Schools

Family

Community

Partnerships
Joel Nitzberg
joelknitzberg@comcast.net
“Given the crisis faced today by all children, many of whom are
struggling to beat insurmountable odds, it is time for our
society to look at what we can do to make parents’ jobs easier
and how we can change some of the things we are doing
that are making it more difficult than necessary to raise

children.”

Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children’s Defense Fund

 Families: the challenges, hopes and potentials

• Every family is unique. Every family is a distinctive blend of personalities and

biological, cultural, economic and social influences which change over time.

• “America must find better ways to enable children and families to develop their
potential. To do this, America needs to build communities where learning can happen
– communities that have economic and physical resources and a profamily system of
education and human services that will support children and families in their efforts to
succeed.” Page 6 Together We Can.

• In communities with a weakened infrastructure and where families have few

resources, a profamily system of education and human services is critical. At the
same time the best service delivery system is no substitute for a strong economy,
safe streets, affordable housing, available transportation, efficient municipal services,
active civic participation, and family resiliency.

• Understand strengths and barriers that impact development. What prevents people
from achieving goals? Look at families, schools and the community in terms of the
obstacles involved in forming partnership. Understand the processes that impact
relationships and problem solving.

• What is occurring re: blaming people and institutions? We need to identify same
areas of concern and understand the gains when resources are pulled in. What are
the barriers that obstruct partnerships and the utilization of the strengths of families
and family-centered practices?
 Schools, social programs, and caring individuals can compensate for
stressful environments and troubled families.
When you read the histories of children from impoverished neighborhoods:

• The first thing that strikes you is the stunning number of obstacles they face
– the hundreds of tiny curves where it’s possible for them to fall off a
tightrope that’s much higher and narrower than any path more privileged
children have to tread.

• The second realization you have is how small the difference between
success and failure can be.

• The third is how resilient people can be – so many people are survivors.

• The fourth realization is how important it is to be respectful of the strengths

and knowledge which do exist in those communities.

The challenge will be how to tap into and utilize those strengths and knowledge.
 What are the
roles of parents?
Roles of parents
• Attend school events
• Use effective parenting styles
• Bolster self esteem, help to motivate
• Provide daily experiences for learning
• Help with, & monitor school assignments
• Establish home structures that support learning
• Create effective communication within the home
• Connect one’s child to resources in the community
• Encourage learning as something valued in the family
• Establish communication and relationships with the school
 What are the strengths that parents have available, and the barriers that impede
people from achieving goals? Looking at families, schools and the community in
terms of the obstacles involved in forming partnerships.

Blame
What is the blame that parents (and workers) receive for children not succeeding?
• Schools (agencies) blame parents for not caring, not following through, not making sure the
children are doing their work
• Parents blame workers for not understanding, not spending enough time, not individualizing the
work

Same
What do they have in common?
• Both parents and personnel want kids and families to succeed
• Parents and workers have skills and may have experiences in common

Gain
What resources do they have that could be helpful to one another?
• Parents have skills and connections to the community
• Workers could provide information to parents on how to help their children and how to use
resources effectively
All people and all families have strengths.

• All families need and deserve support. The type and degree of
support each family needs varies throughout the life span.

• Most successful families are not dependent on long-term public

support. Neither are they isolated. They maintain a healthy
interdependence with extended family, friends, other people,
spiritual organizations, cultural and community groups, schools
and agencies, private enterprises, and the natural environment.

• Diversity (race, ethnicity, gender, class, family form, religion,

physical and mental ability, age, sexual orientation) is an important
reality in our society, and is valuable. Family and school workers
need to develop competence in working effectively with people
who may be different from them or come from groups that are
often not respected in our society.
• Families need coordinated services in which all the agencies they
work with use a similar approach. Collaboration at the agency, local,
state, and federal levels is crucial to effective family development.

• The deficit model of family assistance, in which families must show

inadequacy in order to receive services (and professionals decide
what is best for families), is counterproductive to helping families
move toward self-sufficiency.

