The 4 A

1
The 4 As Creating the Conditions for Enhancing
Family-School Partnerships The Future of
School Psychology Task Force on Family-School
Partnerships Andy Garbacz, Katie Black, Katie
Magee, Laura Mullaney, Susan SheridanUniversity
of Nebraska-Lincoln
2
How are Partnerships Promoted in Schools?

• Christenson Sheridan (2001) provide a heuristic
  for the process variables necessary to develop
  constructive, productive family-school
  relationships to enhance the academic, social,
  and behavioral growth of children and
  adolescents
• (p. 15).
• The process variables included in this heuristic
  are Approach, Attitude, Atmosphere, and Actions
  (Christenson Sheridan, 2001).

3
Developing Pathways to Partnerships

• Prerequisite Conditions
• These 3 As must be in place for Actions
• to be accepted and effective

Approach
Actions Communicating a tone of partnership
through bidirectional home-school communication
and fostering family involvement in learning at
home
Successful learning opportunities and outcomes
for children
Atmosphere
Attitude
(Christenson Sheridan, 2001 Sheridan
Kratochwill, in press)
See PV Handout 1
4
The Four As Approach

• Approach refers to the framework for interaction
  with families.
• Rimm-Kaufmann and Pianta (1999) have argued that
  greater consideration should be given to the
  development of family-school relationships early
  and over time because parents are very helpful in
  the educational process.
• Their work has demonstrated that the quality of
  the parents relationship with the teacher and
  school personnel is as valid an indicator of a
  successful transition to schooling as the childs
  competence in kindergarten.

5
The Four As Approach

• The quality of the family-school relationship
  predicts later school success, particularly for
  situations where discontinuity between the
  systems is present (Christenson Sheridan,
  2001).
• Support for childrens development is represented
  by connections that occur whenever individuals
  (e.g., parents, teachers) or systems (schools,
  churches, families) have ongoing contact with
  each other that is organized around concern for
  the welfare of the child (Garbarino, 1982).
• An approach that takes these important
  connections into consideration, meaningful roles
  will be established between families and
  educators.

6
The Four As Approach

• Joyce Epstein (1995) has outlined six types of
  family-school involvement, underscoring that
  families and schools can connect in many ways and
  that families can and do participate both at
  school and at home.
• Parenting schools assisting families with
  parenting skills
• Communication developing effective home-school
  communication procedures
• Volunteering allowing families to be involved
  in supporting the school and their children
• Enhance learning at home educators are
  encouraged to work with families to build on
  current learning opportunities at home
• Decision-making involving families in school
  and district decisions
• Collaborating with the community allowing
  community organizations to work with the family
  and school systems in meaningful ways

7
The Four As Approach

• The national Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has
  underscored the importance of Epsteins six types
  of involvement.
• They have also created four keys roles families
  can play in comprehensive and inclusive
  family-school partnership programs.
• teachers/nurturers
• communicators/advisors
• supporters/learners
• collaborators/decision makers
• See Approach Folder for additional information,
  handouts, and discussion questions.

8
Approach
9
The Four As Attitudes

• Whatever beliefs families and schools hold about
  each other, they influence the kind of
  relationship they develop.
• An attitude can be loosely defined as a value
  and/or perception related to some person, place,
  structure, or idea.
• As it relates to families and schools, an
  attitude reflects the belief one holds about the
  other, or the way one thinks about the other
  (Christenson Sheridan, 2001).
• Viewing families in a light that fosters
  partnerships and collaboration is one of the
  first steps in ensuring those partnerships will
  develop.

10
The Four As Attitudes

• A critical belief that must be held by educators
  is that home and school can accomplish more than
  either home or school can accomplish alone
  
• 
  (Christenson
  Sheridan, 2001).
• Pianta and Walsh (1996) described a necessary
  belief system for educators
• one where educators understand that children
  develop and learn in the context of the family,
  and
• that system (i.e., child/family) must interface
  in a positive way with schooling issues for
  childrens educational performance to be optimal.

11
The Four As Attitudes

• Perspective taking and win-win attitudes stand
  out as important for connecting with parents.
• Constructive family-school partnerships are
  fostered when educators accommodate parents by
  beginning where they are, not where educators
  think parents should or could be.
• As family members and school personnel work
  together to identify shared goals, school
  personnel must be willing to learn about a
  familys uniqueness but also learn with and from
  them (Christenson Sheridan, 2001).

