EDU 547: Building Relationships: K-12 Schools and Families

Overview

The students in this course will investigate the relationship of the school with the larger community. Students will explore how to adapt the instructional program to meet the community needs, use resources from the community to support instructional goals and plan for programs that build school community relationships. The course will focus on the role of parents in the school community. Students will acquire strategies for engaging parents in the work of the school and for addressing difficult situations with parents. This course will also explore a range of community partnerships including business partnerships, partnerships with non-profit organizations and university partnerships.

This course is designed to prepare potential school administrators to successfully evaluate the broader community context of a school and the school's needs in order to develop a plan for partnering with the community. Through this course, students will explore approaches for collaborating effectively with parents, community organizations, after-school programs, state and local agencies and student support services.

This course will use a range of instructional techniques to provide students with multiple opportunities to reflect, plan, discuss and practice new skills and strategies.

Students enrolled in JIU’s School of Education will work with sponsors for their professional synthesizing projects to ensure their work addresses the authentic needs of specific learning communities. It is important for students to identify a sponsor early in the course in order for the sponsor to collaborate with the student on the project. For more information on the sponsor, click here.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Develop strategies for ensuring that work with families and the community supports the school's mission and vision and connects with the school's strategic plan
• Describe the partnerships in your current work setting and evaluate the effectiveness of these partnerships in supporting the school's goals
• Develop a plan for either the development of a new community partnership or the improvement of an existing relationship designed to help the school more effectively achieve its mission.
• Develop strategies involving parents as productive partners in the education process
• Apply the research on the impact of family and community involvement on school success and student achievement by analyzing a current school situation, designing additional components of parent or community partnership to supplement current programming, and presenting this to your school community through a PowerPoint presentation
• Demonstrate an understanding of federal requirements for parental involvement and communication by preparing responses to a range of scenarios

Course Requirements

PowerPoint

Required Texts
EDU 547 texts are available from the JIU/MBS bookstore