• Changing from the deficit model to the family development approach

requires a whole new way of thinking about social services, not
simply more new programs. Individual workers cannot make this shift
without corresponding policy changes at agency, local, state, and
federal levels.

• Families and family development workers are equally important

partners in the empowerment process, with each contributing
important knowledge. Workers learn as much as the families from the
process.
• Families must choose their own goals and methods of achieving
them. Family and school workers' roles include assisting families in
setting reachable goals for their own self-reliance, providing access
to services needed to reach these goals, and offering
encouragement.

• Services are provided in order for families to reach their goals, and
are not themselves a measure of success. New methods of
evaluating agency effectiveness are needed to measure family and
community outcomes, not just the number of services provided.

• In order for families to move out of dependency, helping systems

must shift from a "power over" to a "power with" paradigm. Workers
have power (which they may not recognize) because they
participate in the distribution of valued resources. Workers can use
that power to work with families rather than use power over them.
Some basic assumptions:
• All families want their children to succeed.

• Primary responsibility for the development and well-being of the children lies within
the family, and all segments of society must support families as they rear their
children.

• Assuring the well-being of all families is the cornerstone of a healthy society and
requires universal access to support programs and services.

• Children and families exist as part of an ecological system.

• Child-rearing patterns are influenced by parents’ understanding of child development

and their children’s unique characteristics, personal sense of competence, and
cultural and community traditions and mores.

• Enabling families to build on their own strengths and capacities promotes the healthy
development of children.

• The developmental processes that make up parenthood and family life create needs
that are unique at each stage in the life span.

• Families are empowered when they have access to information and other resources
and take action to improve the well-being of children, families, and communities.
Economic Security
• Money for necessities
• Monitors and guides to develop habits
• Budgeting for financial needs
• Reinforcement of language, behavior,
• Money for the future
and social skills
• Stable income
• Transmission of culture
• Special occasions, vacations
• Transmission of values
Safe Physical Environment Emotional Support
• Adequate housing • Listens
• Safe neighborhood (protection) Family • Plays
• Adequate heat and water Functions • Laughs
• Organized home with routines • Positive intra-family relationships
• A home free of physical danger • Positive relationships outside the family
• A home free of abuse • Nurtures
• Loves
Health Care • Hugs
• Adequate and balanced diet • Shows compassion
• Clean clothes for each season • Forgives
• Routine medical and dental care • Discusses
• Emergency care • Companionship
• Sense of belonging to family
Child Development • Sense of belonging to other groups
• Validation • Opportunities to spend time with
• Promotion of self-esteem significant others
• Helps through the rough times and to appreciate • Shares and promotes optimism for the
the good times future
• Educational opportunities • Remembers
Empowerment: the opposite of the “deficit” model

• The goal of family development is empowerment of families and the

communities they live in, so families will be able to reach their goals
of health and self-reliance.

• Empowerment is a dynamic process through which families reach

their own goals. No one can "empower" someone else. Empowering
families means helping families reclaim their ability to dream, and to
restore their own capacity to take good care of themselves.

• This also means helping communities, states, and nations to create

the conditions through which families can reach their own goals,
which may mean changing service provider systems.

• Empowerment is not a one-time goal to be attained. It is an ongoing

process, which feeds itself and the empowerment of others. When
one member of a family becomes more self reliant, the rest of the
family, and their community, also benefits.
The deficit model of family assistance

• The model focuses on a family's weaknesses

• It sets as the primary goal getting them off public services.

• Not very many agencies or family workers realize they use the
deficit approach.

• The current human service system has been influenced by the

medical system, where expert doctors diagnose people's problems
and prescribe treatment.

• It forces families to show what is wrong before they can get the
services they need.

• In school this is often translated to looking at the problems that

individual students display, rather than on what those students are
doing that is successful.
In the empowerment approach, we assume that
family members know best what their problems
are, and that they will be most successful in
accomplishing plans they create.

