ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the issues involved in family, school and community partnerships in special populations from the perspective of a developmental psychologist. It is concerned with the contexts of development and the interconnections among the contexts of development: families, communities and schools. When public schools were first established, African American families were taxed, but the taxes were used to establish white-only schools. African Americans then raised the money for their own schools. So African American families were doubly taxed for schools. The likelihood of difficulties in establishing home-school relationships is great, given the racial difference between the teaching force and the families they serve. As children advance through the formal education system, their families may become less and less able to help them directly with their school work. Parents monitor children's activities, such as television viewing, that might interfere with school work.