Building Strong Family–School Partnerships: Transitioning from Basic Findings to Possible Practices

• Author: Lorey A. Wheeler,Susan M. Sheridan
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12271
• Published date: 01 October 2017
• Date: 01 October 2017

S M. S  L A. W University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Building Strong Family–School Partnerships:

Transitioning from Basic Findings to Possible

Practices

In the present article, we describe the transla-

tional process undergirding a particular aspect

of family science: families working in part-

nership with schools to achieve mutual goals

for children’s optimal functioning. In doing so,

we illustrate a translational cycle that began

with identifying problems of practice and led

to the development of a family–school inter-

vention (i.e., conjoint behavioral consultation)

in a way that embraced families as partners

in goal-setting and problem-solving. We discuss

the evolution of the intervention from devel-

opment to efcacy trials and practice guide-

lines. Key decision points borne out of prac-

tical relevance, empirical investigations, tests

of mechanisms and conditions, and efforts per-

taining to implementation and dissemination are

illustrated. Finally, we highlight key research

needed to advance the translation of the science

related to conjoint behavioral consultation into

widespread practice.

Over recent decades, family intervention work in

schools has burgeoned. Parent engagement and

family partnership interventions are becoming

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families

and Schools, 216 Mabel Lee Hall, University of Nebraska,

Lincoln, NE 68588 (ssheridan2@unl.edu).

Key Words: Academic behaviors, conjoint behavioral con-

sultation, family–school partnerships, problem behaviors,

translational science.

increasingly apparent in the educational and

social science literatures, given evidence of

their efcacy at promoting children’s learning,

behavioral, and social–emotional outcomes.

Whereas intervention scientists have uncovered

efcacious strategies to enhance parents’ abil-

ities to support their children’s school-related

goals through empirical methods such as exper-

imental single case and randomized controlled

designs, the ability for implementers to trans-

late evidence-based strategies into feasible

school-ready practices is not clear. Schools are

often left with programs whose evidence is

circumstantial and anecdotal at best, leading

to short-lived program implementation and

questionable results.

We conceptualize the process of translation

research in much the same way as Mitchell

Fisher, Hastings, Silverman, and Wallen (2010),

who described it as “activities designed to

transform ideas, insights, and discoveries gen-

erated through basic scientic inquiry and from

clinical or population studies into effective and

widely available clinical applications” (p. 293).

To reach its goal of improving public health

and wellness, translational research is best

positioned when it effectively and efciently

addresses priority problems in real-world con-

texts. These include problems facing children

in the contexts and systems within which they

are situated—namely, families and schools. The

translation cycle addresses problems in ways

that require the utilization and integration of

670 Family Relations 66 (October 2017): 670–683

DOI:10.1111/fare.12271