting parental involvement in children’s learning and family-school partnerships housed at the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research interests include family-school partnerships, parenting and children’s motivation and achievement in school.

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