Part One focuses on parent stories as an important strategy for teachers to “get to know” families” (i.e., why children behave as they do, children's ways of learning and communicating, some of the problems parents have encountered and how these problems may have impacted their children's views about school and the schooling process).

Part Two focuses on demographic profiles as a strategy for teachers to collect a variety of data around students' literacy development from both the student and family, use this data as an organizing framework to develop meaningful curriculum for diverse students that connects to learning style and home environment.

Part Three focuses on a scope and sequence of family involvement as a strategy for teachers to integrate family involvement within the curriculum related to student achievement.

Parent involvement is a top priority in national debates and in debates at the local, state, and regional levels. The importance of parent involvement is acknowledged in the vision and mission statements of school and school charters. “Home and school work together” is a refrain heard again and again, along with mantra that parents must let their children know they care about education and support what the schools are doing.

More parents are involved in their children's schools at the elementary than at the middle or high school level. In part, this result occurs because teenagers often discourage their parents from coming to school. Parents of middle and high students often are unsure how to help their children, many middle and high schools do not make parent involvement a high priority. But research shows a link between involvement in middle and high school and future student success.

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