General Information

• A Shared Responsibility - A shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to engaging families in meaningful and culturally respectful ways, and families are committed to actively supporting their children’s learning and development.
• Cradle to Career - Continuous across a child’s life, spanning from preschool programs such as Early Head Start programs to college and career.
• Across Contexts - Carried out everywhere that children learn – at home, in pre-kindergarten programs, in school, in after-school programs, in faith-based institutions, and in community programs and activities.

National PTA Standards for Family-School Partnerships
To assist PTAs and schools in improving their family engagement efforts, PTA created six National Standards for Family-School Partnerships, which give a framework of strategies that can be done to increase family engagement at your school. Successful applicants will effectively demonstrate how they are implementing practices that are aligned with the Standards and with PTA’s definition of family engagement (see page 1 of this application).

• Standard 1: Welcoming all families into the school community—Families are active participants in the life of the school, and feel welcomed, valued, and connected to each other, to school staff, and to what students are learning and doing in class.
• Standard 2: Communicating effectively—Families and school staff engage in regular, two-way, meaningful communication about student learning.
• Standard 3: Supporting student success—Families and school staff continuously collaborate to support students’ learning and healthy development both at home and at school, and have regular opportunities to strengthen their knowledge and skills to do so effectively.
• Standard 4: Speaking up for every child—Families are empowered to be advocates for their own and other children, to ensure that students are treated fairly and have access to learning opportunities that will support their success.
• Standard 5: Sharing power—Families and school staff are equal partners in decisions that affect children and families and together inform, influence, and create policies, practices, and programs.
• Standard 6: Collaborating with community—Families and school staff collaborate with community members to connect students, families, and staff to expanded learning opportunities, community services, and civic participation.

To apply:

Hearst Award Application Instructions and Application (PDF document)

Hearst Award Application (Word document)

For more information please contact Sherri Wilson, senior manager of family engagement, at swilson@pta.org or at (703) 518-1200 ext. 3456.