Partnerships By Design: Cultivating Effective and Meaningful School-Family-Community Partnerships

This is a guide to help schools and programs assess their current approaches to involving families and community members, and to assist them in implementing more effective strategies. Partnerships by Design is based on the assumption that many educators have been actively seeking to involve families, but are not getting the results they desire. It is designed to help educators move beyond relying on typical family involvement activities toward building more effective and meaningful school-family-community partnerships within their classrooms, programs, or schools. Partnerships by Design is a practical, realistic tool, focused on working with families and the community, that provides easy-to-read information and an efficient planning process. It contains simple forms, worksheets, and activities that help schools and organizations write their own school-family-community partnership plan. Partnerships by Design also includes "Ideas for Action"--hints, tips, and practical suggestions for putting the plans into action.