Reaching Out : A K-8 Resource for Connecting Families and Schools

"The timing for Reaching Out could not have been better. Just when educators are beginning to realize that teachers need training in how to work with parents, Kyle, McIntyre, Miller, and Moore bring us a book that is a welcome breath of fresh air."
―Patricia A. Edwards, Professor of Language and Literacy
Michigan State University

"Reaching Out describes a great variety of ways to respectfully and productively engage families in helping their children learn and grow. Throughout the text the reader is reminded that parents are experts about their children and that trusting relationships are built on respectful, two-way communications. The authors also remind us that the goal of family involvement is not parent participation at school events and activities but improved student achievement."
―Steve McCafferty, Principal
Mildred Dean School, Newport, KY

Involve families in the education process and enhance your students′ learning experience!

Too often, today′s student feels alienated from school, and learning suffers as a result. Developing a relationship with the family can provide the missing link in the educational chain. Reaching Out is an invaluable resource for compassionate educators interested in building strong relationships with their students′ families.

A dynamic team of teachers and teacher educators have combined their first-hand experience and in-depth research in this essential guidebook. By involving the entire family in the educational experience, teachers can bridge the gap separating home and school and help produce happier, healthier, and smarter kids.

Highlights include:

• Building trust with families
• Communicating in positive ways with students′ families
• Implementing family workshops
• Involving families through innovative homework ideas

Based on a five-year study, the information will be particularly helpful for teachers whose classrooms reflect a diverse student population. By incorporating these concepts and techniques, you not only enhance the learning experience you also help your students to be more compassionate and excited about school.

Diane W. Kyle is a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Louisville. She has coauthored Reaching Out: A K–8 Resource for Connecting Schools and Families and Reflective Teaching for Student Empowerment: Elementary Curriculum and Methods, coedited Creating Nongraded Primary Classrooms: Teachers’ Stories and Lessons Learned, and pub­lished in such journals as Language Arts, Peabody Journal of Education, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, Education & Equity, Teaching Children Mathematics, and Elementary School Journal. Her most recent project, co­directed with Ellen McIntyre, is “Sheltered Instruction and Family Involvement: An Approach to Raising Achievement of LEP Students,” funded by the US Department of Education. She also codirected with Ellen McIntyre a research project, “Children’s Academic Development in Nongraded Primary Programs,” funded by the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Ellen McIntyre is a literacy professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Louisville, where she teaches courses on lit­eracy research and instruction and studies children’s development in light of instructional contexts. She has published extensively, having coau­thored Reaching Out: A K–8 Resource for Connecting Schools and Families, coedited Classroom Diversity: Connecting School Curricula to Students’ Lives, Balanced Instruction: Strategies and Skills in Whole Language, and Creating Nongraded Primary Programs, and published in such journals as Language Arts, Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Literacy Research, and American Educational Research Journal. Her most recent project, codirected with Diane Kyle, is “Sheltered Instruction and Family Involvement: An Approach to Raising Achievement of LEP Students,” funded by the US Department of Education. She also codirected with Diane Kyle a research project, “Children’s Academic Development in Nongraded Primary Programs,” funded by the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Karen B. Miller has taught elementary school for more  than 20 years in grades 1–4. She currently teaches at Roby Elementary in Bullitt County, Kentucky. For two years, she participated as a teacher-researcher on the study, “Children’s Academic Development in Nongraded Primary Programs,” funded by the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Making family visits during this time enabled her to learn more about the students in her classroom and to make connections in her instruction, often through Family Nights she planned and implemented. She has co­authored Reaching Out: A K–8 Resource for Connecting Schools and Families and presented for several years at the National Reading Conference. In addition, she has served as a teacher leader for the Kentucky Reading Project and Project READ Early Intervention, in which she has provided intensive professional development for teachers on literacy and family involvement. She also has presented at the National Reading Conference on home–school connections.

Gayle H. Moore recently retired after teaching elementary school for 31 years at grades K–8, including 9 years in the nongraded primary program at LaGrange Elementary in Oldham County, Kentucky. Throughout that time, she participated as a teacher-researcher on studies related to the nongraded primary. She has coauthored Reaching Out: A K–8 Resource for Connecting Schools and Families, a chapter in Creating Nongraded Primary Classrooms: Teachers’ Stories and Lessons Learned, and articles in Language Arts and Peabody Journal of Education. She has presented at conferences of the American Educational Research Association, the International Reading Association, and the National Reading Conference. Most recently she has participated as a teacher-researcher for the study, “Children’s Academic Development in Nongraded Primary Programs,” funded by the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) at the University of California at Santa Cruz. For three years, she made family visits to the homes of her students, learning about the families’ knowledge and using it to make instructional connections. She also planned and implemented several Family Nights, one focused on mathematics. Her subsequent classroom activities are described in an article in Teaching Children Mathematics.