Why partnerships are important -- Introduction: why bother to read this book? -- What is a family-school partnership supposed to look like? -- Getting started : building the relationship -- Ready, set, go! how do you know if you're really open to partnership? -- Developing relationships : how can you build trust instead of blaming each other? -- Checklist : how family-friendly is your school? -- Guidelines for action from research -- Linking to learning : how will involving parents help your test scores? -- Checklist : how closely is your school's parent involvement program linked to student learning? -- Addressing differences : how can you relate to families who don't share the same culture and values? -- Checklist : how well is your school bridging class and cultural differences? -- Supporting advocacy : how can you transform pushy parents into partners you can work with? -- Checklist : how well does your school support parents as advocates? -- Sharing power : who's in charge here? -- Checklist : how well is your school sharing power and practicing democracy? -- Scaling up : why can't all schools create strong partnerships with families? -- Checklist : how well does your district practice family and community engagement? -- Resources and tools -- Help! where can you find useful resources to build your partnership? -- Chapter topics -- Selected resources -- Recommended reading from the San Diego Pals book club -- Tools : where do we start? -- Attitude check exercise -- Code of conduct for your school - tips -- Conference checklist -- District policy on family-school partnerships - elements to -- Include -- Family involvement coordinator - sample job description -- Family welcome questionnaire -- Homework survey -- Needs assessment survey -- Parent review -- Parent survey -- School climate survey -- School family involvement policy - tips -- Welcoming letter sample -- Appendix 1: recommendations from the Boston task force report on family and community engagement.