12
The Four As Attitudes

• Emphasizing a win-win orientation helps to
  circumvent blame and finger pointing when
  students are having learning and behavioral
  difficulties in school (Christenson Sheridan,
  2001).
• Educators portray a win-win attitude when they
• state a desire to work toward resolution, avoid
  making attributions for problems (e.g., student
  is unmotivated or lacks home support)
• discuss what can be done at home and school to
  achieve goals for the student.

13
The Four As Attitudes

• To ensure your attitude has the best chance of
  contributing to a healthy home-school
  relationship, begin by being honest with yourself
  in assessing your attitudes.
• Once you are aware of your own beliefs and
  feelings towards families, decide how they might
  be helpful or harmful to developing a healthy
  family-school relationship
• Discussions with other school personnel around
  these ideas may also be helpful to share with and
  encourage one another.
• Developing attitudes that will aid in developing
  healthy family-school relationships is the first
  step in beginning to partner across home and
  school.
• See Attitudes Folder for additional information,
  handouts, and discussion questions.

14
Attitude
15
The Four As Atmosphere

• Approach and attitude are not sufficient to
  ensure that positive relationships will develop
  between families and schools.
• A schools atmosphere must also be conducive to
  establishing effective partnerships between home
  and school.
• A homes environment must be conducive to
  learning.
• At school
• An open, trusting, and inviting atmosphere can
  promote sharing attitudes and implementing
  actions, which are critical in forming
  partnerships.

16
The Four As Atmosphere

• At school
• Communication and feelings of trust and respect
  are significant characteristics of a schools
  atmosphere
• (Haynes, Ben-Avie, Squires, Howley, Negron,
  Corbin, 1996).
• The schools culture and climate must be
  welcoming for all families and their input.
• Physical and structural aspects of schools must
  also be welcoming and inviting for all families
  regardless of their background.

17
The Four As Atmosphere

• At school
• Schools with high levels of parent involvement
  have
• Strong leadership and administrative support, and
  
• They are responsive to families needs (e.g.,
  provide transportation to school meetings and
  provide childcare for families).
• Trust and communication are essential ingredients
  of atmosphere.

18
The Four As Atmosphere

• At home
• The most accurate predictor of student success is
  the familys ability to
• Create a home learning environment
• Communicate high and realistic expectations for
  childrens school performance and performance
• Become involved in childrens schooling

19
The Four As Atmosphere

• At home
• Incorporate the curriculum of the home, or
  activities to create a home learning environment
• Informed, everyday parent/child conversations
  about daily events
• Encouragement and discussion of leisure reading
• Deferral of immediate gratification to accomplish
  long-term goals
• Expression of affection and interest in
  childrens academic and personal growth
• Occasional caprice and serendipity (Walberg,
  1984)

20
The Four As Atmosphere

• Trust and communication
• Bidirectional trust between families and schools
  is vital to a healthy atmosphere and an essential
  feature of productive home-school relationships
  (Christenson Sheridan, 2001, pp. 114).
• All communication from educators should strive to
  convey at least three consistent themes to
  families
• the desire to develop a working partnership with
  families
• the crucial nature of family input for childrens
  educational progress and
• the importance of working together to identify a
  mutually advantageous solution in light of
  problems (Weiss Edwards, 1992).

21
The Four As Atmosphere

• Trust and communication
• Miscommunication commonly occurs when blaming is
  involved in the interaction, during emotionally
  charged situations, and when effective
  communication strategies are not used.
• Parents prefer trust, open-communication, mutual
  respect, active listening, and honesty in
  partnerships (Dunst, Johanson, Rounds, Trivette,
  Hanby, 1992).
• The use of effective communication strategies is
  essential when schools are communicating with
  families.
• See PV Handout 2

22
The Four As Atmosphere

• Atmosphere is a necessary condition for promoting
  family-school partnerships and students
  educational outcomes, but it is not sufficient in
  and of itself.
• Atmosphere, combined with Approach and Attitudes
  lay the foundation for schools to engage in
  Actions. When all four As are present in
  schools, partnerships can be built and student
  outcomes can be enhanced.
• See Atmosphere Folder for additional information,
  handouts, and discussion questions.

23
Atmosphere
24
The Four As Actions

• Approach, Attitudes, and Atmosphere serve as the
  prerequisite conditions for schools to engage in
  Actions.
• Actions refer to what schools do to build
  partnerships and shared responsibility for
  education between families and schools.
• The use of the word actions implies that there
  is no one activity or even a best set of
  activities, but instead important process-related
  variables that together suggest unique pathways
  for the home-school interface (Christenson
  Sheridan, 2001, p. 2).

