"Involving parents and families in their children's education has positive results for children's emotional, social, and academic well-being. When the home and school form partnerships, everyone benefits, the student, the school and staff, and the home and families. The "essential elements" are necessary to create and sustain successful partnerships between families and schools.Addressing the essential elements willcreate a culture and climate that is conducive to building relationships among staff and students and their families,identify challenges that hinder engagement efforts,increase staff's capacity to work in partnership with families, andenhance the capacity of families to support their children's learning beyond the classroom and set education goals for academic success.The purpose of this resource guide is to enhance an educator's capacity for engaging parents and families in their children's education and lead to establishing and sustaining family-school partnerships that support student achievement and success. The hope is that this resource book will become an invaluable tool in the professional toolbox of educators. The use of this manual as a resource will provide insight into the benefits of family-school partnerships, the essential elements needed for effective partnerships, and achieve them bycollecting and analyzing data to identify the needs of staff and families,evaluating current practices to improve engagement efforts, anddeveloping a partnership plan and planning capacity-building activities that contribute to student success.
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