The worker's role is to assist them in recognizing

their strengths and challenges, and to support
that planning process, which may require
teaching the process.
MEDICAL/DEFICIT ECOLOGICAL/PARTNERSHIP

Crisis-oriented Prevention/promotion

Diagnose and label Understand the family's problem

from their perspective, and build on
family strengths and values

Professionals determine Professionals/parents share

strategies &intervention strategies, knowledge & design
action plans

Problems are categorized Services are comprehensive

Services are fragmented

Limited focus on Focus on creating empowering

environments environment
 Family Support Bill of Rights

All people have the right to be treated with kindness, respect, and
consideration under all conditions and situations.

All people have the right to be treated with dignity and respect by
the institutions and individuals that assist them to resolve
economic, work, health, and educational issues.

All people have the right to be spoken to with simple courtesy.

All people have the right to have access to second opinions

concerning their lives and conditions.

All people have the right to representation on the governing

boards of the agencies that serve their communities.
 Transportation Electric
Services Company Gas
Community Pharmacies Company
Newspapers Telephone Company
Radio & TV Career
Stations Religious Employment Center Play
Training Groups Hobby Gym
Associations
Clubs Health
Higher Center
Ed Churches Schools Youth
Parent Programs
Classes Information After School Head Cable TV
Center Programs Start
College Hotlines
Services Book Stores
Neighbors
Community Family
Group Center Library Resource
Homes Banks
Convenience Center
Public Friends Housing
Stores Playgrounds Realtor
Shelters Housing of Services
Friends
Supermarket
Recycling Family Friends Volunteer Food Video
Therapy Groups Pantry
Centers Store
Hardware
Stores City Hall
Addiction Public Meals on
Treatment Access TV Extended Wheels Movie
Family Department of Theater
Electronic Public Works
Stores Planning Welfare
Alternative Office
Care Bowling
Fire Alley
Department Parks Student
Restaurants Police Volunteers
Health
Clinic Social Entertainment
Museums Security
Nutritional Ethnic Center
Services Nursing Association
Hospital Homes
Nature
Centers Amusement
Auto Park
Chamber of Mechanics
Commerce Hair Carpenters
Electricians Dressers
 QUESTIONS TO ASK

• What is a community?

• Why do you need to get to know your community?

• What is a community description?

• Why should you write a community description?

• How can you use a community description?

• When should you write a community description?

• What are the basic principles for learning about a community?

• How do you go about gaining an understanding of your community?

• How do you write your community description?

Defining a community
A community is a set of people bound together by common interests, goals,
problems or practices, in some shared system.

Community n. 1. Common possession or enjoyment; participation; as, a

community of goods. 2. A body of people having common rights, privileges,
or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and
regulations; as, a community of monks. Hence a number of animals living in
a common home or with some apparent association of interests. 3. Society
at large; a commonwealth or state; a body politic; the public, or people in
general. 4. Common character; likeness. 5. Commonness; frequency.

A unified body of individuals: as a : STATE, COMMONWEALTH b : the

people with common interests living in a particular area; broadly : the area
itself (the problems of a large community) c : an interacting population of
various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location d : a group
of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a
larger society (a community of retired persons) e : a group linked by a
common policy f : a body of persons or nations having a common history
or common social, economic, and political interests (the international
community) g : a body of persons of common and especially professional
interests scattered through a larger society (academic community).
 Things to consider

• geographic boundaries
• how long the community has existed
• general history
• key people and leaders
• demographics
• expenses and income
• important issues
• morale & involvement levels
• key allies and rivals

Basic principles for understanding the community

• View the community as the teacher and yourself as the student

• There is not always cause-and-effect logic for social interactions
• Question the accuracy of all information
 What is a community?

While we traditionally think of a Example: Communities within a

community as meaning the people community
in a given geographical location, it
•the faith community
can really mean any group sharing
•the arts community
something in common.
•the African American community
•the education community
Most often what we share with •the business community
others is: •the homeless community
•the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
• locale transgendered community
•the medical community
• experiences •the Native American community
•the elderly community
• interests
...and of course, a city or town may be
referred to as a community.
 What is a collaboration?

