What are best Practices for Collaboration between Schools and Families?

Prepared by:Lea D. Camacho

What is

Collaboration?

What is Parent Training and Information Centers and

Community Parent Resource Centers?

I. INCREASING STUDENT

INVOLVEMENT

Some ways in which student participation can be enhanced include the following:

• Ensuring parents know their child is invited to attend and participate

• Providing students with background knowledge concerning the IEP and the process, as well as training in skills for participating.

• Focusing on student strengths, gifts, and talents rather than only on skill or knowledge deficits.

• Increasing student responsibility for developing and implementing their plans

• Involving peers and community members who are supportive of the student.

II. Increasing Family

Involvement

Fidler, Simpson and Clark (2007) identified four levels of parent and family participation. Each level builds on the skills and knowledge acquired in the previous levels of involvement.

Awareness, attendance and basic participation

• Ongoing communication, information sharing and basic program involvement

• Advocacy and collaborative program involvement

• Collaboration And Partnership Participation

Increasing Sibling involvement

• Sibling of students with disabilities can be affected on both positive ways such as learning advocacy and empathy skills and in negative ways such as hearing negative comments about their sibling

Conflict Management

• Conflict may arise from parent’s feelings of anger that merge from feeling fear, hurt, frustration or sense of injustice. Parents may be afraid of the future or the implications of a diagnosis of disability.

Increasing Involvement of Diverse Families

• Teachers should find working with diverse families interesting and rewarding. Fried & Cook, (2000) and Callicott (2003) provide these suggestions for teacher working with linguistically diverse family.

• Use culturally responsive feedback and method communication

• Show appreciation for include cultural diversity in the curriculum and school activities

• Ensure that policies, procedures and activities are in place to reduce the likelihood of prejudice.