Schools should take an assertive role in bringing together families, community institutions, agencies, and other groups and individuals to respond to the needs of at-risk children. Of the many partnerships that school leaders and teachers may pursue, meaningful associations with parents are among the most important. However, there is often a significant gap between many schools' espoused commitment to parental involvement and their actual efforts to incorporate parents in significant, meaningful ways into the ongoing education of their children. School and community leaders should be aware that collaborative efforts are not easy. In some cases, to establish a foundation for partnerships and other collaborative arrangements, it may be necessary to develop communication and team-building skills through staff development.
Teachers are skilled at working with children.
However, some teachers find working with adults not to be as comfortable. In a similar way, parents, agency personnel, and others in the community may not possess adequate skills necessary to facilitate the success of efforts to develop, combine and coordinate services. Consequently, targeted training in basic communication and teamwork skills may be an important starting point. Closely related to school membership is the concept of engagement in school. Engagement is the active involvement in at least one academic, social, or extracurricular feature of the school.