The purpose of this article is to describe the effects that parent perceptions of their relationships with teachers have on parent involvement. After providing a brief review of literature identifying the importance of parent-teacher relationship formation, the authors provide suggestions for early childhood educators that will help them establish and maintain productive relationships with the families that they serve.

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The purpose of this article is to help teachers become more responsive to the changing needs and contexts of families in their efforts to establish relationships and encourage family participation. Through this article, the authors describe the changing landscape of parenting and the stressors experienced by contemporary families. The authors then provide a review of research that describes strategies that have been successfully employed by teachers of young children to foster increased communication and family involvement. The article concludes with suggestions to help early childhood professionals change their paradigm of parent involvement from a school-centric perspective to one that is more family-centric.Keywords Parent-teacher relationships Á Parent involvement strategiesThe value of having strong parent and family involvement in early childhood education programs is supported by considerable research and study (Swick 2004). The challenge in many cases is how to achieve high quality family involvement efforts. Too often the reality of parent and family involvement is lacking, especially in relation to the meaningful engagement of parents and families in all aspects of the early childhood program (Olson and Fuller 2003). The main premise of this article is that by understanding the various contexts in which families live, we can gain insights related to building partnerships that are more meaningful with families. Thus, the authors seek to explore how changes in local communities and across the world have affected families and early childhood programs. The authors then identify ways that early childhood practitioners learn about families, and use this information to develop strong programs to encourage parent and family involvement. A key aspect of the approach presented is to capitalize on family strengths in developing positive and empowering relations with families.

This article explores how parents and school personnel perceived and experienced parental involvement at a school serving a low-income mainly black population. The first author recorded detailed field notes (n=70) and conducted in-depth interviews with parents (n=20) and school personnel (n=20) over a three-year period. Despite rhetoric of inclusion, the school's policies and practices restricted parents to predetermined and acceptable roles of parental involvement. Ideologies of colorblind racism undergirded school policies and practices, thereby maintaining current social hierarchies of white privilege and racial minority disadvantage. This colorblind approach to parental involvement created barriers to the development of authentic relationships and, therefore, the development of a positive, mutual, and respectful relationship between student families and school personnel.