Epstein Model for School,

Family, and Community Partnerships

1) Category:
• General program

2) Issues Behind the Program:

• School leaders are becoming ever more aware of the importance of positive parent
involvement in education. However, some teachers need help to create programs that
foster student success and that involve family and community partners.

3) Objectives:
• Help children succeed in life and in school
• Improve school programs and atmosphere
• Provide families with support and services to help parents improve their skills and spirit
of initiative
• Bring together family, school and community, and provide help to teachers
• Encourage students to graduate from secondary school
• Involve parents and give them more power

4) Environment:
• Primary and secondary schools

5) Target Group:
• Students from 6 to 16 years old

6) Key Words:
• Epstein Model, coeuréaction, school-family-community partnership, general program,
supervision, communication, volunteerism, learning at home, parent involvement,
district leadership, academic success, collaboration, National Network of Partnership
Schools (NNPS), John Hopkins University

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7) Program Description:
• Epstein proposed that children learn and grow around three interdependent spheres of
influence, namely school, family and community.
• The model is based on eight essential elements:
1) leadership 5) finances
2) teamwork 6) evaluations
3) yearly planning 7) college support
4) well-applied activities 8) ongoing planning
• Six fundamental components of the Epstein Model and examples of the action taken:
o Helping parents:
 help parents be parents;
 help schools better understand parents;
 educate parents (e.g. classes);
 organize work sessions, video workshops, etc., according to the level of
schooling of the parents;
 offer families health and nutrition support as well as other services;
 organize meetings at home during transition periods (e.g. from primary to
secondary school).
o Communication:
 effectively inform families about the school program and their child's progress;
 organize yearly conferences with parents;
 hire a translator for immigrant families;
 give parents a monthly report on their children’s work;
 regularly send out memos, do house calls, write letters, and post information
about the school on the school's website.
o Volunteering:
 improve recruitment, training and better manage schedules to favor parent
collaboration so parents can better help their children succeed academically;
 introduce a school and volunteer classes program;
 reserve a parent/family center for volunteer work, meetings and family
services;
 conduct a yearly survey to determine potential volunteers, their place of
residence and their schedule;
 create a telephone chain;
 organize a parent patrol or other activities that ensure student safety and the
success of activities.
o Learning at home:
 encourage families to participate in learning activities at home. Show parents
how to help with homework;
 give parents the skills required to transmit knowledge about a given subject;
 inform parents about homework policies and about how to approach homework;
 assign homework that enables parents to play a role in student success;

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  establish a calendar proposing possible family activities, at home and in the
community.
o Decision making:
 involve families in school decisions and in leadership;
 encourage parent leadership;
 set up parent meetings and Parents’ Committees where issues like safety or
school programs can be discussed;
 form independent parent groups that work on school reform and school
improvement;
 form a neighborhood council to encourage family and community participation;
 encourage networking and ties between families and parent representatives.
o Working with the community:
 coordinate community, student, family, and school resources with those of
entrepreneurs and other groups;
 inform students and their families about cultural, social, recreational, and
health services, among others;
 inform students and their families of community activities aimed at students
and families that match student skills and talents, including summer programs;
 encourage students, families, and the school to offer a community service
(recycling, art, music, etc.).
• The model includes plans for an Action Team for Partnership (ATP) composed of six to
12 people (school administrators, teachers, parents, community members, students)
tasked to create a caring school environment founded on partnership.
• The Epstein Model is an approach that facilitates partnerships between school, the
family and the community.

8) Steps:
I. Create an ATP:
o The team approach is an effective way to create school-family-community ties (S-F-
C).
o The ATP should be composed of two or three teachers who teach different grades or
who have different specialty areas; of two or three parents from different
environments, cultures or who are parents of students in different grades; and of at
least one administrator. The team can also include a community member and two
students who are in different grades.
II. Obtain grants and other support:
o A significant budget is required.
o Some revenue sources are available: Provincial and federal governments, regions,
RCMs, local agencies, etc.
o At the regional level, financing is necessary to cover the salary of the person in
charge of helping schools create S-F-C ties.

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 III. Determine starting points:
o The ATP starts by taking inventory (through questionnaires, interviews, discussion
groups on the subject, etc.) of any existing action by the school, the family, or the
community led by various members of the school staff.
o These starting points address the ideologies, experiences and wishes of teachers,
parents, school administrators and students concerning S-F-C partnerships.
o The questions and discussions of the ATP should focus on the current strengths of
the school and on desired changes, expectations, feelings of belonging to the
community and elements related to achievement of the objectives of the
educational project.
IV. Establish a yearly action plan:
o With the help of the information gathered, the ATP can table a detailed action plan
that covers the year.
o The plan includes objectives; desired results; the measures needed to get results;
participation activities to undertake, improve or maintain; a timetable; examples of
participation; the steps to follow for the activities; a list of the people responsible
for the activities; and information on the required funding and resources, as well as
other important elements.
o When presented, the action plan is adapted to the audience, whether the Parents’
Committee, parents, teachers or students.
V. Continuation of program planning, evaluation and improvement:
o In order to inform students, families and teachers of the successes of the program
and the improvements that it has made in the school, the ATP presents this
information as part of an annual event.
o Over the course of the year, conferences can also be organized for people in the
neighborhood to inform them of the preceding points.
o During meetings held at the end of the year, ATP members should ask the following
questions: How could the ATP increase the number of families who participate
actively in the education of their children? What tools do teachers, parents and
students possess that can encourage learning and development? How will the ATP
evaluate, reinforce and maintain the S-F-C partnership and continue to support
academic success?

