Building Teacher-Family Partnerships: The Role of Teacher Preparation Programs.

Most people believe in and support the notion that all students should be given an opportunity to realize their full potential for success and that no child should fail and be left behind. Unfortunately, the emphasis on increasing student achievement, as determined by high-stakes test scores, has too often resulted in a focus on standardized test scores rather than a focus on overall quality education. Educators too frequently focus on small pieces of the testing problem instead of focusing on the big picture of school success. To bring about change and ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential, educators must look at broadening the circle; educating children must be studied and assessed in the context of family, school, community, and society. The adage "it takes a village to raise a child" is applicable to the educational system. If the goal is a highly educated population, educators must examine all aspects of society to bring about needed changes that will allow for the best possible education of all students. Undisputed evidence exists supporting the position that children are more apt to succeed not just in school, but throughout life, when schools and families work together to support learning (Henderson & Berla, 1994). One of the difficulties with addressing the issues surrounding family involvement is that it is defined in many different ways. Family involvement tends to be a generic term used to describe all types of family interaction with educators: policy-making, parent education, volunteer activities, fund raising, and the simple exchange of information. A common definition of effective family involvement has yet to be agreed upon. The primary educational legislation in the United States, The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, defines parental involvement as "the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities" (No Child Left Behind Act, 2002, Sec. 9101 [32]). The National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is a national organization established over 100 years ago to better the lives of children. PTA developed a position statement that defined parent/family involvement as "the participation of parents in every facet of the education and development of children from birth to adulthood. Parent Involvement takes many forms including parents as first educators, as decision makers about children's education, health, and well being, as well as advocates for children's success. " (Parent Teacher Association, n.d.). These definitions clearly articulate the need for families and schools to work collaboratively to improve the educational experiences of all children. Throughout this article, the words "parent" or "parents" are used interchangeably with "family" or "families". This is in recognition of the fact that a variety of family members--siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, foster parents, or friends, may have the primary responsibility for a child's education, care, and well-being (Ratcliff, 2008). Gaining this perspective on the "big picture" of total school success is especially critical for those educators working with schools having large populations of low socioeconomic status students. These children of poverty too often have a greater probability of school failure and poor standardized test performance than any other subgroup of the student population. In a study done to describe low performing schools in one section of the southeastern United States, it was determined that certain specific factors characterized many of the family's in low socioeconomic status, lower performing schools where students were struggling to pass state content examinations. Frequently, it was found that students from these low socioeconomic situations came from families where the mothers were in their early teenage years; as one school administrator said, "We have a case where children are having children. …