Developing Family and Community Involvement Skills Through Case Studies and Field Experiences

Ideal for adding structure to early field experience courses, this practical new text offers a well-organized, flexible program that will help pre-service teachers acquire the critical skills they need to establish effective, productive relationships with the families of their pupils and members of the community in which they teach. Straightforward, clearly written coverage includes a wide array of realistic case studies, field experiences, and issues for discussion that sensitively address the increasing diversity of family structures in American society.

Ronald Diss is director of educational outreach and professor of education at Emory & Henry College in Virginia. Pamela Buckley is director of marketing for the Government Division of The Gallup Organization in Washington, DC. They have coauthored a number of articles on teacher education and presented papers at national teacher education association conferences on teacher effectiveness, parent involvement, and rural education.

Ron Diss received his Ed.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has taught elementary, middle, and high school grades in private and public schools, where he also was an elementary school principal. At Emory & Henry College he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in child development and reading education. He has also supervised student teachers and directed the college's Mentor Teacher Preparation Program, the Early Field Experience Program, and the Office of Academic Support Services. Diss is active in providing professional development to improve literacy education in K-12 schools. In addition to several articles on reflective practice, he is the author of Recruiting and Training Volunteer Tutors for Emergent and Beginning Readers, and a companion training video titled The ABC's of Tutoring to assist parents, teachers, and community volunteers working with children in need of support to develop literacy skills. Diss is a past president of the Association of Teacher Educators in Virginia, and a sitting member of Virginia's Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure (ABTEL).

Pam Buckley received her Ed. D. from the University of Houston. She has taught remedial and developmental reading, English, and social studies in junior and senior high schools, adult basic education courses in a community college, and teacher education courses at the university level. While completing her doctoral work at the University of Houston, Buckley directed the Houston Area Teacher Center, supervised student teachers, and taught undergraduate courses in classroom management. She was director of the Commonwealth Center for the Education of Teachers at James Madison University, where she encouraged and supported innovative practices in teacher education among Virginia's 37 public and private teacher preparation institutions. Buckley is a former vice president of Appalachia Educational Laboratory, where she also directed the Appalachia Eisenhower Regional Math/ Science Consortium and the Region IV Comprehensive Technical Assistance Center. She has published articles on teacher education in Science Educator, Issues & Inquiry in College Learning and Teaching, and the Journal of Staff Development. In addition to her work in education, she has had wide experience working in business and private industry in the United States and the Middle East.

Diss and Buckley have written this book to inspire and enable educators to reach out to families and community agencies to establish meaningful partnerships.