The evidence is clear: when schools work together with families and communities to support learning, students are successful—not just in school—but throughout life.

Studies suggest that meaningful family-school partnerships increase student achievement, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, and family education levels. They also show that small schools enjoy higher levels of family involvement and satisfaction.

So whether your high school is already small or is restructuring from large to small, increasing the level of family and community involvement is essential.

To help you get started, the Small Schools Project created a strategic community engagement guide for school and district leaders.

Knowing what's important to your families and communities is an important place to start. Focus groups and surveys are ways to gather that information and build a spirit of ownership among your stakeholders.

Here you will find information about traditional and innovative strategies and tools used by small high schools. These include ways to increase school to family connections and student to community connections.

You may also be interested in other tools for small schools.