Making Family and Community Connections: Explanation

	Why should family and community be connected to schools?
	How do family and community involvement with schools relate to traditional educational ideas?
	What does it have to do with my classroom?
	How has thinking about family and community involvement changed in our schools?
	What are the benefits of family and community connections?
	What are some critical perspectives?
	Another perspective

Another perspective

In this interview with Heather B. Weiss¹, director of the Harvard Family Research Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she offers more thoughts about how families can become involved in their children's schools.

. Concept to Classroom: Why involve families in schools?

. Concept to Classroom: Should schools stand alone?

. Concept to Classroom: Is this kind of research new?

. Concept to Classroom: Why do you use the word "family" instead of "parent" in the name of your project?

. Concept to Classroom: Do all families have the resources to support their children?

. Concept to Classroom: Do you think that most teachers would value this involvement?

. Concept to Classroom: Should parent involvement be the same throughout the child's education?

. Concept to Classroom: What barriers keep families from getting involved?

. Concept to Classroom: Do culture and language play an important role in getting families involved?

. Concept to Classroom: What can schools do to promote family involvement?

. Concept to Classroom: How is the focus of the work you are doing at Harvard different from Dr. Joyce Epstein's work at Johns Hopkins?

. Concept to Classroom: Any last thoughts?

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