family school community partnerships 2.0

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Priority Schools Campaign

Family-School-Community Partnerships 2.0Collaborative Strategies to AdvanceStudent Learning


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This publication was produced by a team of NEA staff and consultants.Special thanks to all the state and local NEA afliates for their contributions.

Project ManagerRoberta E. [email protected], 202-822-7721

Lead AuthorAnne T. Henderson , Senior Consultant tothe Annenberg Institute for School Reform,and co-author of A New Wave of Evidence:The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement and Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guideto Family-School Partnerships

Writers and EditorsNancy HendersonCynthia KainNancy KochukCindy LongBarbara MoldauerCarol Sills Strickland

ContributorsDorrie ArrigoJanis HageyRita Jaramillo

NEA Interdepartmental TeamDenise AlstonTiffany CainDana DossettJennifer LockeKaren OhmansJames SledgeKathy TuckBrenda VincentBrooke WhitingCory Wofford

DesignKim Hellmuth

Vanessa Nugent

BrandingLaila Hirschfeld

InternsMelissa MaloneAlexandria Richardson

NEA Executive OfcersDennis Van Roekel , PresidentLily Eskelsen , Vice PresidentBecky Pringle , Secretary-Treasurer

NEA Executive Staff John Stocks , Executive DirectorSheila Simmons , Director,

NEA Priority Schools CampaignPhil McLaurin , Director,

External Partnerships and Advocacy

Copyright 2011 by the National Education Association. Not for duplication or distribution without express written permission from the National EducationAssociation. All rights reserved.

The National Education Association is the nations largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary school teachers,higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.


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Family-School-Community Partnerships 2.0

ForewordJennifer Pasillas. Henrietta Parker. Sarah Gebre. Bryan Sanguinito. Paty Holt. Rhonda Johnson. Theirnames may not be familiar now. But if their recent work is any indication, they will be soon. They are

just a few of the amazing educators, parents, and Association and community leaders featured inFamily-School-Community Partnerships 2.0: Collaborative Strategies to Advance Student Learning .

NEAs core belief is that all students deserve great public schools. And these dedicated individualsembody the spirit of partnership and collaboration between educators, parents, and communityleaders that is critical to student success.

Family-School-Community Partnerships 2.0 outlines 10 strategies that are the foundation for

creating effective partnerships, like building one-to-one relationships between families and teachersthat are linked to learning. That tactic was the key to success for the Parent-Teacher Home VisitProject in Sacramento, which is now being replicated in school districts across the country withsupport from NEA. The program grew out of a desire to disrupt the cycle of blame between familiesand schools, and it is now recognized as a national model.

One of this reports greatest values is its portrayal of the broad range of school personnel involvedin these efforts from school bus drivers and teachers, to administrators and cafeteria workers.Regardless of job category, educators are helping create and sustain essential partnerships with theircommunities.

The examples in Family-School-Community Partnerships 2.0 are impressive, and we know thereare many, many more to be found. NEA will continue to collect, disseminate, and elevate suchexamples because we believe families, schools, and communities are fundamentally and positivelyinterconnected. This guide will also be an important resource for the educators, communitymembers, and parents who have joined NEAs Priority Schools Campaign in 39 of the nations mostunder-resourced, underfunded schools. They are currently examining these strategies with an eyetoward sparking new thinking about whats possible in their own communities.

Finally, we commend our allies who share our vision of collaboration: the Annenberg Institutefor School Reform, the Coalition for Community Schools, the Harvard Family Research Project,

Communities In Schools, the National PTA, and the National Network for Partnership Schools,whose programs in the eld of family-school-community partnerships continue to contribute to ourefforts. Thank you for joining with us to improve the odds for our nations students. Dennis Van Roekel, President

National Education Association


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OVERVIEW NEA PRIORITY SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN 2

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Name of program School or District Location Type of program Page

Community and Family-Community Programs

Making ParentsCount

James A. ShanksMiddle School

Quincy, Florida Family-Community School Established

WicomicoMentoring Project

Wicomico CountyPublic Schools

Salisbury, Maryland Community Countywide Mature

Bringing Learningto Life Columbus CitySchools Columbus, Ohio Community Districtwide Emerging

