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Rodríguez, R. G., López del Bosque, R., & Villarreal, A. (2008). Creating Culturally Responsive Parent Engagement. Intercultural Development Research Association.

Viewing parent involvement from a culturally responsive perspective, the article includes strategies to encourage educators to reflect on their practices to involve parents and make space for effective family engagement.

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Edutopia (2010). How to Strengthen Parent Involvement and Communication. Edutopia.

This resource list provides suggestions to use technology to strengthen parent involvement and communication. Resources are provided to involve families in school culture and keep families up-to-date with academic expectations.

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Sandifer, S. D. (2011). How Parent-Friendly Are Your Schools?. American Association of School Administrators.

All schools claim to be parent-friendly, but the answers to this list of questions provides administrators the opportunity to reflect on just how parent-friendly their campus actually is.

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OBrien, A. (2011). What Parents Want in School Communication. Edutopia.

This blog discusses what parents want in communication and how educators can best communicate with them.

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Starr, L. (2011). A Dozen Activities to Promote Parent Involvement. Education World.

Based on the national PTA standards for parent/family involvement, this article includes practical ideas and resources to help find ways for families to contribute to the child’s education.

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 Edutopia. Community-Built School: Working Together to Make a Change. Edutopia.

This video describes the creation of an elementary school that is dependent on parents and a large number of volunteers. The principal led the process, based on her vision of in-depth community involvement that values diverse perspectives. The school is built on collaborative and cooperative learning.

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Johnson, J. (2011). What’s Trust Got to Do with It? A Communications and Engagement Guide for School Leaders Tackling the Problem of Persistently Failing Schools. Public Agenda.

This guide focuses on supporting family engagement in persistently failing schools. Eight ideas that can help leaders build trust and promote constructive dialogue are discussed.

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Anderson, J. A. et al. (2006). Increasing Parent Involvement in Education: A Resource Guide for South Carolina Communities. South Carolina Council on Competitiveness.

This resource provides the tools necessary to develop and implement a strategic plan to ensure continual improvement in family engagement. The Inventory of Present Practices might be of particular interest for school leaders. This inventory will help educators identify school’s present practices for each of the six types of involvement that create a comprehensive program of school, family, and community partnerships. A survey is also provided that could be given to families to identify ways to improve the school’s family collaboration.

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Hopkins, G. (2008). Principals Share Lessons Learned About Communicating With Parents, Others. Education World.

This article covers the basics in communicating with parents including weekly updates, the importance of clarity, and phone messaging.

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Thao, M. (2009). Parent involvement in school: Engaging immigrant parents. Wilder Research. Effective strategies for, and common barriers to, engaging immigrant families are discussed.  This resource is designed to reduce barriers and help immigrant parents demonstrate the value of education to their children.