9) Activities/Actions:
• The following are examples of activities that address the six components of the Epstein
Model:
1. Guide to post-secondary studies and career choice : At Napierville North High
School, a guide to post-secondary studies and career choices intended for
secondary school students and their parents was created (information on study
programs, financial aid, admission exams, etc.).
2. Back-to-school picnic: At Longfellow Elementary School, students, parents and
teachers are invited to come together to discuss the program during a picnic at
the beginning of the school year. This helps create a feeling of belonging to the
community.
3. Extracurricular activities: At Spooner Elementary School, parents and
community volunteers work with teachers to organize clubs and extracurricular
enrichment activities.

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 4. Family mathematics evening: In a school in Washington County, family math
evenings are organized where students are given extra math hours in the
company of their family and classmates.
5. Breakfast with the principal: At Berendo Middle School, each month parents are
invited to have breakfast with the principal and other staff members. Various
subjects are discussed and parents are free to ask questions. The goal is to
create a feeling of belonging to the school.
6. Health and well-being with the Buffalo Bills : Buffalo Bill (National Football
League) football players and various community groups meet with parents and
students and take part in various activities such as races, football skills, healthy
snacks, walking with a pedometer, etc.

(For many more examples, see the annual collections of Promising Partnership
Practices on the NNPS website at http://www.partnershipschools.org under
Success Stories.)

10) Resources Required:

• Human resources:
o School personnel, families, and community
o Social services, governments, etc.
• Financial resources:
o Operating budget

11) Roles of the Participants:

The ATP and its members have the following roles:
• The ATP (the whole team):
o evaluates community partnership practices;
o creates projects;
o sees to it that the activities and projects are carried out;
o evaluates the steps to take to make activities and projects come to life and
continues to improve and coordinate practices for the six components of the model.
• The school principal:
o supports and guides the members of the ATP;
o coordinates objectives and determines the direction taken by the school’s
personnel.
• Counselors and specialists (psychologists, social workers, etc.):
o play a leading role for the ATP committee for certain specific objectives and
activities, etc.;
o can play a role in ensuring that teachers, parents, students and community
members work together effectively.
• Teachers:
o express their ideas about the type of S-F-C partnership activities to organize;
o act as a go-between for the ATP and other teachers at the school.

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 • The parent leader:
o establishes ties between teachers and families;
o gets involved with workshops or other activities.
• Community partners:
o contribute to the ATP thanks to their expertise, their connections to the community
and their services;
o can work with the municipality, the school, etc., to establish a variety of programs
(sports, safety, health, etc.).
• State and district leaders:
o organize leadership plans;
o guide all schools to develop plans and programs for goal-linked partnerships.

12) Scientific Basis or Validity:

• Studies show that school-family-community partnerships have positive outcomes on
many levels. School results improve (literature, mathematics, sciences), school
attendance is better, and student behavior improves.
• Following application of the Epstein Model, students in the Los Angeles Unified School
District had improved results in reading (+6 percentile) and in art (+5 percentile) on the
Stanford Test.
• Several studies show that family involvement improves children's reading and writing
abilities.
• Joyce Epstein, Ph.D., is a researcher at John Hopkins University and founder of the
National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS). Her model is based on various studies
done by researchers at John Hopkins University:
o http://www.csos.jhu.edu/P2000/pdf/NICHD%20Progress%20Report%20Summary
%2007.pdf
o http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/pdf/Research%20Summary.pdf

13) Program Material:

• School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, Third Edition,
Westview Press, 2009. A guide to enable educators, districts, and policy leaders to
plan, implement, evaluate, and improve goal-linked family- and community-
involvement programs that contribute to student success. (Approximately US$45)
• Website: http://www.csos.jhu.edu/P2000/

14) Additional Information:

• The information contained in this factsheet was taken from:
o http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/nnps_model/school.htm ;
o http://www.naperville203.org/parents-students/EpsteinModelPS.asp ;
o http://fortworthisd.org/boe/_presentations/2006-09-12_Epstein%20Model-
DGuzman.pdf;
o http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/sixtypes.htm;
o http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/index.htm.

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15) Contacts:
• National Network of Partnership Schools
Johns Hopkins University
3003 N. Charles Street, Suite 200
Baltimore, MD 21218
Tel: (410) 516-8800
Email: nnps@csos.jhu.edu

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