Parents and guardians can be a powerful resource for teachers, but it takes skill and confidence to build partnerships, or parentships, and proactively engage in a positive way. Kyle Palmer draws from his experience as both a principal of a Model PLC at WorkⓇ school and a parent to offer practical strategies for including parents or guardians as part of your collaborative culture focused on student learning. PreK–12 teachers, counselors, social workers, and principals will: Understand the basics of PLCs and parentships - Learn how parentships can integrate into and enhance the PLC process - Create mission and vision statements for parentships in a PLC - Use specific strategies to enhance your parentship and engage effectively with parents - Maintain an effective parentship into the future Contents: Introduction Part I: Foundations of Parentships in a PLC Chapter 1: Understanding Parentships in a PLC Chapter 2: Creating Parentships in a PLC Chapter 3: Creating Shared Mission and Vision Statements for Your Parentship Chapter 4: Creating Values and Goals for Your Parentship Part II: Strategies for Parentships in a PLC Chapter 5: Strategies Related to Curriculum Chapter 6: Strategies Related to Individual Student Progress Chapter 7: Strategies Related to Parental Engagement Chapter 8: Strategies for Building Stronger Parent Relationships Chapter 9: Strategies for Monitoring and Sustaining Your Parentship Epilogue: Now What? References and Resources Index "In this masterful book, Kyle Palmer moves beyond talking about the importance of parental engagement to making the clear case that it is essential for school and student growth. Palmer provides both the foundation for and the strategies to support this work. A must-read for PLCs seeking to move their relationship with parents beyond involvement to engagement." ---- Tom Hierck , Author and Educational Consultant "We are a Model PLC school, but we have not considered parentships in relation to our PLC transformation. After reading Parentships in a PLC at Work, I am motivated to make parentships a focus as we move into the next school year." -- Kevin Carroll , Principal, Sparks High School, Nevada "Kyle Palmer’s book is the next step in the right work of building a PLC. It is phenomenal for helping school leaders design a process for creating a foundation to incorporate families to bridge the gap between school and home." ---- Chad Luhman , Assistant Principal, Lexington Traditional "Kyle Palmer’s book Partnerships in a PLC at Work is not only timely but also timeless. This book is coming out at a time when parent involvement and parental engagement has unfortunately deteriorated into parental enragement. Kyle’s book not only provides practical strategies and suggestions to re-engage disconnected, disgruntled, or disillusioned parents in a more positive and productive manner, but it also provides preventive methods and measures to prevent the breakdown of collaboration, communication, and connection between the adult members of the school community. If you want to think strategically or extensively how you could engage or re-engage your school’s parent community in a more proactive and positive manner, this is the book you need to read!" ---- Erik M. Francis , Author and Educational Consultant Kyle Palmer, EdD, is the award-winning principal of Lewis and Clark Elementary in Liberty, Missouri. Dr. Palmer is a passionate believer in the power of professional learning communities (PLCs) and uses his leadership experiences to help schools build collaborative cultures and implement technology to become future ready. Kyle was named the Distinguished Principal for the Clay-Platte region of the Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals in 2013 and won the New Principal Award from the same region in 2009. Under his leadership, Lewis and Clark was designated as a Model PLC School by Solution Tree, as well as an ICLE Model School in 2015 and 2016 by the International Center for Leadership in Education. He received his bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of Northern Iowa, his master's degree in education leadership from Drake University, and his doctorate in education leadership from Baker University.