The Parent Partnership Playbook: Building Systems that Sustain Success

Outline

Presenter Intro: Welcome participants, share session purpose and outcomes, and frame the shift from parent involvement to authentic partnership (5 min)
Warm-Up Reflection: Reflect on a meaningful or challenging parent interaction; discuss what made it impactful or difficult (5 min)
Presenter Share: Share stories from partnerships with parents of gifted learners and BIPOC students; introduce the Parent Partnership Playbook framework (10 min)
Participant Experience: Explore strategies that elevate parent insight—listening sessions, advisory models, and co-created feedback loops (10 min)
Collaborative Discussion: Apply the one-page framework to analyze current parent partnerships or design a new one (10 min)
Action Planning: Use the provided template to identify one actionable next step to strengthen family partnerships (10 min)
Reflection & Close: Write a brief reflection capturing one insight and one commitment to bring back to their school or district (10 min)

Outcomes

Reframe parent engagement as co-created partnership that strengthens learning systems.

Apply strategies that elevate and integrate parent insight into decision-making.

Use a one-page framework to guide implementation of new partnership practices.

Create an actionable next-step plan tailored to their school or district context.

Supporting research

Brookings Institution. (2022, April 19). Collaborating to transform and improve education systems: A playbook for family–school engagement. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/articles/collaborating-to-transform-and-improve-education-systems-a-playbook-for-family-school-engagement
Intentional Partnerships Podcast. (n.d.). Parents as Teachers. Retrieved from https://parentsasteachers.org/podcast-intentional-partnerships
New York University Steinhardt. (2023). How to build strong family–school partnerships. Retrieved from https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/ihdsc/path-program/path-perspectives/how-build-strong-family-school-partnerships
Parents as Teachers. (2024). Parent partnership part 1: Why schools should let parents in [Audio podcast episode]. Apple Podcasts. Retrieved from https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parent-partnership-part-1-why-schools-should-let-parents-in/id1555407069?i=1000673886225
Pérez, A., & Sánchez, M. (2023). Parents as allies: Innovative strategies for (re)imagining family–school collaboration. Education Sciences, 15(5), 533. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/5/533
Redding, C., & Doyle, D. (2021). Teachers, parents, and family–school partnerships. Journal of Education for Teaching, 47(6), 812–824. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2021.1989981
U.S. Department of Education. (2013). Dual capacity-building framework for family–school partnerships. Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov/family-and-community-engagement