Building the Parent-Teacher Relationship: Part II

Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp, co-authors of Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships (with Vivian R. Johnson and Don Davies) have been taking readers' questions on improving parent involvement.

In this second of two installments, Henderson and Mapp discuss specific strategies to build family-school partnerships and make parents feel more connected to schools. Former teacher and Beyond the Bakesale advisor, Ilene Carver, shares outreach strategies for teachers.

Do you have any recommendations for selling the idea of establishing partnerships with community resources, to get additional support for students? Many strategies to improve schools, such as professional learning communities, are focused on what happens inside school—what we can “control,” not what happens outside the school building. NCLB seems to be moving us away from considering the whole child.