Programs to Engage Parents and Other Family Members

Academic Parent-Teacher Teams

CreightonElementary SchoolDistrict

Phoenix, Arizona Parent/Family Districtwide Established

Parent-TeacherHome Visit Project

Sacramento CityUnied SchoolDistrict

Sacramento,California

Parent/Family Districtwide Mature

Revitalizing theTitle I School-ParentCompact

GeraldineW. JohnsonElementary-MiddleSchool

Bridgeport,Connecticut Parent/Family Districtwide Emerging

Climate and CultureCommittee

Math and ScienceLeadershipAcademy

Denver, Colorado Parent/Family School Emerging

Hispanic ParentsCouncil

Capt. James E.Daly Jr. ElementarySchool

Germantown,Maryland

Parent/Family School Established

Innite Campus

Parent Portal, NinthGrade OutreachProgram

Washoe County

School District

Reno, Nevada Parent/Family

Districtwide Emerging

Before- and After-school SupportPrograms

Elmont MemorialJunior-Senior HighSchool

Elmont, New York Parent/Family School Established

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Table of contents


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OVERVIEW NEA PRIORITY SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN 3NEA PRIORITY SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN 3

Name of program School or District Location Type of program Page

Programs to Engage Parents and Other Family Members

Compadres inEducation

Putnam City WestHigh School

Oklahoma City,Oklahoma

Parent/Family School Established

SuccessfulTransitions

Upper Merion AreaMiddle School

King of Prussia,Pennsylvania

Parent/Family School Mature

Parent andCommunityOutreach Initiative

Reading SchoolDistrict Reading,Pennsylvania Parent/FamilyDistrictwideEmerging

Wraparound Social and Community Services Programs

Community-SchoolPrograms

Evansville Vanderburgh SchoolCorporation

Evansville, Indiana WraparoundDistrictwideMature

Lincoln CommunityLearning Centers

Lincoln PublicSchools

Lincoln, Nebraska WraparoundDistrictwideMature

SUN Service System 8 school districts inMultnomah County Portland, Oregon WraparoundCountywideMature

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TABLE OF CONTENTS


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Family-School-Community Partnerships to Advance Student Learning

NEA PRIORITY SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN 4

Executive Summary In local communities across the country, NEA afliatemembers and leaders are working closely withparents, families,* and community members to closeachievement gaps, improve low-performing schools,and transform relationships between schools and theircommunities.

This report identies and describes key partnershipsthat Association members have forged in 16communities and includes the Association perspective

on these efforts.

Part I of this report reviews recent research onschool and family collaboration and presents10 key strategies for creating effective family-school-community partnerships that are focusedon advancing student learning. It also includesrecommendations for moving this important workforward.

Part II contains proles for each of the 16 partnershipprograms. In many cases, Association membershave been catalysts for or taken on key roles in theseeffective programs. These proles demonstrate veryclearly that family-school-community partnershipswith a central focus on advancing student learningcan have a powerful impact.

MethodsTo learn more about local family-school-communitypartnerships, an interdepartmental NEA work groupreviewed a host of parent and community engagementinitiatives designed to advance student learning inschools and districts represented by NEAs local andstate afliates. In this rst scan, the team identied 16partnerships that meet the following criteria:

Educators and leaders who are active members inNEA local and/or state afliates

A two- to ve-year track record

Success in engaging families and/or communityorganizations

Evaluation plans in place to measure studentoutcomes

Increased family or community involvement overtime

Reasonable costs and potential for others toreplicate the program

Three Types of InitiativesThe 16 programs proled in this report fall into one of three categories:

Community and family-community programs:

These are efforts to engage the community(including families, local residents, and communityorganizations) in advancing student learning.

Programs to engage parents and other familymembers: These are programs/efforts to engagefamilies in childrens learning and development.

Wraparound social and community servicesprograms: These are programs that provide socialand health services to strengthen and support

children and families.

