Parent Involvement- Resources

On my post about the increase in poverty in children, Molly asked for resources on working with parents. She said,

"my goal this year is to improve my relationships with parents. do you have any good resources to recommend? I notice several parents that avoid coming to school and seem so uncomfortable when they do. Or I also have a parent who, when I can finally get her to sit down with me, talks a "big talk," but nothing ever happens. And then there are the parents who would like to know more details about what we're doing in the classroom"


I'm going to try to do a series of posts on working with parents (a series because with Baby Lipstick I find myself writing half-posts and then getting side-tracked and never finishing...) Please chime in and share your own experiences and recommendations.


As far as resources here's a list of ones I've used in the past:


Ruby Payne's Working With Parents -  Payne can be controversial but I've always appreciated her insights. She makes me think, which I appreciate.


Working with Challenging Parents - This one is specific for special education, but the recommendations hold true for interacting with parents in general. It was one of my text books in a special education class.


Parents and Teachers Working Together -  This is a book from Responsive Classroom and has great ideas for getting parents involved. 


What other resources do you use? What do you recommend? Please share!