25
The Four As Actions

• There is no one-size fits all approach to
  engaging in Actions.
• Rather, schools are encouraged to examine their
  current practices for partnering with families
  and their willingness to include families and
  their input when conceptualizing the Actions in
  which they will engage.
• When conceptualizing Actions and promoting shared
  responsibility in partnerships, it is essential
  that families are included in the decision making
  process, have meaningful involvement throughout
  the process, and agree with and contribute to
  action plans that affect them (Osher, 1997).

26
Actions Evidence-Based Interventions

• Numerous evidence-based models have been
  identified which utilize and promote
  family-school partnerships.
• These models have been separated into the
  following areas
• 1. Family-School Interventions with
  Preschool Children
• 2. Parent Consultation
• 3. Parent Education, Training, and Intervention
• 4. Family-School Collaboration
• 5. Parent Involvement Interventions

27
Examples of Evidence-Based Interventions

• Within the Family-School Interventions with
  Preschool Children domain the following have been
  identified as strong or promising evidence-based
  models
• Strong evidence-based models include
• The Incredible Years Training Series
  (Webster-Stratton, Reid, Hammond, 2001) See PV
  Handout 3
• Parent Child Interaction Therapy (Hembree-Kigin
  McNeil, 1995) See PV Handout 4
• Dialogic Reading See PV Handout 5
• A promising evidence-based model includes
• PARTNERS parent education program
  (Webster-Stratton, 1998) See PV Handout 6

28
Examples of Evidence-Based Interventions

• Within the Parent Consultation domain the
  following have been identified as strong or
  promising evidence-based models
• Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (Sheridan,
  Kratochwill, Bergan, 1996) See PV Handout 7
• Parent Behavioral Consultation (Cavell Hughes,
  2000 Doll Kratochwill, 1992 Loitz
  Kratochwill, 1995 Rhoades Kratochwill, 1998)
  See PV Handout 8

29
Examples of Evidence-Based Interventions

• Within the Parent Education, Training, and
  Intervention domain the following have been
  identified as strong or promising evidence-based
  models
• Strong evidence-based models include
• Problem-Solving Skills Training plus Parent
  Management Training (Kazdin, Esveldt-Dawson,
  French, Unis, 1987 Kazdin, Siegel, Bass,
  1992) See PV Handout 9
• Promising evidence-based models include
• Aware Parenting Model (Bronstein, Duncan,
  Clauson, Abrams, Yannett, Ginsburg, Milne,
  1998) See PV Handout 10
• Reading Made Easy (Harrison, 1981 Mehran
  White, 1998) See PV Handout 11
• Family Behavioral Therapy (Azrin, Donahue,
  Teichner, Crum, Howell, DeCato, 2001)
• Multi-Systemic Therapy (Brown, Henggeler,
  Schoenwald, Brondino, Pickrel, 1999 Henggeler
  et al., 1999 Scherer, Brandino, Henggeler,
  Melton, Hanley, 1994)

30
Examples of Evidence-Based Interventions

• Within the Family-School Collaboration domain the
  following have been identified as strong or
  promising evidence-based models
• Strong evidence-based models include
• School-based Literacy Program/Family Literacy
  Program (Morrow Young, 1997) See PV Handout 12
• Promising evidence-based models include
• Parent-Teacher Action Research Teams plus Social
  Skills Instruction (Forest Pearpoint, 1992
  McConaughy, Kay, Fitzgerald, 1999 OBrian,
  Forest, Snow, Hasbury, 1989) See PV Handout 13
• A home-school note program with home
  reinforcements and a family problem-solving board
  game (Blechman, Taylor, Schrader, 1981) See PV
  Handout 14

31
Examples of Evidence-Based Interventions

• Within the Parent Involvement Interventions
  domain the following have been identified as
  promising evidence-based models
• In the single-participant category
• Parent Tutoring (Duvall, Delquadri, Elliot,
  Hall, 1992 Hook DuPaul, 1999) See PV Handout
  15
• In the group-participant category
• Parents Encourage Pupils (Shuck, Ulsh, Platt,
  1983) See PV Handout 16
• Reciprocal Peer Tutoring and Parent Involvement
  (Heller Fantuzzo, 1993) See PV Handout 17

32
Key Points

• The aforementioned strategies may not work
  equally for all students, families, and
  educators.
• The development of effective atmosphere,
  approach, attitudes, and actions takes time.
• As such, individual schools may want to discuss
  what type(s) of programs will best meet their
  needs.
• Committing the time and resources while
  developing and implementing effective strategies
  will allow the process and outcomes to be most
  effective.

33
References

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