School-Family Partnerships and Teachers, Parents and Children

Early childhood educators are bound by ethical duty and guided by developmentally appropriate practice to foster opportunities for meaningful parent involvement that contributes to building partnerships with families. However, misalignment of state standards and national expectations send mixed messages about how early childhood educators can effectively engage parents and families and cultivate school-family partnerships. This paper synthesized a collection of quantitative, qualitative, mixed method, meta-synthesis, and meta-analysis studies concerning the relationship between parent involvement, children’s learning and development, and school-family partnerships. The studies examined support the idea that parent involvement was a significant contributor to young children’s learning and development no matter how parent involvement was defined and that enhanced partnerships were one of the most influential methods. Research revealed that building partnerships with families required educators to be aware, sensitive, and supportive of many aspects of parents’ and families’ realities. School-family partnerships are also discussed as a foundation for learning communities that recognize teachers, parents, and young children as equitable and active contributors to individual and collective learning