Routledge Powerful Parent Partnerships: Rethinking Family Engagement for Student Success

It is essential that we work together to craft powerful parent-teacher partnerships that meet the needs of today’s students and schools. In this important new book, authors Robert Dillon and Melissa Nixon explain how schools and families can work together so that the needs of children are always met. Whether you’re a parent hoping to work more effectively with your child’s teacher, or a principal or teacher looking for ways to understand families’ needs, you’ll be able to use the strategies in this resource to improve your communication and build deeper connections. Loaded with practical takeaways and sample stories, this book will help you: Clearly communicate a child’s educational goals; Make connections with other schools and school districts to build community and broaden your range of resources; Hold educators accountable without alienating them; Develop communication strategies to address difficult topics like underperformance and misbehavior; Show compassion and gratitude; And more! With the practical suggestions in this book, you’ll be able to rekindle more engagement and excitement into students' learning at school and at home. Review "The nature of School:Home Communications has shifted in just the last few years. Today educators, schools, districts and parents all have a myriad of options to share information. It can be challenging to find the best outlets, the right types of messages and communicate in the strongest way possible. Robert Dillon and Melissa Nixon lay out a simplified approach that not only can help schools and districts reach more parents but also solidify their place as the center of their communities. A must read for all educators." ― Steven W. Anderson, Founder and CEO of Web20Classroom "Powerful Parent Partnerships provides actionable information for all members of your school community. The powerful case studies illustrate the concepts in a way that make each chapter ready to act on. This would make a great text for a book study if your school and district is committed to strengthening the link between families and schools." ― Monica Burns, author of Tasks Before Apps and founder of ClassTechTips.com "Finally, parents and educators have a practical, user-friendly book that tackles the ever evolving role of parents in schools! Powerful Parent Partnerships, which is written for parents first and educators second, gives parents the information and tools to get involved with intentionality, while also helping educators to better understand parents who wish to have an active role in their children's education. So many schools and districts would benefit from making copies of this book available to the community and/or leveraging this work for a book study. Highly recommended!" ― Ross Cooper, Principal of T. Baldwin Demarest Elementary School, NJ, and author of Hacking Project Based Learning "As an educator and a mom, I work really hard to avoid earning the ‘that mom’ label while at the same time being a true partner in my children's education. I found the scenarios to be spot on, and a great place of entry for powerful discussions. Powerful Parent Partnerships is a must read book that will send you on a positive path to co-constructing a school experience that will best serve the children in our communities." ― Melissa Emler, Co-Owner of Modern Learners "Robert Dillon and Melissa Nixon have crafted a solid resource for any stakeholder wanting to invest in the lives of our children. This book is a must read for any parent or educator seeking to forge a positive and proactive alliance in service and support of all kids. As a school administrator and parent, I am always looking for ways to better leverage the expertise of educators in concert with the first and most important teacher in a child's life--the parent. This book is a great resource for an educator/parent book study chock full of entry points for collaboration." ― Sean Gaillard, Princ