Five years ago, CYFS hosted the Interdisciplinary Alliance for Partnerships Research (IAPR), a national working meeting, and facilitated a future course for family-school partnerships research.
The meeting’s ultimate goal hinged on a unique variable: identifying unexplored areas of research.
This goal now sets the theme for a multi-volume book series edited by CYFS director Susan Sheridan and postdoctoral affiliate Elizabeth Moorman Kim. Springer Publishing Company released the first book in the series this June, titled “Foundational Aspects of Family-School Partnerships.”
I hope people will read these chapters and have more questions than answers, and conduct studies to tackle some of these challenging issues.
Susan Sheridan, CYFS director
Sheridan and Kim authored the book’s first chapter, “Foundational Aspects of Family-School Connections: Definitions, Conceptual Frameworks, and Research Needs.” Nearly all IAPR panelists, many active participants, and an expanded set of related researchers wrote chapters for the series, which focuses primarily on research recommendations and ideas for scholars.
According to Sheridan, the series represents the best and most current ideas in family-school partnership research. By describing what researchers know and what they don’t know, it further establishes a research agenda for the field.
“The purpose of the series is to renew interest and activity around the development of cutting-edge research related to family-school partnerships,” Sheridan said. “I hope people will read these chapters and have more questions than answers, and conduct studies to tackle some of these challenging issues.”
Readers can choose to purchase a single chapter or an entire volume, which is available in both eBook and hardcover formats. These unique publishing features are designed to enable quick access and spur research activity, Sheridan said.
Subsequent volumes will be published later this year. The second volume will highlight partnership forming processes and cultural and developmental factors, while the third will focus on field-based research and interventions.
Future volumes will rely on continued collaboration. Sheridan and Kim plan to remain the series’ editors, but they are inviting independent researchers to edit additional volumes.
“We want to keep the series going,” Sheridan said. “By including multiple editors, we hope to serve as a platform for other researchers.”
Preview and purchase content from “Foundational Aspects of Family-School Partnerships.”