* Throughout this report, we dene parents and families to mean anyfamily members, legal guardians, or other adults acting in a parental roleto a student.


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ConclusionsThese initiatives to engage families and advance studentlearning, many of which are led by teachers and educationsupport professionals, are a positive development, but

they are not yet a trend. They do, however, show thatNEA and its afliates can leverage signicant change inlocal communities. This work is in the beginning stagesand it deserves to be studied further and scaled up, withguidance from the research.

More infrastructure and capacity-building are neededat the state and district levels to support, evaluate,replicate, and report on this work. Finding ways to fund

development, dissemination, and implementation of theeffective strategies discussed in this report is also part of the challenge.

Identifying these 16 successful programs is a rst step inwhat will be a yearly effort to collect more examples of Association-supported practices that strengthen family-school-community ties in ways that transform schools andadvance student learning.

Following are recommendations to scale up andstrengthen this work so it becomes a focus for theAssociation and other organizations committed tocreating great public schools for all students.

EXECUTIVE S UMMARY


Across these programs, the NEA team identied 10 majorstrategies and approaches that dene the direction of program efforts and appear to be critical to their success.

Strategy #1 - Agreeing on core values: Taking timeat the beginning to think deeply and reect about whatparticipants believe, and why they think the efforts will work.

Strategy #2 - Listening to the community: Identifyingpriorities and developing an action plan in a collaborativeway that creates community consensus around whatneeds to happen and in what sequence.

Strategy #3 - Using data to set priorities and focusstrategies: Looking closely at current achievement trendsand addressing areas of weakness in students knowledgeand skills.

Strategy #4 - Providing relevant, on-site professionaldevelopment: Basing professional development ondata and conversations among stakeholders, in a waythat builds both educator-educator and educator-parentcollaborations.

Strategy #5 - Building collaborations with communitypartners: Pulling in strategic partners and developingcommunity buy-inwith colleges, social service agencies,community groups, faith-based organizations, localleaders, public ofcials, and businessesto improvestudent learning and other outcomes.

Strategy #6 - Using targeted outreach to focus on high-needs communities, schools, and students: Identifyinggroups that need special attention, learning abouttheir concerns and needs, and responding in culturallyappropriate ways.

Strategy #7 - Building one-to-one relationships betweenfamilies and educators that are linked to learning: Taking time to have conversations and reach agreementon how best to collaborate in order to improve studentachievement.

Strategy #8 - Setting, communicating, and supportinghigh and rigorous expectations: Making it clear thatsuccess is the norm by creating pathways to college,especially for students at risk and those at the margins,and providing students with support to succeed.

Strategy #9 - Addressing cultural differences: Providingsupport for teachers and education support professionalsto bridge barriers of culture, class, and language.

Strategy #10 - Connecting students to the community: Making learning hands-on and relevant to students liveswhile also showing that students and schools serve thecommunity.

Ten Key Strategies for Effective Partnerships


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NEA PRIORITY SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN 6EXECUTIVE S UMMARY

Recommendations1. At the local level: Build capacity in schools

Use professional development to enhanceeducators knowledge and skills in collaboratingwith families and community members.

Bargain contract language or create Memorandumsof Understanding that provide time, opportunities,and reimbursement for teachers, as a way to supportstronger and deeper teacher-parent connections.Work with the school district to support capacity-building for educators on family engagement, usingdistrict professional development days.

Provide technical assistance on appropriate use of Title I funds for teacher-parent collaborations toachieve the goals of the school improvement plan,such as using the School-Parent Compact requiredunder Section 1118.

Provide technical assistance for educators to showparents how to use data to monitor and support theirchildrens progress.

Identify cultural brokers in the community who canhelp enhance communication between teachers andfamilies and develop shared expectations aroundlearning.

2. At the school district level: Work collaborativelyon policies and practices

Support districtwide policies that promote effectivefamily-school-community partnerships and commitresources such as funding and professionaldevelopment to make them work.

Support wraparound community services to addressthe health and social needs of students, as well astheir academic ones.