Continuum of Collaboration Definitions

Cooperation Coordination Collaboration
-only mutual -more formal
Relationship -deliberately designed
agreement agreement
-work together on
-work together on -solve common problems;
joint goals
program specific -solutions emerge from
-no commonly
Mission/Goals goals dealing constructively with
defined mission,
-more compatible difference;
structure or
missions -mutual benefit
planning effort
Risk -limited risk -limited risk -high risk
-some resources and -some resources and -shared risks, responsibilities, and
Resource Sharing
rewards shared rewards shared rewards.

-sustained relationship and effort;

Investment -limited -limited
-more durable and pervasive

Process -focused -focused -emergent

Why collaborate?

People and groups have common agendas and interests in

addressing concerns about their community.

Working together will result in greater rewards than what an

individual can accomplish alone.

Different talents and networks are brought into the process

to fuel a project or turn an idea into action.

People have a commitment to make change happen.

 Also,

 Problems are complex

 People learn from one another
 More resources are available
 People are energized by one another
 There is diversity of input
 Ownership brings change
 Alliances are built for other issues
 People know people and where they are
Elements of a successful coalition

• Diversity of membership, experience and

opinion is accepted and celebrated
• Ground rules are established
• Structures are easily understood and followed
• Everyone feels useful
• Decisions are based on a strategic plan
• Even small successes are celebrated
• Balance is created between process and action
• Leaders are identified
• Tasks, obstacles and solutions are fully
understood
• Dynamics of change is understood and change
occurs based on the lessons learned
• Members develop skills in speaking, listening
running meetings, and establishing structures
• Linkages are created with political structures,
media and others in the community who can
influence change
• Demonstrate any impacts that are made
• Efforts are sustained and successes celebrated
 Setting Direction: Values, Mission and Vision

Vision
Values, mission and vision guide the
Mission actions of individuals, teams and
organizations. Together they form an
organization's identity, inform strategy
Values and inspire commitment.

Definition Example: Stay in School Campaign

Values Beliefs or judgments about what is Universal education, civic
worthy, important or desirable that responsibility, raising healthy children.
are reflected in individual and
organizational behavior.
Mission A task, purpose, calling of an To increase the high school graduation
individual, team or organization. rate of students in the metropolitan
school district.
Vision An image of the mission Our classrooms will be filled with
accomplished, the ideal future state. children who enjoy learning, feel
accomplished, and have high self-
esteem. They grow into healthy and
productive adults.
What can be done?

Provide parents with information and opportunities to discuss and share

with others.

 Provide activities and learning events that are comfortable and familiar.

 Use hands-on activities to offer real experiences.

 Show how to use simple and affordable activities to provide meaningful

experiences.

 Connect what happens in the classroom to the home.

 Provide information on how the home and daily living can be used as
learning enhancements & reinforcements.

Use community such as supermarkets and libraries to connect to

parents. resources

 Provide follow-through and next steps to further support parents.

 Stages of Parent Involvement*

• OBSERVER: watches what is happening (passive stage)

• LEARNER: takes an active learning role with staff members and/or other
parents, but generally wishes to be told what to do (relatively passive)

• COLLABORATOR: works in concert with staff, both giving and receiving

assistance (team approach)

• TEACHER: seeks out methods or materials to use with own children

• LEADER: has greater involvement in the lives of others; involved in policy-

making and decision-making

• CHANGE AGENT: believes in self; awareness of role in community; questions

methodologies; implements change; seeks improvement (highest level)

*Presented at the Puget Sound Educational Service District

Parent/Family Involvement Institute, August, 1997.
 Teachers
Students
School Administrators
Family Members/Foster
parents/Grandparents Businesses

Faith Groups Health Clinics

Home
Home Schools
Schools

Media Adult Basic Ed

Students
Students
Graduates
Family Centers

School Council
Support Staff
Communities
Communities H.S. Community Service
Museums
Libraries
Higher Education Community Organizations

Individuals in the community

Who are the partners in education that can support families?

 Education is a joint effort by parents,
Parents students, schools and communities.

Students
Collaboration results in
Student Achievement
Family Health
School Success
Community Development

Schools

Communities
 Think about the
community.
Who should be at
the table to create &
support parent
involvement