Making the Most of School-Family Compacts

Wouldn't it be great if a school's administrators and teachers could sit down with parents and exchange ideas about what part each might play in supporting students' learning--especially in schools with at-risk students? Henderson, Carson, Avallone, and Whipple describe how they helped three elementary schools in Connecticut do just that, through guiding the schools in revising their school-family compacts. Under No Child Left Behind, all schools receiving Title I funds are required to create "compacts" that outline how parents, school staff, and students will share responsibility for improving students' achievement. Compacts are meant to give parents information about a school's goals and strategies and how the home environment might support learning. But most schools create formulaic documents that parrot general language about parental responsibility. Connecticut's Department of Education initiated a program to improve compacts in urban schools throughout the state. The article describes how participating schools used this process--and district support--to build relationships, spark dialogue with parents, and make parents more aware of and involved in their children's school work. (Contains 1 endnote and 5 online resources.)