Ensure that needs of families from diverse cultures areaddressed in a systemic way, and provide neededtranslation and interpretation services.

Give rst priority to those sites with the greatest needs.

Create structures such as action teams and regularcommunity conversations to ensure student progress.

3. At the state level: Provide opportunities fordialogue and offer technical assistance

Train local facilitators to conduct communitywideconversations that can leverage change, focusing rston the neighborhoods with the greatest needs.

Disseminate information on appropriate and effectiveuse of Title I funds to further engage families inpartnerships that advance student learning.

Use the strategies described in this report tomake recommendations to public ofcials andpolicymakers.

4. At the national level: Promote research-based strategies on family-school-communitypartnerships

Place family-school-community partnerships at thecenter of school reform.

Include provisions for family-school-communitypartnerships in proposed legislative and policylanguage, in comments on federal regulations, and inpolicy forums and conferences.

Continue to advocate for meaningful, research-drivenfamily-school-community partnerships in federallegislation.

Disseminate the strategies for family-school-

community partnerships recommended in this reportthroughout the Association.

These recommendations are provided to support andinform NEAs mission to create a great public schoolfor every student and to give priority attention to theschools and communities with the greatest need.


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Overview In local communities around the country, Associationmembers and leaders are working closely insupportive relationships with parents, families,* andcommunity members to close achievement gaps andimprove student learning.

These efforts are growing steadily, thanks to carefulcultivation by the National Education Association (NEA)and its state and local afliates and members. And theresults are becoming apparent. In many communities,we can already see clear benets for students, suchas increased attendance and engagement in school,improved work habits and behavior, higher enrollmentin college preparatory classes, better grades and testscores, and higher graduation rates.

This report documents the partnerships that localAssociation members have forged in 16 communitiesand offers a perspective from the state or localAssociation. It also lays out 10 key strategies toconsider in establishing any effective family-school-

community partnership with student learning at itscore. In addition, it provides recommendations forenhancing and replicating programs like the onesproled here.

The Research Is Clear: Families andCommunities MatterDespite two decades of education reform, only aboutone-third of U.S. students are procient in readingand math, according to the National Assessment of

Educational Progress. That percentage is rising, butprogress has been slow. The title of Charles Paynesrecent book sums up the situation: So Much Reform,So Little Change .

Organizing Schools for Improvement, a new studyfrom the Consortium on Chicago School Research,identies strong family and school partnerships as

one of ve key elements in accelerating progress(Bryk et al., 2010). This rigorous study comparedChicago public schools that had made signicantimprovements with those that had stagnated ordeclined, over two separate ve-year periods. Thecharacteristics of the improved schools in both datasets were the same.

From these characteristics, Anthony Bryk and hiscolleagues gleaned ve essential ingredients tothe success of turnaround efforts. They found that allve ingredients contribute about equally to a schoolsimprovement and that a schools chances for successdeclined precipitously with the loss of only one or twoelements. One of these ve essential ingredients isclose ties with families and the community. When aschool establishes close ties, its educators are familiarwith students cultures and community concerns.They conduct home visits, become knowledgeableabout the community and its culture, invite parents toobserve in classrooms, and see strong attendance by

parents at school events.

The Chicago study conrms that engaging familiesand communities in student learning is a core strategyfor school reform, and that its impact on a schoolsprospects for success are as powerful as the impact of strong leadership and quality teaching. This ndingbuilds on 30 years of research about the impact thatengaging families can have on student outcomes.

A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School,Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement (Henderson and Mapp, 2002) is acomprehensive review of the research. It concludes:

The evidence is consistent, positive, and convincing:families have a major inuence on their childrensachievement. When schools, families, and community

* Throughout this report, we dene parents and families to mean any family members, legal guardians, or other adults acting in a parental role to a student.


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groups work together to support learning, childrentend to do better in school, stay in school longer, andlike school more.

The Henderson and Mapp review includes thefollowing key ndings:

Students whose families are involved in their learningearn better grades, take higher-level classes, havehigher graduation rates, and are more likely to enrollin postsecondary education.

