New Ways to Engage Parents

Just as populations change, ideas about how to encourage and work with parents also need to evolve. This practical resource by bestselling author Patricia Edwards provides school leaders and classroom teachers with new and creative ways in which to welcome, encourage, and involve parents. Enacting these types of practices requires a special kind of commitment from teachers and school leaders, which often coincides with a particular kind of mindset about families and one’s responsibility to engage them. Educators often develop this mindset as they deepen their understanding of families, literacy/language, culture/race/class, and themselves. Edwards pulls these understandings together and presents them in a straightforward, concise, and easy-to-use guide that is perfect for professional learning communities and teacher preparation courses. New Ways to Engage Parents is essential reading for all educators who care deeply about engaging a wide range of parents in today’s schools.

“It is my hope that this book inspires teachers to seek ways to make schools more equitable and caring spaces for all children.”

—From the Foreword by Catherine Compton-Lilly, University of Wisconsin–Madison

“Long a leader in the field, Professor Patricia Edwards reinforces the fact that education is a shared responsibility of home, school, and community. She presents scores of practical ideas and resources to enable educators to involve all parents in their children’s education.”
—Joyce L. Epstein, Johns Hopkins University

“Finally, a book that brings partnering with parents into the 21st century! This is a book teachers will want to keep at their fingertips.”
—Jeanne R. Paratore, Boston University