Working with Families, Community Members, and School-Based Professionals.

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aha! Process, Inc. (Ruby Payne)
The aha! Process, Inc. company, founded by Dr. Ruby K. Payne, is devoted to educating professionals and community leaders about the effects of class and poverty on our society. The company spreads the message that in all types of social interaction, poverty creates obstacles that require specific tactics to overcome. Available from the website is a comprehensive set of books, videos, audiotapes, transparencies, and guides dealing with poverty in such areas as education, social services, faith communities, and leadership. In addition, the organization conducts approximately 200 seminars each year in the United States and Canada. aha! Process, Inc. has become a leading force in facilitating understanding between economic classes. http://www.ahaprocess.com

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Metlife Foundation Parental Engagement Institute.
Findings of the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher in 2000 and 2001 revealed a major need to ensure that teachers receive training and information to create and sustain positive relationships with parents. This Institute is aimed at the most promising practices for infusing parental engagement into teacher preparation programs, including strategies that are culturally responsive. Five campuses are collaborating to develop and evaluate enhancements.
http://www.aacte.org/Research/met_life_parental_engagement.htm

Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the US. The website has a variety of valuable resources for collaborating with families and communities to create supportive educational environments that more effectively meet the needs of today's vulnerable children and families.
http://www.aecf.org

Cultural Models of Transition: Latina mothers of young adults with developmental disabilities (2005)
Robert Rueda, Lilia Monzo, Juan Gomez, and Jan Blacher.
This study used several focus groups to examine culturally based variation in attitudes, beliefs, and meanings of transition. Sixteen Latina mothers of young adults with disabilities participated in the study, recruited from an agency serving low-income, predominantly Spanish-speaking communities. Data analysis identified five primary themes: (a) basic life skills and social adaptation, (b) the importance of the family and home rather than individualism and independence, (c) the importance of the mother's role and expertise in decision making, (d) access to information; and (e) dangers of the outside world. The overarching theme was a view of transition as home-centered, sheltered adaptation as opposed to a model emphasizing independent productivity.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Rueda_2004.pdf

Dimensions of Family and Professional Partnerships: Constructive guidelines for collaboration (2004)
Martha Blue-Banning, Jean Ann Summers, H. Corine Frankland, Louise Lord Nelson, and Gwen Beegle.
Using qualitative inquiry, 33 focus groups were conducted with adult family members of children with and without disabilities and service providers and administrators. In addition, 32 individual interviews were conducted with non-English-speaking parents and their service providers. Indicators of professional behavior facilitative of collaborative partnerships were identified and organized into six broad themes: communication, commitment, equality, skills, trust, and respect.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Blue-Banning_2004.pdf

Effects of Teacher Preparation Experiences and Students' Perceptions Related to Developmentally and Culturally Appropriate Practices.
Morales, Rosario. (2000). Action in Teacher Education, 22 (2).
Case study of preservice early childhood teachers in a course on cultural diversity inquired how the course's structure prepared them for working with and understanding diverse students and families. Pre- and post-course surveys indicated that students perceived that they had made gains in their understanding of cultural diversity issues and were positively affected through their teacher preparation experiences.
Morales, Rosario. (2000). Effects of Teacher Preparation Experiences and Students' Perceptions Related to Developmentally and Culturally Appropriate Practices. Action in Teacher Education, 22 (2).

Family-Centered Intervention for Young Children At-Risk for Language and Behavior Problems (2006)
Pen-Chiang Chao, Tanis Bryan, Karen Burstein, and Cevriye Ergul.
The purpose of this study was to examine whether active parent engagement in selecting and using routine-based activities has a positive effect on children’s language and appropriate behavior development. The hypothesis was that parents are more likely to implement an intervention when it focuses on child issues of concern, and when they can select activities that are compatible with their goals and fit the family’s daily routines. Results showed that children in the intervention group out-performed children in the control group on two separate measures.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Chao_2006.pdf

Family-School Collaboration and Positive Behavior Support (2005)
Kathleen Minke and Kellie Anderson.
This article reviews some of the challenges of involving families in collaborative efforts to implementing positive behavior support (PBS). The authors advocate for ways in which family-school collaboration efforts can complement PBS initiatives in schools.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Minke_2005.pdf

Increasing the Use of Evidence-Based Strategies by Special Education Teachers: A collaborative approach (2006)
Albert Duchnowski, Krista Kutash, Susan Sheffield, and Bobbie Vaughn.
The project described in this study developed a working partnership between university researchers and parents, teachers and administrators of students in special education programs. The partnership produced manuals for the teachers that outlined effective strategies for teaching reading, encouraging family involvement, providing academic feedback, and engaging in positive behavior support in the classroom. The results of assessing implementation fidelity, implications of the study, and future research issues are presented.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Duchnowski_2006.pdf

Learning From Collaboration: The Role of Teacher Qualities (2006)
This study examined how teachers who readily adapt and adopt strategies acquired in collaboration differed from those who do not. Findings revealed differences in knowledge of curriculum, pedagogy, student management, and student-centered instruction, as well as differences in ability to reflect on and adapt instruction. Implications for improving professional collaboration in schools are provided.
Brownell, M., Adams, A., Sindelar, P., Waldron, N., & Vanhover, S. (2006). Learning from collaboration: The role of teacher qualities. Exceptional Children, 72(2), 169-185.

