Child

Development &
Partnerships
By: Amy Nigreville

Period of Development
At

Highley High School (HHS), our 1,500

students fall in grades 9th through 12th. On
the period of development chart, our
students are considered to be:
Adolescents.

Adolescence

is the period in human

growth and development that occurs after
childhood and before adulthood, from ages
10 to19 (WHO, 2015).

Who am I?

Greetings teachers, students,

parents, and all other members of
our community!
My name is Amy Nigreville, and I am
Higley High Schools social engineer.
It is my job to help our school
system and the community come
together and create partnerships to
benefit us all as a whole.
Education plays a dramatic role on
societies present, future, and even
our past. It is important for us all to
work together to expand and benefit
not only our own well being but our
neighbors and the future to come.

The Why?

This presentation has been drawn

together to explore and explain the
benefits of partnering up with families
and the community to help influence the
learning and development of children.

The community is the local social world

of the child, and it is the smallest unit of
society that presents an integrated
pattern of reality to which he must
become adjusted. In another words, it is
society in microcosm (Dodson, 1947).

The Mesosystem

Basically, The Mesosystem is the theory where

Bronfenbrenner believed that children develop not only
by their immediate environment but by the elements
surrounding ones environment.

The mesosystem relates to the relationships and

channels of communication between the different
microsystem factors that impact on an individual
(Labone, 2008).

Parents, schools, and the community are all linked into

Bronfenbrenners Mesosystem (surrounding the child).

Epsteins 6 Types of Involvement

The framework of six types of involvement helps educators develop
more comprehensive programs of school-family-community
partnerships.
1.

Parenting

2.

Communicating

3.

Volunteering

4.

Learning at home

5.

Decision Making

6.

Collaborating

Epsteins Types of Involvement: Parenting

How parenting influences child development

Students (adolescents in this case) rely on their parents and

their parenting skills to help prepare themselves for life, as a
student, and prepare them for future life and career choices.

Lets make a change!

Parents play a large role in their children's lives and

education, it is important that they stay involved. Potential
home visits from instructors to gather information on home
styles to help make students more successful.

Epsteins Types of Involvement:

Communicating

How communicating influences child

development

Communication between teachers and their

students parents are extremely critical for
students growing minds. This bond helps both
parents and teachers up to date with progress
and on their heals for any potential problems
now and in the future.

Lets make a change!

Teachers and parents can practice

communications by exchanging emails, phone
numbers, and even setting up personal
websites to create a bond between students,
teachers, and parents.

Epsteins Types of Involvement:

Volunteering

How volunteering influences child development

It is important that parents stay involved with their children's life and
education. Children rely on the support offered by their parents.
Teachers requesting volunteer work by parents helps students stay
active and motivated to advance their cognitive development.

Lets make a change!

A way to have parents, teachers, and students receive the support

they need for overall child development. Parents can volunteer to help
with projects, field trips, and even crafts.

Epsteins Types of Involvement: Learning At

Home

How learning at home influences child

development

To help boost cognitive development, parents and

community can both influence this development by
providing learning at home opportunities that benefit
not only the household but can actually help the
community.

Lets make a change!

The community can become involved with learning at

home by providing tutoring services locally to help
with learning outside the classroom. Parents can help
by offering assistance with homework and projects.

Epsteins Types of Involvement: Decision

Making

How decision making influences child development

It is important for parents to take part of the community to help benefit

their children. Decision Making is a step up from volunteering, it gives
them the opportunity to make choices in their childs educational
development, allowing them to stay involved and making an impact.

Lets make a change!

Parents can become involved in their children's school by participating

in decision making. Parents can join community consoles, and become
involved in parent conferences.

Epsteins Types of Involvement:

Collaborating with the Community

How collaborating with the community influences child

development

The community offers additional opportunities to help children grow.

They provide educational benefits that strengthen school programs.
They help benefit their own community and help reduce the amount of
resources needed outside of the community.

Lets make a change!

Elmhurst, being a farming community can help benefit the school by

providing food and lowering the cost of lunch programs. This benefits
not only the school but helps the community with their gross sales.

References
Dodson, D. (1947). Journal of Educational Sociology Vol. 20, No. 5, The Teacher in the
Community (Jan., 1947), pp. 264-271. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org
/discover/10.2307/2263828?sid=21105423559371&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256
Labone, E. (ed) 2008Contexts for Learning and Development,Pearson Education,
Australia
WHO. 2015. Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health. Adolescent Development.
Retrieved
from: http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/topics/adolescence/dev/en/