Powerful Home-School Partnerships

Course Title: Powerful Home-School Partnerships: Involving and Empowering Parents to Drive Student Success

Learning Method: Record asynchronous distance (non-interactive). This course includes a recorded video and access to the presented resources.

Amount of CE Credit Offered: 1.5 credits (general)

Fees: This course is offered for free.

Posttest: Following the course, the participant will take a 15 question posttest. A score of 70% correct is required to pass and obtain a certificate. If you do not pass the posttest, it can be re-taken after fully reviewing the materials again. 

Certificate of Completion: In order to receive a certificate of completion, you must indicate that you’ve watched the entire video portion of the course, earn a passing grade on the test, and complete the requested course evaluation.

Description of the Course:

Students spend a majority of their time at school, making the home-school connection a crucial factor in ensuring the success of our students. This course is intended to target school social workers as well as social workers working with parents and students in educational practice settings. 

The course will highlight and examine powerful home/school partnerships and the role social workers play in cultivating and supporting these relationships. Students thrive in settings with adults who are invested in their success. This is no small task and cannot be accomplished without a supportive and collaborative team including teachers, school social workers, parents or guardians, and other important role models in a student’s life. 

Powerful home/school partnerships ensure that parents and caregivers take an active role in goal setting and planning for their students at school. When students see collaborative and supportive relationships among adults in their lives they will be more likely to be engaged and invested in their education. The separation between school and home can make a student feel like they are living in two separate worlds. The goal and intention of powerful partnerships is to bridge this divide. Social workers can be a driving force in modeling and ensuring these partnerships are happening for our students. 

Barriers to the home/school partnership including; access to the school building, cultural traditions and beliefs, and expectations between the home and school will be discussed. New barriers that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, including lack of in-person access to school buildings, social isolation, and challenges in communication will be considered. 

Parent/guardian involvement is a crucial component in supporting students with diverse learning, social, emotional, and behavioral needs. Parents, students, and support staff should have the opportunity to have their voices heard and to share their ideas in a supportive and collaborative team-based environment. Techniques for collaborative goal setting for both Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP) will be explored using case scenarios. 

Participants will leave this session with a “toolbox” of techniques that can be put into action in a variety of diverse school settings. This includes the opportunity to learn from case scenarios, analyze and brainstorm solutions to difficult cases. This will be done through virtual interaction and problem solving with colleagues in small breakout rooms. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the importance and relevance of home-school involvement in ensuring the success of students in schools. 
2. Describe what parent involvement looks like in both creating IEP goals and Behavior Intervention plans. 
3. Identify the barriers and challenges that exist in creating parent partnerships and working towards common goals. 
4. Create action plans that lead to successful parent partnerships in a variety of school settings. 
5. Describe how their work with parents connects to the NASW Standards for School Social Work Services.

Target Audience: 

Masters and Clinical level licensees pursuing continuing education.

Content Level:

Both beginning and intermediate-level content are included in this course.

Instructor Bio(s):

Meagan Mitchell is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has been providing individualized and group instruction for over 5 years.

Meagan is an experienced School Social Worker with a demonstrated history of working in education.

Meagan is skilled in Early Childhood Education, Conflict Resolution, Interventions, and Management. Strong community and social services professional with a Masters of Social Work focused in Interpersonal Practice with Children, Youth, and Families in Society from the University of Michigan School of Social Work. 

Course Outline:

The course will highlight and examine powerful home-school partnerships and the role social workers play in cultivating and supporting these relationships. Students thrive in settings with adults who are invested in their success. This is no small task and cannot be accomplished without a supportive and collaborative team including teachers, school social workers, parents or guardians, and other important role models in a student’s life. 

Powerful home-school partnerships ensure that parents and caregivers take an active role in goal setting and planning for their students at school. Social workers can be a driving force in modeling and ensuring these partnerships are happening for our students. 

Barriers to the home/school partnership including; access to the school building, cultural traditions and beliefs, and expectations between the home and school will be discussed. New barriers that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, including lack of in-person access to school buildings, social isolation, and challenges in communication will be considered. 

Parent/guardian involvement is a crucial component in supporting students with diverse learning, social, emotional, and behavioral needs. Parents, students, and support staff should have the opportunity to have their voices heard and to share their ideas in a supportive and collaborative team-based environment. Techniques for collaborative goal setting for both Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP) will be explored using case scenarios.

Course Creation Date: 12/31/22 

Requesting Accessibility Accommodations:

Please email [email protected] to request accessibility accommodations.

ACE Approval Statement: 

Agents of Change, #1919, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 7/26/2023 – 7/26/2024. Social workers completing this course receive 1.5 general continuing education credits.

System Requirements:

• The most recent version of Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge browser
• Javascript enabled
• PDF plugin
• Graphic and audio output capability
• Broadband internet connection with a minimum speed of 5Mbps (recommended)
• TLS 1.2 supported by your web browser