Center for Family Involvement in Schools

The Center for Family Involvement in Schools provides equity-focused professional development programs and resources that strengthen family-school-community partnerships and encourage and support the academic, intellectual and social development of all children.

The Center was formerly a unit of the Rutgers Consortium for Educational Equity, and is now a unit of the Rutgers Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education (CMSCE). Both the Center and CMSCE are registered as professional development providers with the New Jersey Department of Education, so that all programs may be used to satisfy the requirement of 100 hours of professional development.

The Center's commitment and accomplishments in support of family involvement in Education received the Golden Apple Award  from the US Department of Education's Family Involvement Partnership for Learning, Teachers College, Columbia University, and Working Mother magazine.

Our Goals

• To increase the collaboration and the dialogue among parents, teachers and schools.

• To train educators to be facilitators and leaders in parental involvement, equity and family-school-community partnerships.

• To encourage all children, especially young women and racial/ethnic minority students, to see themselves as capable, and contributors to the future of our planet.

• To provide time and space in an afterschool program for children and parents to have enjoyable and creative hands-on learning experiences.

• To raise awareness of the importance of preparing for future studies and careers.

• To develop communication skills and strategies that encourage problem-solving and reduce frustrations.

• To create programs that reflect, integrate and respect the diverse cultures of our children and their families.

• To support and reinforce national and state curriculum content standards.

The Center conducts workshops, and currently offers the following professional development programs: Family Math, Rutgers Family Science and Special Science Teams.

Since 1985, the Center has trained over 2,100 teachers from over 980 schools and has reached over 50,000 families in NJ, NY, DE, PA, DC, LA, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. 

Family Math, Rutgers Family Science and Family Tools & Technology have been certified as Professional Development Activities by the NJEA Professional Development Institute.

Center Affiliations:

• The Center is partnering with the NJ Mathematics Coalition in the development, implementation and dissemination of the FANS program (Families Achieving the New Standards in mathematics, science and technology), funded by the National Science Foundation and AT&T Foundation.

• The Center is also a designated Specialty Site for family and community outreach for the NJ Statewide Systemic Initiative in mathematics, science and technology education.

• In addition, the Center is coordinating efforts in New Jersey for the US Department of Education and the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education's America Goes Back to School Initiative to build school-family-community partnerships that will improve education across the country.

Corporate, Foundation and Government Sponsors:

• Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
• Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc.
• Merck Institute for Science Education
• National Science Foundation
• NJ Department Of Education
• NJ State Systemic Initiative
• Public Service Electric & Gas, Co.
• The American Chemical Society 
• Research for Better Schools, Inc.
• The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation
• The Union Carbide Foundation
• The Victoria Foundation
• US Department of Education's Dwight D. Eisenhower National Mathematics and Science Program