The Power of Family-School Partnering (FSP): A Practical Guide for School Mental Health Professionals and Educators (School-Based Practice in Action)

Ongoing, strategic Family-School Partnering (FSP) is an essential component of every educational community. FSP is a multi-dimensional process in which schools, families, and communities engage in shared actions to ensure a child’s academic, social, and emotional success. With this text, the authors intend to offer a practical guide that demonstrates how this partnering can be strategically implemented in all levels of schooling. The main focus of the text is how to plan, implement, and evaluate FSP within existing school structures and resources. The authors begin with an overview of the foundational and organizational information necessary for successful FSP, including a review of ecological systems theory. FSP theories and strategies are presented at a universal, targeted, and intensive level, giving the school mental health professional insight into working with students and families who have differing needs. A school-based case example illustrates FSP in action and provides a practical roadmap for implementation.

Each chapter contains easily adaptable tools and a list of useful web links to resources which can be used in conjunction with the strategies presented and discussed by the authors. Accompanying downloadable resources will also contain all the handouts, forms, and other such resources presented throughout the text.

Cathy Lines, PhD, was formerly the Mental Health Coordinator for the Cherry Creek School District. Since retiring from this position, she has continued to be involved in state RtI professional development and has taught school psychology graduate classes in family-school partnerships.

Gloria Miller, PhD, is a professor in the Child, Family, and School Psychology Program at the University of Denver. Her expertise is in early childhood school psychology, and she has worked extensively with families in the field.

Amanda Arthur Stanley, PhD, currently works as a school psychologist in the Cherry Creek School District at an elementary and on-site preschool. She is actively involved in serving special and general education students, leads her school’s positive behavior support team, and teaches parenting classes to families of preschoolers.