Children do best when parents can take on variousroles in their learning: helping at home, participatingin school events and activities, guiding their childrenthrough the system, and taking part in key decisionsabout the school program.

When families actively support learning, studentshave more positive attitudes toward school, attendmore regularly, and behave better.

Children from diverse backgrounds tend to dobetter when families and school staff collaborate tobridge the differences between home and schoolcultures.

Middle and high school students whose familiesremain involved make better transitions to theirnew schools, maintain the quality of their work,develop realistic plans for the future, and are lesslikely to drop out.

These ndings hold true at all ages from birththrough high school and across all socioeconomicbackgrounds. Studies have found that all families cansupport their childrens success and that most familiesdo so. School improvement efforts are far moreeffective when schools enlist families in the processand when schools link activities for families to whatstudents are learning and doing in class.

When parents become involved in their childs school,they tend to become more active in their community

and take advantage of local resources such as librariesand adult learning programs. Well-planned familylearning and support activities tend to increase

parents self-condence, and parents and familymembers often go on to pursue a high school diploma,additional job training, and higher education.

Community groups are also critical partners. A keydifference between high- and low-achieving childrenis how, and with whom, they spend their time outsideof school. Community groups offer importantresources for students and families, and schools canprovide a critical link to those resources (Henderson,Mapp, et al., 2007).

Dr. Joyce Epstein, a noted education researcherand director of the National Network for PartnershipSchools at Johns Hopkins University, sums up herndings this way: Schools, families, and communitiesall contribute to student success, and the best resultscome when all three work together as equal partners.

Helping Educators ConnectDespite this large body of convincing research, notenough attention has been paid to the issue of connecting schools and families. Teachers report theyneed more training to work with families, especiallywith those from class and cultural backgrounds thatare different from their own. According to the 2005MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, educatorssay that engaging families is a key challenge and thatit is an area where they feel under prepared.

Family engagement is often avoided orignored because schools dont have thetools or strategies to implement effectiveservices to families.

Maria Paredes, founder, Academic Parent-Teacher Team Program, Creighton, Arizona


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NEA recognizes the barriers schools face in fosteringpartnerships that focus on student learning. Incollaboration with its state and local afliates, the

Association is committed to addressing this issue.By working with its members and afliates at thesite, local, state, and national levels, NEA can be apowerful partner in formulating solutions that supportall students in fullling their learning potential.

How Were the 16 Proles Chosen?To learn more about local family-school-communitypartnerships, an interdepartmental NEA teamreviewed a host of parent and community

engagement initiatives designed to improvestudent achievement in schools and school districtsrepresented by NEAs state and local afliates. NEAintends to repeat this scan annually. The goal is tocollect more examples of effective family-school-community partnerships that are transforming schoolsand improving student outcomes.

The NEA team found many positive examples of family and community outreach, but not everyprogram used a systematic approach or was designedspecically to improve student learning. For aprogram or initiative to merit inclusion in this report, ithad to meet six essential criteria:

Educators and leaders who are active members of anNEA local or state afliate Association or both

A two- to ve-year track record

Success in engaging families, communityorganizations, or both

An evaluative component tied to student outcomes

Increased family or community involvement over time

Reasonable costs and the potential for other schoolsor districts to replicate the program

Three Identifying Characteristics of the Programs1. Program type: Each of the 16 programs we

proled ts into one of three categories:

Community and family-community programs: Three of the programs involve efforts to engage thecommunity (including families, community residents,and community organizations) in supporting studentachievement. Two of those three operate acrossthe district, and one focuses on an underachievingmiddle school.

Programs to engage parents and other familymembers: Ten of the programs engage families in

childrens learning and development. Some are basedin a single school, and some operate districtwide.

Wraparound social and community servicesprograms: Three programs provide social and healthservices to strengthen and support children andfamilies. All of those three operate districtwide.

2. Program reach: Some programs were based inindividual schools while others were implementedacross the district or county.

