Strengthening the Connection Between School & Home, Oct/2012

Examine the pivotal role family engagement plays in student achievement, and explore in depth the process of creating and implementing a family-engagement plan. This research-based guide includes many specific strategies, handouts, and reproducibles leaders can use to make their schools family friendly and connect with those families who may be hard to reach.

Benefits

1. Examine your own attitudes and beliefs about family involvement in schools.
2. Create successful family-school events and home visits.
3. Structure and schedule effective parent-teacher and parent-principal conferences
4. Reach out to community leaders and businesses for support.
5. Use media and technology to enhance family engagement.

Review
Ricardo and Kym Leblanc-Esparza have written the best summary to date of the benefits of strong parental participation in schools. This book also includes proven ways to engage parents in education in meaningful ways in virtually all settings. Ricardo brings his extraordinary success in using family engagement as the primary vehicle to create dramatic change in challenging school settings. While Kym brings the experience of making sure that all students got the benefits of positive parental involvement in schools where many students thrive. Despite these varied experiences both agree on the need for strong leadership to encourage positive family input. To help those leaders to be successful in getting parents to the table to support their children, this book provides educators with tools that can make improved family participation become a reality in all settings.
--Joseph DiMartino, Founder and President, Center for Secondary School Redesign

About the Authors:
Ricardo LeBlanc-Esparza has been a public school educator for twenty-nine years, serving as a classroom teacher/coach, athletic director, and administrator in high-poverty schools, grades 3 through 12. He was recently hired as an elementary principal in the Hillsboro (Oregon) School District. Ricardo was born the son of migrant farm workers, raised in Grandview, Washington, and graduated from Central Washington University with a bachelor of arts in education and a Master of Science degree.

During Ricardo's nine-year tenure as principal of Granger High School, in Granger, Washington, the school's graduation rate went from less than 50 percent to 90 percent, and from 10 percent student attendance at parent-teacher conferences to 100 percent. Granger High was recognized by Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington in 2004 and 2006 as a model high school and in 2007 and 2008 was selected by the Center for Secondary School Redesign and the National Association of Secondary School Principals as a National Showcase High School. The community itself moved from having the highest reported crime rate per capita in Washington's Yakima Valley to the lowest.

Ricardo was named 2002, 2005, and 2007 Principal of the Year by South Central Athletic Conference Principals' Association, 1996 Athletic Director of the Year by Mid-Valley Athletic Directors' Association, and 1990 Coach of the Year by Region 4 Coaches Association. He has given dozens of presentations and has written for numerous educational publications.

Kym LeBlanc-Esparza has been a public school educator for twenty-three years, serving as a classroom teacher, curriculum specialist, and central office administrator. She began her career in Las Cruces, New Mexico, as an elementary teacher working with English learners in a Title I school. In 2001, she opened Hulstrom Options K-8 School, and served as principal for nine years. During her tenure, Hulstrom was given the John Irwin Award of Excellence, bestowed on the top 8 percent of schools in Colorado. Kym served two years as Executive Director of K12 Schools in Adams 12 School District, a large Denver metro area district. Presently, Kym is the superintendent of Newberg School District in Newberg, Oregon.

Kym holds a bachelor's degree in education from New Mexico State University and a master's degree in educational administration and curriculum studies from the University of Texas. A student at Harvard University's Leadership Institute, she completed her doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Northern Colorado in 2007.