This research examined school–family–community collaborations and the support measures for persistence and academic success arising from them in socio-economically disadvantaged areas.

The intervention under study is a program providing expertise and financial resources in support of local collective actions. The evaluation seeks to compare the interrelation between school–family–community arrangements, the configuration of the resulting support measures for persistence and academic success, and the effects of those measures on parental involvement and the children’s skills and academic performance in a community that benefits from the program, and a program that does not benefit from the program.

The intervention under study is a program providing expertise and financial resources in support of local collective actions.

The questions addressed by the evaluation are as follows: Which school–family–community arrangements lead community actors towards certain configurations of support measures for academic success? What action systems are produced by these measures? How do such measures succeed, or why do they not succeed, in enhancing student skills and academic performance and parental involvement?

The research produced findings on three levels: the types of school–community collaborations and the measures arising from them in disadvantaged areas; the academic tutoring programs generated by these collaborations; and the effects of such programs on parental involvement and the factors linked to academic success.

Despite the generally limited impact produced by the measures, the observed effects indicate that local collective actions have the ability to effectively define problems and solutions when it comes to community development. Globally, the interventions of the Je Passe Partout project appear to improve students’ academic performance and the homework supervision ability of the participating parents.

Main researcher

Angèle Bilodeau, Direction de santé publique de Montréal

Research report

Call for proposals

Deposit of the research report: March 2007