FAMILY RE-UNION 6:
FAMILIES AND LEARNING
June 25, 1997

This conference showcased remarkable examples of family/school partnerships which are transforming children's learning, parents' lives, family job prospects, teacher and administrator understanding of students, a school's connection to the community, and ultimately school governance. Three strategies to help families become involved in their children's education were identified:

(1) Improve parent-teacher communication and partnerships:

• A national teleconference on family involvement in education, led by Vice President Gore in the fall of 1997, brought together thousands of parents, teachers and educational leaders to identify ways to better prepare teachers to work in partnership with parents on their children's education. Follow up conferences have provided training and materials for teachers, Partners for Learning: Preparing Teachers to Involve Families.
• Approximately 5,000 national and local representatives of education associations have signed on to the Partnership for Family Involvement which helps increase opportunities for family involvement in their children's leaning and supports family/school/community partnerships.
• The Family Education Network, a private sector effort, provides free services to 700 school districts and nearly 6,000 schools to improve teacher-parent communication through technology.

(2) Secure new funding for quality after-school programs:

• Proposed $1 billion in federal funding over five years to give 500,000 children access to quality after-school programs.
• $40 million in grants were awarded in March 1999 to support quality after-school partnerships in more than 300 schools.
• Private sector commitments have skyrocketed: for example, the C.S. Mott Foundation announced up to $55 million for quality after-school programs, training, research and sharing of best practices.
• As part of a nationwide effort to encourage new local partnerships to support after-school programs, Vice President Gore led a national teleconference in April 1998 to discuss how communities can work together to support quality after-school programs.

(3) Involve parents and communities in designing new schools:

• Proposed National Funding for Building and Modernizing Schools includes almost $22 billion over two years in state and local bonds for local public schools.
• Vice President Gore has led parents and communities in a series of forums to discuss how they want their schools to be built and modernized.
• Vice President Gore and Secretary of Education Richard Riley convened a National Symposium on Designing Schools as Centers of Community in October 1998 to bring together parents, teachers, community leaders, education reformers, and architects.