Home-School Partnerships

There are numerous descriptors used to refer to home-school partnerships (e.g., parent involvement). Differences in definitions are attributed to the overall goals of the partnerships, for example, increasing parent involvement in school based activities, or enhancing the contact between home and school to promote students’ learning abilities. Some definitions are also tied to the theories from which the constructs are derived. Although several models of parent school partnerships are available, no model on parent-school partnership to date specifically utilizes a multicultural framework. Thus far, the most integrative definition of the home-school relationship is derived from systems-ecological theory, a theoretical framework that integrates multicultural components. This model emphasizes the reciprocal effect of immediate settings (e.g., classroom) and larger contexts (school, home) to explain the contexts of development. It also seeks to address concerns resulting from differences...