Measuring the Quality of Family—Professional Partnerships in Special Education Services (2005)
One difficulty in monitoring the quality of family-professional partnerships has been the lack of a psychometrically acceptable and sufficiently general instrument with which to assess them. The current work describes the development of the Family-Professional Partnership Scale, which assesses parents' perceptions of the importance of and their satisfaction with family-professional partnerships. Indicators were constructed from qualitative research on families with children with and without disabilities, and the scale was refined across two field tests that included families with children with a wide range of ages and disability types and severity. Both the 18-item overall scale and the two 9-item subscales demonstrated excellent psychometric properties. The possible uses of this scale in future research and service delivery are discussed.
Summers, J.A., Hoffman, L., Marquis, J., Turnbull, A., Poston, D., & Nelson, L.L. (2005). Measuring the quality of family: Professional partnerships in special education services. Exceptional Children, 72(1), 65-81.

A Model for Preparing Special and General Education Preservice Teachers for Inclusive Education (2007)
Toni Van Laarhoven, Dennis Munk, Kathleen Lynch, Julie Bosma, and Loanne Rouse.
Project ACCEPT (Achieving Creative & Collaborative Educational Preservice Teams) represents an initiative at Northern Illinois University, where special and general education preservice teachers are joined in a voluntary project featuring an enhanced curriculum and field experiences in inclusive classrooms. This article describes the specific features of the Project ACCEPT curriculum and outcomes for the first year of implementation.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Laarhoven_2007.pdf

“More Than My Child’s Disability…” (2005)
Tim Moore and Helen Larkin.
In this literature review, the authors address the lack of a common approach or understanding with regard to the principles and practices of family-centered practice in a manner that synthesizes and critically analyses the findings of the research across the last fifteen years. The report provides a clear summary of the principles and philosophy of family-centered practice and explores the perceptions and behaviors of practitioners working within such an approach. Most importantly it describes the experiences and perspectives of families who have been involved with early childhood intervention services and identifies the issues that are important to them.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Moore_2005.pdf

Nurturing Parent Involvement: Two middle level teachers share their secrets (2004)
In 2002, a school district in west Texas initiated a program called Volunteer Initiative Program (VIP) to increase community and parent involvement in grades kindergarten through twelve. Through VIP, the district encouraged district teachers and staff to increase their efforts to involved parents in their schools. Carlos Valdez and Mike Hogan, two teachers at Madison Junior High School too the challenge seriously.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Halsey_2004.pdf

Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights
The PACER Center was created by parents of children and youth with disabilities to help other parents and families facing similar challenges. Today, PACER Center expands opportunities and enhances the quality of life of children and young adults with disabilities and their families. PACER is staffed primarily by parents of children with disabilities and works in coalition with 18 disability organizations. Several publications and descriptions of programs are available on the website. http://www.pacer.org

Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN): Successful Collaboration in an Environment of Constant Change
A strategic alliance that co-invests core operational funding for SUN originating from the City of Portland, Multnomah County, the Oregon Commission on Children and Families, the Oregon Department of Human Services, the U.S. Department of Education’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, and the U.S. Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative. http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/schools_uniting.pdf

The Family Village
The Family Village is a global community that integrates information, resources, and communication opportunities on the Internet for persons with cognitive and other disabilities, for their families, and for those that provide them services and support. Website includes informational resources on specific diagnoses, communication connections, adaptive products and technology, adaptive recreational activities, education, worship, health issues, disability-related media and literature, and much, much more. http://familyvillage.wisc.edu/

Working Together: Lessons Learned From School, Family, and Community Collaborations (2006)
Recent advances in treatment modalities and the manner in which services are organized have made it possible to serve children with severe emotional or behavioral disorders ( EBD) in a more responsive and less restrictive manner. Current approaches rely on collaboration among child-serving agencies as well as between parents and service providers. In this article, we explore the role of schools in collaborative efforts on behalf of children with EBD. The demands on school personnel in local school districts are examined, the elements required for effective collaboration are articulated, and an exemplary model of comprehensive collaboration is described. Impediments to effective collaboration are summarized, and suggestions for how to create and sustain reliable partnerships are offered at the level of individual provider and child-serving organization. Attention is given to contextual factors, such as financing and organizational structure, and also to programmatic issues.
Cohen, R., Linker, J.A., & Stutts, L. (2006). Working together: Lessons learned from school, family, and community collaborations. Psychology in the Schools, 43(4), 419-428.