Student Success and the Family: Using the Comer Model for Home-School Connections

Abstract

I f American public school systems are to fulfill their purpose of educating all students, they will need to be guided by a people-centered approach, one that includes the parents. Effective home-school collaboration occurs when parents and educators share common goals, see each other as equals, and support the students' education wholeheartedly. A program to expand the parent-school connection must address all aspects of parental participation. However, schools that want to involve parents more thoroughly face a myriad of disjointed approaches for connecting with parents. Pick up any educational journal, and you are likely to find at least one article that addresses parental involvement, offering, perhaps, tips on effective communication at conference time, suggestions on how parents can help their children study, or information on how to enlist parents as volunteer classroom tutors.