This blog will support a book that will be published in the fall of 2009 that  I (with Lorie Hammond, another veteran teacher) have written titled “Building Parent Engagement In Schools.”  It primarily focuses on ways schools can better connect with parents — particularly with those in urban areas and recent immigrants — though it’s certainly not limited to ELL parents.

It will highlight successful school efforts, including our school’s home computer family literacy project; school-connected community organizing efforts in Texas and Los Angeles: school community gardens, and parent teacher home visiting programs.  The book particularly highlights a difference between parent “engagement” and parent “involvement” using my background of nineteen years of community organizing experience.