The National School Boards Association (NSBA) has unveiled Family as Partners: Fostering Family Engagement for Healthy and Successful Students, a resource to help school leaders effectively engage families in schools, particularly around school health issues.

Families as Partners includes an overview of family engagement in schools as well as guidance, strategies and resources for developing and implementing successful family engagement policies and practices. In addition to the publication, NSBA has developed an accompanying online family engagement resource center, which includes family engagement policies and surveys as well as templates for school districts to adapt and use to better engage families.

The publication reinforces a critical approach school leaders can adopt to improve student achievement and prepare students to be successful in life. Studies have shown a link between health and learning and, according to the publication, engaging families around school health issues can be an important step for school leaders seeking to increase academic achievement.

See the first-edition pdf of the publication here.