Where do we go from here? What can be done? Who can do it? Was this book worth reading? Was this ongoing conversation worth having?

What community-based organizations can Glenn utilize to improve our family-school partnerships? What other local organizations can be utilized to improve our family-school partnerships? Of the many resources listed in this chapter, which ones do you find to have the most potential to supporting Glenn's family-school partnerships?

What is the Glenn "story" regarding partnerships with families? What are the school-wide successes regarding partnerships with families that are a positive part of the Glenn school culture? What isolated successes at Glenn can/should be scaled up to become established parts of the Glenn school culture? How can Glenn's partnerships with parents positively impact the Unit 5 community? In what ways does/can/should Unit 5 positively impact Glenn's partnerships with parents? What do you think an outsider would think of Glenn if they were to do a "walk-through"?

Who's in charge at Glenn? Of what? In what areas should parents, staff, and students share responsibility? In what areas should administration control? Teachers? Students? Parents? What routines and policies ensure checks and balances between Glenn stakeholders (e.g. administration, staff, parents, students)? In what ways are Glenn teachers and parents (dis)empowered to do action research? How does Glenn know what families want, need, think, and feel?

In what ways does Glenn struggle with "problem parents"? In what ways does Glenn successfully partner with "problem parents"? What does it mean for teachers and parents to have shared advocacy for youth? To what extent should parents be able to determine what happens in Glenn classrooms? What does/would successful sharing of power and responsibility between parents and teachers at Glenn look like?

What are the cultural assets of our students, teachers, staff, and families? In what ways does Glenn (not) reflect our students and families? In what ways can/should/does the curricula at Glenn reflect families' cultures? What does "parent involvement" mean? Desirable examples? In what ways are labels of students and families used to help or hinder? How does Glenn (not) promote open dialogue regarding racial tensions and bias? How does/should Glenn maintain equally high expectations for students and families given the unequal access to resources for students and families? What are the "hidden rules" of Glenn? How do our "rules" impact family-school partnerships and student learning?

Must supporting families and their children's learning involve standardized test scores? Is an increase in standardized test scores a justifiable goal of improving parent involvement? What structured school and classroom events can/does Glenn utilize to support families and their children's learning? What school and classroom routines can/does Glenn utilize to support families and their children's learning? With what community-based organizations could Glenn partner to better support families and student learning?

According to the checklist, in what areas did Glenn score high? Low? What steps can we take right away to become more family-friendly? Over the long term?

Of the beliefs and subsequent actions listed, which ones resonated with you? Did you disagree with any beliefs? What beliefs do you have that weren't listed by the authors? What actions are already taking place at Glenn? What actions could easily be implemented at Glenn?

What type of school is Glenn? How do you know? What type of school would you like Glenn to be? What would need to happen in order for this to change to occur?

What effective things are we already doing at Glenn in terms of family-school partnerships? What resources for effective family-school partnerships do we already posses? In what ways have we seen effective family-school partnerships directly improve student learning and success?

You can talk about anything here.

Moderator: Brian Horn