Book excerpt: Improve student achievement through academically focused family nights! Research confirms the link between family involvement and academic success. Yet, as student populations become increasingly diverse, educators face a daunting challenge in establishing close connections with families. Bridging School and Home Through Family Nights: Ready-to-Use Plans for Grades K-8 offers all the information, materials, and resources for planning and implementing events that build effective relationships. Drawing on their own experiences and extensive research, the authors include information on adapting events for special populations, issues around providing food and incentives, cost-saving ideas, and additional resources. Each of the book’s thirteen family night chapters is a self-contained unit that provides event procedures, needed materials, connections with national standards, and numerous reproducibles, including: • Invitations • Agendas • Sign-in sheets • Evaluation forms • Activity worksheets • Handouts • Overheads Productive family night experiences offer an enjoyable and meaningful way for schools to reach out to families and get them involved. This book is appropriate for K-8 teachers and principals or anyone in the school or district responsible for family events.