3. Program longevity: The third characteristic is howlong each program has been operating and howwell established it is. Programs are classied inthis way:

Mature programs are well established and denedby their tenure of more than 10 years. Six of thefeatured programs fall into this category.

Established programs have been in place for at

least four years. Five of the programs fall into thiscategory.

Emerging programs are promising but are in theearly stages of development. They are includedbecause they are engaging families and communitymembers in innovative ways that align with researchon effective practice. Five of the programs fall intothis category.


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Across these programs, the NEA team identied

10 major strategies and approaches that dene thedirection of program efforts and appear to be criticalto their success.

STRATEGY #1: Agreeing on core values: In effectiveprograms, participants take time at the outset to thinkdeeply and reect about what they believe and whythey think their efforts will work.

Examples:The Parent-Teacher Home Visit Program (PTHVP) inSacramento, Calif., was initiated after SacramentoArea Congregations Together (ACT), a communityorganizing group, began asking families what wouldmake their community a better place to raise children.This inquiry brought to the surface a deep distrust of the schools. The PTHVP partners (the school district,the Sacramento City Teachers Association, andSacramento ACT) took time at the outset to reachagreement about their attitudes and beliefs and toidentify the following core values:

Families and teachers are equally important co-educators. The family is the expert on the child; theteacher is the expert on the curriculum.

Before teachers can effectively share importantinformation about academics, teachers and parentsmust establish positive communication.

Teachers must visit all students and families,because targeting only the challenging students will

perpetuate the cycle of mistrust.

All parents can assist in their childrens academicsuccess; effective family involvement can happen inevery home.

Successful Transitions at Upper Merion Area MiddleSchool in King of Prussia, Pa., is designed to smooththe crucial transition from elementary to middle

school. It is a year-long program of meetings, visits,

tours, correspondence between pen pals, and peermentoring, so that students and parents becomefamiliar with the middle school culture. Parents, staff,students, and community partners all had a hand indeveloping the program.

The program is rooted in the choice to be aCommunity of Caring school, where the schoolcommunity subscribes to the core values of caring,respect, responsibility, trust, and family. These values

are integrated throughout the schools curriculumand activities. In recent years, the school has seenimproved test scores and steady decreases insuspension rates and bullying incidents.

The students get so excited. The parentsare more anxious than the kids. Thats onereason why we need to have a lot of face-to-face time with parents. We assure themthat safety is the No. 1 priority.

Dr. Karen Geller, principal, grades 5 and 6,Upper Merion Area Middle School

The Community-School Programs in the Evansville Vanderburgh school district in Indiana are driven bythe vision that to succeed in closing achievementgaps, schools must become full-service communitycenters for students, parents, and other familymembers. The local Association, the school district,

and all its partners agree that home, school, and thecommunity are jointly responsible for students well-being, and that to close academic achievement gaps,they must meet the needs of the whole child.

Evansville Teachers Association President KeithGambill put it this way: Our community had highhopes for its children, but if we were honest, somekids were being left behind. So educators had to

Ten Key Strategies for Effective Partnerships


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nd a different, more comprehensive way of workingwith parents and our community. And it has paid off in terms of relationships with families and improved

outcomes for our students.

STRATEGY #2: Listening to the community: Ineffective programs, participants identify priorities anddevelop action plans collaboratively, which createscommunity consensus around what needs to happenand in what sequence.

Examples:Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma City,Okla., began its Compadres in Education program forHispanic families following a series of NEA-supportedcommunity conversations about closing achievementgaps. Leaders of the Oklahoma Education Association,with technical assistance from NEA, trained localcommunity members to facilitate and record theconversations. In these conversations, parents saidthey did not feel welcome at the school, and theyasked for more bilingual staff members who couldshare information with them in Spanish. Parents alsorequested more information about college admissionsand all course information in Spanish, especiallyinformation pertaining to classes required for college.Finally, they requested NEAs professional developmentassistance to better equip all teachers in serving theneeds of English Language Learner (ELL) students.

In response, the school has taken several actions:

Adding bilingual staff members, so that now 25percent of staff are bilingual, including the crucial

positions of receptionist, ELL graduation coach, andinstructional assistants in ELL, algebra, and Englishclasses.

