National Standards for Family-School Partnerships

Families are essential partners to schools...

....in the shared mission to help every child reach their full potential.

PTA’s National Standards for Family-School Partnerships set the bar for how schools and parent organizations work together to support student success.

The Standards have contributed to greater awareness and capacity for improving family-school partnerships across the country and internationally for over 20 years.

Family walking together

Getting Started with the Standards

Get to know the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships by exploring the definitions, goals and indicators for each of the six tenets, as well as what has changed since the 2008 version.

PTA National Standards Overview

PTA National Standards Overview (español)

Discover what the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships look like in action and assess your own school community’s implementation of PTA’s National Standards.

School Leader Rubric

School Leader Rubric (español)

Explore National PTA’s family engagement focused policy asks to learn how you can advocate for stronger family-school partnerships nationwide.

Strengthening Family-School Partnerships through Education Policy

Updated Standards Designed for Multiple Audiences

These updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships are designed for multiple audiences, but specifically for:

School, district and state education leaders who wish to ensure that their family-school partnership efforts are adequately implemented, funded and monitored
PTA and other family and community leaders who want to know how to support and push their schools to better partner with the families in their communities
Families, educators and young people who want to know what questions to ask and things to look for to find or help build a school with strong family-school partnerships
Researchers who want to use an updated framework to explore the impacts and implementation of family-school partnerships
Policymakers and private funders who want to invest in stronger communities through family-school partnerships

National Standards Hexagon

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Events & Opportunities

National PTA Standards Webinar Series Continues March 29

Join the Center for Family Engagement and the Institute for Educational Leadership for a five-part webinar series around the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships! The series will explore the Standards through panel discussions with leading practitioners, researchers and policymakers.

Our fourth webinar, focusing on Standards 4 and 5: Speak Up for Every Child and Share Power, will be on Wednesday, March 29 at 2 p.m. EDT.

Raising the Bar with the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships: A Virtual Town Hall

Tune in to learn about the latest version of the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships and discover how the Standards can help you create systems that help our children and communities thrive.

Watch Now

Explore the National Standards

Visit one of the six standards to learn more.

Tools for Leaders and School Districts

For PTA Leaders

Read Strengthening Family-School Partnerships through Education Policy to jumpstart your own advocacy work.
Reflect on the Standards using these Questions for PTA Leaders (en español)
Share the Model School Board Policy (en español) with your school board
Tips for PTA Leaders (en español)

For Schools & Districts

Relevant Resources

From PTA From Our Partners

From PTA

From Our Partners

Embracing a New Normal: Toward a Liberatory Approach to Family Engagement (The Carnegie Corporation of New York)
Dual Capacity Framework
Beyond the Bake Sale by Anne T. Henderson, Karen L. Mapp and Vivian R. Johnson
Family Engagement Core Competencies: A Body of Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions for Family-Facing Professionals (National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement)
Collaboration to Transform & Improve Education Systems: A Playbook for Family-School Engagement (Brookings Institute)
Taking it to the Next Level: Strengthening and Sustaining Family Engagement through Integrated, Sustained Practice (Institute for Educational Leadership)

Podcast Episode Highlights How State Education Agencies Utilize National PTA's Standards

The Director of Family-School Partnerships at Colorado Department of Education, Darcy Hutchins, shares how states and districts can embed best practices into their protocols to ensure strong family-school partnerships. She also offers advice for where families can look for information about policies affecting their own communities.