Introduction

The purpose of this research project is to improve understanding of the key elements of successful home–school partnerships, and how these partnerships operate in different school settings. The project has two parts—a review of evidence, and an empirical research component. Both parts of the project are reported on here.

This report is organised into four sections:

1. Summary of the main findings from the project
2. Review of evidence
3. New Zealand case studies
4. Discussion

The summary is positioned first to allow the reader to quickly access the main findings of this project. Sections 2–4 provide more detail and contextual background, and pose some high level questions that emerged from this project that we believe require further thought and debate.

The review of evidence draws on seven international case studies that have produced data linking home–school partnership initiatives to improvements in student achievement, and four recent evaluations of New Zealand home–school partnership initiatives. These studies are evaluated as to the extent to which they exemplify the key elements of successful home–school partnerships identified by the Ministry of Education in the Request for Proposals for this project. Additional “enablers” and barriers to home–school partnerships are also identified.

The empirical research component consists of seven New Zealand case studies of home–school partnerships and one mini case study. These case studies cover a range of schools including primary and secondary, low and high decile, urban and rural, a “special school” and a kura kaupapa Maori. These case studies are analysed in a similar way to those in the review of evidence and particular attention is paid to the nature of the partnerships in the schools and to context specific features that affect the partnerships.

The final section of this report draws together both components of the research project to suggest areas for further thought, discussion and research.