Holding quarterly Hispanic Family Nights, whichfocus on the pathways to college, and providingcourse descriptions and college entrancerequirements in both Spanish and English.

Offering professional development for educators, tohelp enhance teaching of ELL students that takesinto account specic cultural priorities and needs.

Expanding opportunities for students to engagein service-learning (community service activitiesaligned with the curriculum), with special outreachto students deemed at risk for dropping out.

The schools bilingual teacher and ELL graduationcoach, Jennifer Pasillas, comments:

When our school started listening and responding tothe parents requests such as more bilingual staff and

resources, our school began to reect the community itserves, thus increasing community parental participationand involvement, as well as student success.

Since the Compadres programs inception in 2007, thegraduation rate among Hispanic students has risen bynearly 70 percent.

The bottom line is, What can I do tohelp my students to graduate, go on tosecondary schools, and be successful? Weare committed to our partnership betweenthe school, the families, and the community.

And its working! Melanie Pealor, assistant principal, Putnam City West High School

The Community Learning Centers (CLC) programin Lincoln, Neb., has a tiered structure designed to

ensure that activities and services for each schoolare tailored to local community needs and priorities.Ten different lead agencies offer a variety of servicesthat local communities can select. Each CLC sitehas a School Neighborhood Advisory Committeethat represents the diversity of its neighborhoodand shapes the schools program. In addition, actionteams focus on specic issues such as public andfamily engagement.


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STRATEGY #3: Using data to set priorities and focusstrategies: Effective programs look closely at currentachievement trends and address areas of weakness in

students knowledge and skills.

Examples:Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT) in Creighton,Ariz., provide a structure for parents to meet withteachers, converse with other parents, and learn waysto support their childs academic skill development.

At the team meetings, the teacher models activitiesthat parents can do at home with their children. Theteacher also presents academic performance datafor the class and gives parents individual informationabout their own childs performance. Test data showsignicant short-term gains among rst graders inAPTT classes. Among students tested in the fall of 2009, oral reading uency scores in APTT classroomsrose nearly 25 points, compared to only 10 points forother students.

Many parents wonder what the parents

of kids at the top of the class are doing athome to make that happen. Parents giveother parents ideas for successful practiceat home. It forms a community.

Maria Paredes, founder of the APTT program

Revitalizing the School-Parent Compact requiredby the federal Title I program inspired teachers atGeraldine Johnson Elementary-Middle School inBridgeport, Conn., to link activities for families tothe School Improvement Plan. Teachers meet twicea month for 30 minutes in grade-level data teamsto discuss how students are doing. At the beginningof the school year, each team identies two or threeskills on which to focus and develops strategies thatfamilies can use to promote learning at home. Basedon those conversations, teachers design workshops

and home learning activities, such as questions to askwhile watching a movie or ideas for using math at thegrocery store.

The workshops and activities become part of awritten School-Parent Compact in which teachers andfamilies agree to collaborate. Nicole Fitzsimmons, asixth-grade teacher, says, The compact ties thingstogether and brings us closer. Math workshops refreshparents skills in solving equations and other areas of sixth-grade math. Its fun, not stressful.

I applaud the efforts our members are

making to establish school-family partnershipsthrough the Title I School-Parent Compact.

We all realize that this type of collaboration isa key component in our students success.Gary Peluchette, president,

Bridgeport Education Association

SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) Service System,in Oregons Multnomah County, is a wraparound

service model that uses 60 neighborhood schoolsas delivery sites for a comprehensive range of educational and social services for students, families,and community members. Core services at each siteinclude academic support, social and health services,and recreation and enrichment activities.

Centering services at the school site allows closecollaboration among schools and agencies thatprovide the educational and social services to supportthe success of children and their families. Studentsgrowth targets and academic performance aremonitored and evaluated annually. Among the 7,500students who participated in SUN Service programs for30 or more days in the 2009-2010 school year, averagescores in reading and math exceeded state goals.


