The Benefits of School, Family and Community Partnerships in PBIS

Learning Activity

Family-school partnerships are mutually beneficial for families and schools. These collaborative partnerships support children by providing them with environmental congruence that exposes them to consistent and predictable positive environments within and across their primary settings.

Involving Parents
In their discussion of how to engage families and build partnerships in PBIS, Mitchell, Horner, & Sugai introduce three foci for enhancing family engagement and identifying measurable outcomes as a result of engagement (2017): 

1. The school works to build family “awareness” of BPIS efforts that support all students in the school. Equally important, school teams should be aware of local culture and context in which families live as they shape their behavioral expectations through family and community leader input.
   
2. PBIS teams build in opportunities to “involve” families in school functions (e.g., families participate in the design and implementation of school-wide celebrations). 
   
3. PBIS teams work toward building “supports” for families to assist in children’s success both at school and home (e.g., access to evidence-based positive parenting strategies and family educational engagement). 
   

Similar to the multi-tiered PBIS supports students, the points foci introduce will vary in intensity and importance across the tiers.

Read chapter three of the 'Aligning and Integrating Family Engagement in PBIS' PDF linked in the Resources section to learn more about these foci. 

Also, read through the bullet points on 'PBIS: Family Partnership' to learn about strategies for engaging and families in partnerships. 

Resources

Aligning and Integrating Family Engagement in PBIS: Concepts and Strategies for Families and Schools in Key Contexts

PBIS: Family Partnership