Building Family Partnerships in a Catholic School by Connecting After-School and Home with Mathematics

Parents need guidance, support, and motivation to learn how to support their young children’s mathematical development in ways that are more foundational and effective. The In Addition Afterschool Mathematics Program serves 24 students in grades 3, 4, and 5 and their parents in an urban neighborhood at a Catholic elementary school. In the In Addition Afterschool Mathematics Program, we see families as partners and build our after-school program around supporting mathematics thinking and discoveries by engaging the whole family.

Moving Towards Meaningful and Significant Family Partnerships in Education

Background: Partnerships with families in education settings should emphasize their roles as active and engaged co-equal partners. However, common practices in schools are to involve families at school-based events and share information with them about their child’s education in a manner that does not promote two-way interactions. Objective: The objectives of this paper are to describe relevant background on familyschool connections; approaches to promote academic performance and mental and behavioral health; and a framework to organize family partnerships that support all youth across a continuum of support intensity. Methods: A review based on the relevant family-school partnership and systems change literature was conducted. The review focused on prevention, tiered approaches that provide a continuum of support to students, and partnership-centered family engagement. Results: Research supports family-school partnerships in a tiered prevention framework. A theory of change was developed to depict the impact of family partnerships on proximal and distal outcomes. Conclusion: Implications suggest a need for partnership-centered approaches to school reform in state and federal policy to support investments in school and district initiatives. Initiatives should embed culturally sensitive practices so that all children can thrive. Future directions for investigating effective approaches for family partnerships are described.

Health Promotion Model for Improvement of the Nutritional Status of Children Under Five Years

OBJECTIVE: Nutrition problems in Indonesia are multidimensional problems that are influenced by several factors including economic, education, social culture, agriculture, and health. Nutrition problems reflect economic, political, and social crises as the root causes of malnutrition. This study formulates a health promotion model to improve the nutritional status of children under five years old. METHOD: This type of research is quantitative with survey design and cross-sectional approach. RESULT: This study produced a risk of children under five yearsexperiencing poor nutritional status with a history of illness.The risk of children under five yearsexperiencing undernourished nutritional status with strong health workers-cadre-family partnerships and strong family support. The risk of children under five years experiencing wasting nutritional status increases with a history of diarrheal disease. The risk of children under five yearsexperiencing wasting nutritional status decreases with strong health workers-cadre-family partnerships and strong family support. The risk of a child under five yearsexperiencing a stunting nutritional status increases with a history of diarrheal disease. The risk of children under five years old experiencing stunting nutritional status decreases with strong health workers-cadre-family partnerships and strong family support. CONCLUSION: Nutritional status of children under five years (malnutrition, wasting and stunting) is affected directly and indirectly through the variables of family income, mother's knowledge, attitudes towards nutrition problems, environmental sanitation, social capital, health workers-cadre-family partnerships, family support, history of diarrhea disease and mother'seducation.

A Muddied Journey

This chapter will examine the pitfalls an early childhood educator faces while learning to develop strategies to build successful relationships with diverse families. The chapter will provide several key strategies that will allow early childhood educators to build confidence in themselves and families to secure the foundation needed for successful school-family partnerships. This chapter focuses on supporting social-emotional development, family structure, and seeing families as partners in providing high-quality experiences for their child.