Family–School Relationships During Adolescence: Clarifying Goals, Broadening Conceptualizations, and Deepening Impact

Students do better academically, socially, and psychologically when families and schools work together and families are involved in their children’s education. In elementary school, the mechanisms for communication and building trust, understanding, and partnerships are clearer than in secondary schools. For middle and high schools, the larger and more diverse student body and more complex administrative structure make it harder for parents and teachers to get to know one another, understand one another, and work together. Because of the differences in school context and students’ developmental needs, the most effective means for maintaining productive family engagement varies across developmental stages. This chapter describes the developmental assets and challenges of adolescence that potentially change how parent engagement in education and family–school relationships function. Parental involvement is reconceptualized to better reflect the developmental needs of adolescents, changes in parent–adolescent relationships, and secondary school contexts. A critical analysis of the markers of success for parental engagement and family–school relationships is undertaken. Most often it is assumed that success should be gauged by improvements in academic achievement. It is argued that for adolescents a broader array of outcomes should be considered. As communication is essential to productive and effective parental engagement in education during adolescence, theories and research on communication are reviewed as they inform research and policies in this area. Finally, we consider how schools might organize their needs and expectations for family engagement in education in ways that maximizes the needs of families and the schools.