Martine van der Pluijm

83 Creating partnerships – a formative evaluation Teams agreed that a phased implementation of working with the prototype would be desirable. They suggested continuing to implement the first three design principles of the prototype in the entire school. The fourth and fifth design principle was perceived to be more useful for teachers of young children. Principals suggested providing these teachers with the opportunity to participate in further professional development. One of the principals said: “ This prototype should feel as an enrichment and not as a burden.” DISCUSSION We developed a prototype for teachers to build School Family Partnerships (SFPs) focused on improving the HLE of lower-educated families. The prototype consists of five design principles and tools for professionalizing teachers. The aim of this study was to investigate modifications to the prototype so that the design principles are more tailored to the needs of teachers and parents in schools with high numbers of lower-educated parents. Each of the five design principles contributed to the professionalization of most teachers in building SFPs with lower-educated parents. In addition, the results of this study provide opportunities to refine the prototype. First, we discuss the modifications needed for each design principle and the implications for the professionalization program. Second, we evaluate the design-based research approach. Finally, we discuss suggestions for future research, policy, and practice. Modification of the five design principles The first design principle [Assess pupils’ HLE] contributed to teachers’ knowledge of families’ backgrounds and helped them to adapt their activities to them. However, most teachers experienced difficulties assessing the HLE due to a lack of familiarity with home environments and access to that information. Therefore, several teachers evaluated this principle as less compatible and feasible. However, they thought the results were relevant because they raised their understanding of lower-educated parents’perceptions and behavior. The teams evaluated this design principle as an eye-opener and a condition to improve teachers’ partnerships with all parents. This was different for two teachers with a majority of higher-educated parents, which might explain why they found it less relevant to get acquainted with the HLE of their pupils. Our findings showed that this design principle could be improved as follows. First, before starting the process of building SFPs, we need to examine how teachers can be supported in applying this principle. School principals can allow teachers access to the school administration system so that they have more information about the family background of pupils (e.g., parental education levels, home language, literacy problems). Secondly, teacher training can be improved. We explain how teachers can be coached to assess the HLE of their pupils in the next section on professional development.