Home, School and Community Relations Online Course

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Why take Home, School & Community Relations?

The course is an exploration of home, school and community relations. The content will include history, parental involvement in schools, parent-teacher conferences, home visits, parent programs, and resources for parents. By the end of the course students will:

• Apply research on family diversity to the resolution of problems of school-family discontinuity and the establishment of collaborative relationships and goal consensus with parents.
• Describe the risk and protective factors and multiple stressors influencing families and children, including poverty, substance abuse, community violence, child abuse and neglect, and other societal and community problems and conditions.
• Apply ideas on cultural diversity in child development and family life to the planning of a unit of instruction. 
• Have strategies to establish and maintain positive collaborative relationships with families from various cultural and class structures.
• Develop strategies for affirming and respecting parents’ choices and goals for their child and learn how to communicate effectively with parents about the school’s goals and their child’s progress.
• Gain an understanding and appreciation of cultural, class, and gender diversity in family structure and dynamics.
• Develop an understanding and appreciation of cultural and class diversity in parenting and family life and explain the historical, economic, and political sources of variations. 
• Gain an understanding of the use of data literacy to communicate student achievement and progress with families. 

Students may take 3-9 months to complete 16 lessons.  The lessons are designed to focus your study of home and school relations and to assist you in achieving the course learning objectives/outcomes. You will work through a combination of required readings, captioned videos, assignments, and quizzes. The lesson topics include: 

• Families
• Diversity of Families
• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families
• Family Engagement History and Social Influences
• Effective Partnerships
• Effective Teacher-Family Communication
• Teacher Leadership for Family Engagement
• Teaching with Poverty in Mind
• ACEs and SHARE Factors
• Resilience
• Family Engagement Framework
• Home Programs
• Supporting Families of Special Healthcare Needs
• Violence and Child Abuse
• Family and Child Advocacy

Required Course Textbook

The following texts are required:

Berger, E.H. & Riojas-Cortez, M. (2020). Families as Partners in Education: Families and schools working (10th ed.) Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.

• ISBN-13: 978-0135196724
• ISBN-10: 0135196728

Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind: What being poor does to kids' brains and what schools can do about it. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

• ISBN-13: 978-1416608844
• ISBN-10: 1416608842

How will the course appear on my transcript?

You may enroll at any time and have up to 9 months to complete this online course. The credits earned will be recorded on your UND transcript based on the date you registered for the course. It will appear on your transcript in the same way as a course taken during a regular semester. There is no indication that the course was taken online or that you completed it at your own pace. 

Why Take Online Classes at UND?

Here are a few reasons why you should take an online enroll anytime course at UND:

• Great customer service – Our registration team is ready to answer questions quickly so you can focus on your coursework.
• Affordable – UND's enroll anytime courses are priced at North Dakota's affordable, in-state tuition rate.
• Accredited – UND is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
• Easily transfer credits – Transferring credits is always at the discretion of the institution to which the credits are being transferred. In general, credits from schools/universities that are regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission transfer to other regionally accredited institutions. UND's online courses appear on your UND transcript in the same way as other courses.

Flexible 100% Online Course

You'll take this online course at your own pace. Some students thrive in this environment, while other students may struggle with setting their own deadlines. If you have successfully taken an independent study or correspondence course previously, UND’s enroll anytime courses may be right for you. Still not sure? Take our online quiz to help determine if online enroll anytime courses are right for you.

Course information including tuition, technology requirements, textbooks, lessons and exams is subject to change without notice.