Exploring the School-Family-Community Partnership to Empower Rural Education Through a Shared Book-Reading Project

• In Event: The Power of Relationships in Family, School, Community Partnerships

Abstract

The YuePu project was a community-based shared book-reading philanthropic project implemented in rural China. This literacy project utilized spaces in the rural community and invited parents and teachers to participate in free-of-charge shared book-reading activities with their children on the weekend. The reading activities and instructions were designed by literacy educators. This qualitative study aimed to investigate, as demonstrated by YuePu, how teachers, parents and other stakeholders connect with each other as partners, creating a community form around children aged 3-6 in low-resource areas of China. The results showed that the YuePu implemented a school-family-community partnership to establish a supportive learning environment for children’s education and development. The findings provide implications for promoting community collaboration practices in other low-resource settings.

Authors

• Peijing Qiao, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Yang Yang, Yunnan Technology and Business University

• Si Chen, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Lin Deng, University of Florida