Partnering with Families for Student Success: 24 Scenarios for Problem Solving with Parents

This book helps teachers gain confidence and build sensitivity when interacting with caregivers and families who speak different languages and may come from different cultural, racial, and social backgrounds. By presenting various scenarios, the authors invite readers to reflect on issues they will face as practicing teachers in classrooms and across school districts. Chapter modules cover common challenges teachers face in a variety of situations, including conducting honest parent–teacher conferences, dealing with discipline issues, responding to confrontational parents, and educating neurodiverse students. Each module includes questions, worksheets, and background information for developing asset-based approaches, and each explores more than one solution to the challenges presented. This essential resource shows teachers how to consider caregivers’ and students’ underlying needs so they can better shape responses to the unique, changing situations in which they find themselves.

Book Features:

• Suggests strategies for navigating a variety of challenging situations teachers may face in working with caregivers to support students.
• Employs co-author Dr. Rand Spiro’s Cognitive Flexibility Theory to help teachers build a repertoire of flexible responses to the many variations of caregiver situations that will arise.
• Offers a format designed so that readers can practice how to select, adapt, and combine knowledge to fit their unique situations and experiences with families.

Patricia A. Edwards is a member of the Reading Hall of Fame, professor of language and literacy, and bestselling author. Dr. Edwards received the 2020 Literacy Research Association's Oscar S. Causey Award to recognize a LRA member for outstanding contributions to literacy research. She received the 2024 International Literacy Association (ILA) William S. Gray Citation of Merit for outstanding contributions to multiple facets of literacy development, including research, theory, and practice. Rand J. Spiro, Lisa M. Domke, Ann M. Castle, Marliese R. Peltier, and Tracy H. Donohue are all at Michigan State University; and Kristen L. White is at Northern Michigan University.