Reaching Out: A K-8 Resource for Connecting Families and Schools

`The timing for Reaching Out could not have been better. Just when educators are beginning to realize that teachers need training in how to work with parents, Dianne W Kyle, Ellen McIntyre, Karne B Miller, and Gayle H Moore bring us a book that is a welcome breath of fresh air' - Patricia A Edwards, Professor of Language and Literacy, Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University
Parental involvement is central to improved student performance, and in this book the authors illustrate how sustained parental involvement not only improves individual performance, but also has transformed classrooms and even entire schools. This book will provide teachers with a myriad of activities and ideas to connect in a meaningful way with the families of their students. Some activities are time and resource-intensive, and other ideas can be implemented with a minimum of preparation and effort.

Diane W. Kyle is a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Louisville. She has coauthored Reaching Out: A K-8 Resource for Connecting Schools and Families and Reflective Teaching for Student Empowerment: Elementary Curriculum and Methods, coedited Creating Nongraded Primary Classrooms: Teachers' Stories and Lessons Learned, and pub­lished in such journals as Language Arts, Peabody Journal of Education, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, Education & Equity, Teaching Children Mathematics, and Elementary School Journal. Her most recent project, co­directed with Ellen McIntyre, is "Sheltered Instruction and Family Involvement: An Approach to Raising Achievement of LEP Students," funded by the US Department of Education. She also codirected with Ellen McIntyre a research project, "Children's Academic Development in Nongraded Primary Programs," funded by the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

"Reaching Out describes a great variety of ways to respectfully and productively engage families in helping their children learn and grow. Throughout the text the reader is reminded that parents are experts about their children and that trusting relationships are built on respectful, two-way communications. The authors also remind us that the goal of family involvement is not parent participation at school events and activities but improved student achievement."