School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action

Joyce L. Epstein is director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and the National Network of Partnership Schools, principal research scientist in the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR), and professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University. She has over 100 publications on the organization and effects of school, classroom, family, and peer environments, with many focused on school, family, and community connections. In 1995, she established the National Network of Partnership Schools to demonstrate the important intersections of research, policy, and practice for school improvement. She serves on numerous editorial boards and advisory panels on family involvement and school reform and is a recipient of the Academy for Educational Development’s 1991 Alvin C. Eurich Education Award and the 1997 Working Mother’s Magazine Parent Involvement in Education Award for her work on school, family, and community partnerships. Her most recent book, School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools (Westview Press, 2001), aims to add the topic of family and community involvement to courses for future teachers and administrators. She earned a PhD in sociology from Johns Hopkins University.

Mavis G. Sanders is assistant professor of education in the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education, research scientist at the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR), and senior advisor to the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of many articles on the effects of school, family, and community support on African American adolescents’ school success, the impact of partnership programs on the quality of family and community involvement, and international research on partnerships. She is interested in how schools involve families that are traditionally hard to reach, how schools meet challenges for implementing excellent programs and practices, and how schools define “community” and develop meaningful school-family-community connections. Her most recent book is Schooling Students Placed at Risk: Research, Policy, and Practice in the Education of Poor and Minority Adolescents (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000). She earned her PhD in education from Stanford University.

Steven B. Sheldon is a research scientist with the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and director of research of NNPS at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of many publications on the implementation and effects of programs for family and community involvement. His work explores how the quality and outreach of school programs of partnerships affect parents’ responses and student outcomes, such as student attendance, math achievement, student behavior, reading, and state achievement test scores. His most recent book guides principals in their leadership and work on school, family, and community partnerships (with Mavis Sanders, Corwin Press, 2009). In his current research, Sheldon is studying the influences of parents’ social networks, beliefs, and school outreach on patterns of parental involvement at school and at home and results for students. He earned his PhD in educational psychology from Michigan State University.

Beth S. Simon is a social science research analyst at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She conducts quantitative and qualitative research to improve the quality of services and communications for health care beneficiaries. Previously, she was an associate research scientist at the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) at Johns Hopkins University, where her research focused on family and community involvement in high schools and the effects of partnerships on high school student success. She also served as dissemination director of the National Network of Partnership Schools and as developer of the Network's Web site. She earned her PhD in sociology from Johns Hopkins University.

Karen Clark Salinas is a senior research assistant at the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. As communications director of the National Network of Partnership Schools, she is editor of Type 2, the Network’s newsletter, and coeditor of the annual collection Promising Partnership Practices. She also coordinates workshops and provides technical assistance to members by phone, email, and Web site. She is coauthor of the inventory Starting Points that helps schools identify their present practices of partnership; the Measure of School, Family, and Community Partnerships; and materials for the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork (TIPS) process. She is also coproducer of the video National Network of Partnership Schools: Working Together for Student Success. She earned her MSW in social work from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Natalie Rodriguez Jansorn is a state and district facilitator of the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. In this capacity, she assists state, district, and organization leaders in establishing school, family, and community partnership programs to support students’ school success. She is an experienced speaker at conferences on partnerships. Previously, she served as the Network’s middle and high school facilitator and devoted particular attention to urban schools. She has developed workshops, tools, and publications to help middle and high schools implement effective partnership activities that are linked to school improvement goals. She is coeditor of the annual collection, Promising Partnership Practices. She earned her MA in education from University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Frances L. Van Voorhis is an associate research scientist at the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and TIPS Coordinator of the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of research articles on the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork (TIPS) interactive homework process, including a study of the effects of TIPS science in the middle grades on family involvement and students’ science skills. In addition, she conducts research on the progress in partnership program development of states, districts, and schools in the National Network. She designs materials to help members conduct workshops on TIPS Interactive Homework and on the National Network of Partnership Schools. She also develops and coordinates the Network’s annual collection of new TIPS activities. She earned her PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Florida.

Cecelia Martin is associate director of the Maryland Parental Information Resource Center (PIRC). She takes leadership in providing technical assistance to school systems and schools to strengthen local programs and practices of family and community involvement. In her prior work with NNPS at Johns Hopkins University, Martin was senior program facilitator for the Military Child Initiative that assisted districts and schools to work more effectively with families in the military. She also conducted workshops and developed materials for state, district, and school leaders to build partnership programs for student success. She was coeditor of the NNPS Promising Partnership Practices 2007. Previously, Martin served in the U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard, was a high school teacher in the Baltimore City Public School System, has a background in special education, and was an assistant professor of English at Baltimore City Community College. She earned her MEd from Towson University and is pursuing a doctorate in educational administration at Howard University.

Brenda G. Thomas is Maryland director of partnership program development and senior program Facilitator at NNPS. She is supported by a collaborative grant of NNPS with the Maryland Parental Information Resource Center (PIRC). Thomas assists district leaders across the state of Maryland to help their schools organize, implement, and improve programs of school, family, and community partnerships. She also provides professional development workshops for other school, district, state, and PIRC leaders in NNPS. She is a coeditor of Promising Partnership Practices, the NNPS annual collection of members’ best practices. Thomas has many years of experience as a teacher, Action Team for Partnerships leader, district-level facilitator for partnerships, and coordinator of parental involvement in the Baltimore City Public School System. She earned her MS in administration supervision from Morgan State University.

Marsha D. Greenfeld is senior program facilitator with NNPS at Johns Hopkins University. She provides professional development to help leaders in districts, states, organizations, and school teams implement and sustain goal-linked programs of family and community involvement. She develops and conducts workshops and provides technical assistance on all aspects of partnership program development. She is coauthor of the book, Family Reading Night (2008, Eye on Education), and a coeditor of annual collections of Promising Partnership Practices. Greenfeld previously was a teacher and district-level facilitator for partnerships in the Baltimore City Public School System. She also worked in the Technical Assistance Branch of the Office of Federal Grants Programs in Washington DC Public Schools and as a partnership coordinator in the national office of Communities in Schools.

Darcy J. Hutchins is a senior program facilitator with NNPS at Johns Hopkins University. She provides professional development to enable district, state, and organization leaders and school teams to establish and maintain comprehensive partnership programs that positively impact student success. Hutchins taught in the Baltimore City Public School System, where she developed and implemented family literacy workshops. She also has experience working with young children with special needs. She is co-author of the book Family Reading Night (2008, Eye on Education), which guides educators to conduct effective literacy events. She also is a coeditor of annual collections of Promising Partnership Practices. She earned her MS in education from Johns Hopkins University and is completing her PhD in education policy at the University of Maryland-College Park.

Kenyatta J. Williams is a data integration/statistical analyst for Prince George's County Public Schools. He works with staff to create data sets by inputting, downloading, organizing, and analyzing data from the Student Information Management System for evaluation and reporting purposes. In his prior work with NNPS at Johns Hopkins University, Williams collected and coordinated data from all schools, districts, states, and organizations and worked with the research staff on many studies. He is coauthor of annual summaries of UPDATE data for schools and districts in NNPS and several research conference presentations. Williams also coordinated NNPS conferences and institutes and provided technical assistance to NNPS members across the country. He earned his MS in information and telecommunication systems for business from Johns Hopkins University.