Critical Issue: Supporting Ways Parents and Families Can Become Involved in Schools

Joyce L. Epstein

Joyce L. Epstein, director of the Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children's Learning at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, talks about a framework of six types of parent involvement. Excerpted from "School/Family/Community Partnerships: Caring for the Children We Share," by J.L. Epstein, 1995, Phi Delta Kappan, 76 (9), p. 705-707.

"A framework of six different types of involvement has from many studies and from many years of work by educators and families in elementary, middle and high school. Briefly, the six types of involvement are: type 1--parenting, type 2--communicating, type 3--volunteering, type 4--learning at home, type 5--decision making, type 6--collaborating with the community. Each type of involvement can be fulfilled by many different practices of partnership. Each type has particular challenges that must be met in order to have a successful program that engages all families. Each type suggests needed redefinition of some basic principles in order to succeed with today's families, and each type is likely to lead to different results for students, parents, teachers and the school."

This Critical Issue was researched and written by Georgette Comuntzis-Page, adjunct assistant professor of journalism at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, and a child-care specialist for the West Virginia University Extension Service.

Development and production of this Critical Issue was a collaborative effort of the Appalachia Educational Laboratory and the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

Date posted: 1996