THE PRACTICE: The Community - Schools cannot succeed as independent "islands" within their communities. Agencies, organizations, and individuals in the community can offer powerful support in the setting of school goals and program implementation.
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Resources related to this practice:

• Connecting Parents to Miami Dade's Public Schools
  http://www.educationfund.org/publications.html

  Washington Mutual and The Education Fund have teamed up with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools to create an easy-to-read parent resource guide in English, Spanish, and Creole. The guide is helpful to any district interested in involving parents in understanding the role they play in the achievement of their children, especially those for whom English is not the native language or for whom the American public school system is unfamiliar.

• Defining Community Education
  http://www.ncea.com/reading_room/defining_commed.htm

  The National Community Education Association (NCEA) promotes parent and community involvement in education, the formation of community partnerships to address community needs, and the expansion of lifelong learning for all community residents at the national, state, and local levels. "The Reading Room" offers information on the philosophy of community education and community schools, links to resources of interest to those involved in community education, and articles about the topic.

• Family Support America
  http://www.familysupportamerica.org

  Family Support America, formerly Family Resource Coalition of America, is a nationally recognized movement to strengthen and support families. The site includes news, networking, programs, a learning center, and additional offerings for members.

• Institute for Responsive Education
  http://www.resp-ed.org

  The Institute for Responsive Education (IRE) promotes family and community involvement in education as a means to achieve school improvement, especially education equity. The organization works to establish effective family-school-community partnerships through demonstration projects and ongoing research, in addition to technical assistance, training, policy development, and advocacy.

• National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education
  http://www.ncpie.org

  The National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE) advocates home, school, and community involvement and interaction in order to enhance the education of all children. The NCPIE site offers resources that emphasize the importance of family school partnerships.

• Parent and Family Involvement
  http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/pa0cont.htm

  The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) hosts the site "Parent and Family Involvement." This site is useful for educators seeking additional ideas on how to lead an effort to construct school partnerships, support ways parents and families can become involved in schools, and create a school climate and structures to support parent and family involvement.

• Parent Involvement: Strategies and Resources
  http://glef.org/FMPro?-db=learnlivekeywords1.fp5&-lay=layout
  %20%231&-Format=keyword.html&-max=200&jargonfree==Parent%20Involvement&-sortfield=show%20order&-SortOrder=ascend&-find

  Article and research summary on the George Lucas web site about how parent involvement in a child's education can lead to increased learning and improved teacher morale. The article links to organizations that support partner involvement and concrete ideas from successful programs and activities.

• Parent Leadership Training Institute
  http://ctprevention.com/act/plti.html

  The Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) offers parents a curriculum that teaches them how to act as advocates for children and change agents in their community and at the local, regional, and state levels. Users need to check information in links to local groups to get specifics on the work of the organization.

• School Support for Foster Families
  http://www.eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?a
  ccno=ED434189

  This article from ERIC Digests by Wendy Schwartz discusses factors that influence the ability of foster children to achieve academically and offers some strategies that schools can employ to improve their educational success and emotional well being.

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This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu