Effective Parent Partnerships Between Schools and Diverse Families

Abstract

The demographics in the United States are steadily changing. There has been a constant increase in the diverse families in schools. Often, culturally diverse and high-poverty families face more and/or different barriers to home-school partnerships than typical families. With parent involvement being so crucial to school and child success, effective education programs would benefit from learning to create partnerships with all families in authentic and meaningful ways. This chapter gives educators an overview of the challenges and the suggested practices for creating effective partnerships with diverse families.