Dressed in a bright green blouse and businesslike slacks, Margarita Corrales is about to stroll into the Central Falls neighborhoods to introduce herself and her school to the families of the last three kindergartners on her list. As the home/school liaison for Veterans Elementary School, she’s visiting the home of every student new to the system.

Today I’m tagging along.

Corrales has visited 27 families so far. Two of those families have already moved elsewhere, no big surprise. Central Falls has the highest rate of residential mobility — and poverty — in the state.

With us is Frances Gallo, the district’s superintendent. An administrator or teacher always accompanies the liaison on these initial visits, according to the protocol Gallo implemented when she became super just over a year ago.

Throughout her career, first as a teacher and later as an administrator, Gallo has visited students’ homes to establish strong relationships with their families. Last summer she visited all 177 incoming kindergartners. Home is critical to kids’ academic success. Ignoring the families squanders their valuable support.

Even so, I know of precious few districts that hire anyone to work directly with families in the homes and communities, never mind put one in every school as does Central Falls. Most schools and districts depend on notes buried in backpacks and under-attended events to forge bonds with the families. Visiting kids’ homes is unusual.

Corrales rings the bell at the first house. Mom sticks her head out of the third-floor window to see who’s there. In her native Spanish, Corrales explains who we are and asks to come in for the brief meeting that was explained in a letter. Mom got the letter, but right now she is not dressed for guests. Corrales and Gallo wave away her concerns – we’re delighted to meet you and don’t care that you didn’t dress up.

After a moment the new kindergartner opens the door and with a big smile, ushers us up to the top floor apartment with its steep eaves and orderly if Spartan furnishings. We meet her older brother, who is smaller than she because of a medical condition that greatly worries the mom. Gallo commiserates in her charming, if limited Spanish.

With a bag of school-related goodies, Gallo distracts the child so mom is free to talk. She demonstrates how to lace up and tie a shoe-shaped cardboard cut-out with a length of colored yarn. The bag also has crayons, educational coloring books and a copy of The Little Engine that Could and Caps for Sale, one in English and one in Spanish. Gallo enthuses about how there are more books and toys like these in school. The kindergartner is wide-eyed at her windfall.

In the meantime Corrales has pulled the mother aside to explain the school calendar, medical and permission forms and other information. Most importantly, Corrales gives the parent her cell and hardline phone numbers, and urges her to call any time she has an issue that might affect the kids and their learning.

The mom’s wan smile seems stressed. She apologizes for being divorced, but proudly announces that the children see their father every day. Gallo and Corrales are vociferously supportive about the children having both parents in their lives. The mom relaxes a bit and seems flattered by the attention.

The school staff like to have pictures of the parents with their children, so Mom signs a photo release even as she demurs again about her casual dress. Gallo assures her that with the kids on her lap, no one will ever know what she’s wearing. Mom laughs and gathers up her brood for a quick shot. We say our goodbyes and head out into the summer sunlight.

Corrales says, “I love doing home visits because I can feel I’m building a strong relationship with the family. If you’ve been in their home, they feel better about telling us a problem and solving problems together. And they’re much more likely to come to school, with or without a problem.” This is real family engagement.

We visit two more kindergartners. Both houses are pristine, with open bedroom doors revealing beds so neat they could pass Army regulations. Both small living rooms have iron wrought candle sconces in wall arrangements with black-framed pictures and mirrors. Both have huge flat-screen TVs. Both families appear to enjoy the visit and beam proudly as they have their picture taken. The routine is the same — Gallo distracts the child with the gifts while Corrales establishes herself as a kind, useful font of information.

We leave the third house and the two of them laugh. Those were three perfectly lovely families; I was lucky. Sometimes they find a mattress and little else in the way of furniture. Sometimes the home is very tense or the parents distant or suspicious. Hard or easy, what’s important is getting the relationship started.

Because, as Gallo says, “If the child has any difficulty later, the liaison goes back to the home to try to find out what’s going on. If there are papers that need to be signed or delivered, we take them to the house. We don’t depend on parents coming in. We invite them, but if they don’t come, we go to the house. We’re not shy.”

Gallo is proud of the fact that Central Falls’ families are increasingly turning to the schools for help of all sorts — from advice about family disputes to accessing social services. The home/school liaison knows the community’s resources and can help organize solutions, before problems fester. Most kids are terrible at putting aside troubles at home, so if there’s domestic chaos of any sort, that’s what the kids are thinking about in math class. It’s their nature.

At all socioeconomic levels, today’s families are stressed for a whole host of reasons — isolation, divorce, financial stress and the bad results of neglectful, lazy or clueless child-rearing habits. Schools and districts are kidding themselves if they think they’re going to improve student achievement without working closely with the families, helping to make them stronger.

Julia Steiny, a former member of the Providence School Board, consults for government agencies and schools; she is co-director of Information Works!, Rhode Island’s school-accountability project. She can be reached at juliasteiny@cox.net , or c/o EdWatch, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.