ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a framework for interacting and working with parents. It offers some practical advice about beginning the college process early and including parents in the discussion of college planning. The chapter also discusses how to conduct a College Information Night for parents and give suggestions about using guest speakers from local colleges. It presents a sample parent questionnaire and then provides helpful suggestions for individual meetings with parents. The workshop outline presented was developed for a school-college collaboration and described in detail in a study exploring the parental involvement of a group of Hispanic parents in a number of schools in the western part of the United States. Some techniques that may be useful in working with parents in this case are to develop a detailed college handbook that outlines college advising procedures and policies and contains sample forms for requesting transcripts, secondary school reports, teacher recommendations, and any other pertinent information.
