The concept behind the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project is simple. Rather than blaming each other, teachers and families come together, in a unique setting, as equal partners, to build trust and form a relationship where they can take the time to share dreams, expectations, experiences, and tools regarding the child’s academic success. Once a relationship is formed, the partners are empowered, finding accountability with each other to make the necessary changes to ensure that students experience academic and social success.

How We Compare to Other Organizations

Many organizations offer “home visits” but those are usually based on a model where an assessment is being made or a problematic behavior is being addressed. This is true whether school systems use home visits to address truancy problems or a social service agency is using home visits to address concerns and need for services. This strategy only heightens mistrust – the very issue we are trying to address.

We are different from those home visits because our project and training is based on a community organizing model and principles of family empowerment, endorsed by the state and local teachers union, our local interfaith organizing group, and championed by school district leaders who are willing to do business a little differently for the sake of student success. Our home visits are not “drop ins”, but rather an appointment set between two willing colleagues in a setting where teachers do not have the poweer/institutional advantage.

Our Project Members Believe:

1. Families and teachers are equally important co-educators given that the family is the expert on the individual child while the teacher is the expert on the curriculum that must be mastered for success.
2. Before important information about academic status can be effectively shared, positive communication must be established and barriers addressed.
3. All students and families should be visited because targeting challenging students will only perpetuate the cycles of mistrust.
4. All families have the ability to assist their child in their academic success and that effective family involvement can happen in every home—in light of recent research conclusions on effective family engagement.
5. This project should be voluntary for all involved and that teachers should be compensated for their time.