Preparing Educators to Engage Families: Case Studies Using an Ecological Systems Framework Second Edition

This second edition of the 2005 publication formerly titled Preparing Educators to Involving Families seeks to help teachers and other professionals enter the process of engaging families in children's learning. According to the author, family involvement in children's education is considered critical to student achievement. The author seeks to pair child development theory with research-based teaching cases that reflect critical dilemmas in family-school-community relations, especially in situations where families face poverty and cultural differences. The book hopes to have readers make the linkages between theory and practice so that analytic and problem-solving skills can be used in real-world situations with students and their families.

The intended audience of this book includes individuals working in elementary education, school psychology, child development, and family studies.

Key features include the following:

• "Research-based teaching cases and theoretical perspectives help educators connect theory and research to practice in family engagement, honing problem-solving skills for real-world dilemmas of practice.
• The overarching social ecological systems framework increases understanding of the multiple contexts of children’s lives and how families, schools, and communities can best support child development.
• Original research with families and schools provides valuable perspectives and skills for engaging families who have, in many instances, been underserved by our educational system."