Examining the Reflection of Family–Professional Partnerships in Professional Organization Standards

Abstract

Investigating the extent to which professional organization standards reflect family–professional partnerships can identify opportunities for professional organizations to enrich a focus on partnerships, thus better-preparing education professionals to fulfill partnerships with families. The researchers employed a document analysis method to investigate two research questions: (a) What percentage of education professional organization standards and substandards reflect family–professional partnerships? and (b) To what extent do education professional organization substandards align with the five dimensions of family–professional partnerships? Key findings indicated that the (a) Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium and (b) National Association of School Psychologists had the greatest number of standards reflecting partnerships and “commitment” was most frequently dimension reflected in substandards. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.