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Furthermore, at least 75 percent made gains in readingand math test scores that exceeded state goals. Morethan 80 percent of seniors graduated, compared to less

than 60 percent for the district as a whole.

STRATEGY #4: Providing relevant, on-siteprofessional development: Effective programs baseprofessional development on data and conversationsamong stakeholders in a way that builds botheducator-to-educator and educator-to-parentcollaborations.

Examples:After Hispanic parents participating in Compadres inEducation requested that the schools programs forELL students be improved, Putnam City West HighSchool in Oklahoma City created enrichment classesfor ELL students in all core subjects in ninth and tenthgrades. To enhance their teaching skills with ELLstudents, teachers are learning effective techniquesfor visual presentation of information and use of hands-on activities. They are also learning to createenvironments in which students and parents who arestill learning English are comfortable speaking Englishtogether.

Bringing Learning to Life is a professionaldevelopment program in Columbus, Ohio, thathelps teachers infuse student service projects in thecommunity that are aligned with the curriculum. Theprogram benets from a community outreach andengagement agreement between the ColumbusEducation Association, Columbus City Schools,and The Ohio State University (OSU) College of

Education and Human Ecology. The programprovides district K-12 teachers with tuition-freeprofessional development. A government grant fromthe Corporation for National and Community Servicemakes it possible for these teachers to be eligiblefor mini-grants to implement hands-on communityprojects with students.

What I love about this program is thatit provides both students and teachersan opportunity to tackle real community problems, and at the same time develop21st century skills like collaboration, criticalthinking, creativity, and communications.

Rhonda Johnson, president,Columbus Education Association

STRATEGY #5: Building collaborations withcommunity partners: Effective programs pull instrategic partners and develop community buy-in

with colleges, social service agencies, communitygroups, faith-based organizations, local leaders,public ofcials, and businessesto help improvestudent learning and other outcomes.

Examples:The Wicomico Mentoring Project in Salisbury, Md.,draws mentors who work one on one with studentsfrom more than 50 local government agencies,colleges, businesses, civic organizations, and faith-

based groups, as well as the schools themselves. Tokeep local interest high, a monthly newsletter includesinformation, a calendar of events, and resources formentors. News of activities, proles of participants,and inspiring quotes help to build support and buy-in from current and potential mentors. About half of the mentors are teachers and education supportprofessionals, such as bus drivers and cafeteriaworkers.

In the Washoe County School District, which includesReno, Nev., and the surrounding area, the InniteCampus Parent Portal relies on its many partnersto get information to parents who want to tracktheir students progress. Parents learn how to openan account and use the information on the districtwebsite. The Nevada State Parent Information andResource Center (PIRC) provides training to enable


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more parents to use the portal. The Boys & Girls Cluband county libraries offer computer kiosks whereparents can log in to check their childs progress.

In addition, the district works with Big Brothers/BigSisters of Northern Nevada to provide mentors withaccess to the parent portal if the family has givenpermission.

The Parent Portal program also benets froma partnership with AmeriCorps, which providesvolunteers who serve as Parent InvolvementFacilitators (PIFs) at the 12 comprehensive highschools. The PIFs reach out to the families of studentsat risk, provide support and training on how to use theonline tool, and broker conversations with teachers.

Innite Campus is ... removing barriersand making it easy for parents to see

what is occurring in the classroom. Theinstantaneous nature of Innite Campuscreates many more opportunities forparents to engage their learner andthe teacher in the course material and

assignments. Once parents and teachersgoals are aligned in pushing learnerachievement, the learner cant help but bemore engaged.Glenn Waddell, math teacher,

North Valleys High School, Reno, Nevada

The three wraparound programs proled in thisreport Community Learning Centers in Lincoln,Neb.; SUN Service System in Portland, Ore.; andCommunity-School Programs in the Evansville Vanderburgh district in Indianaall excel atdeveloping strong and sustained partnerships withcommunity members and with a wide variety of organizations. For example, the Lincoln Community Learning Centers program has a comprehensiveinfrastructure: key community leaders work together

in a coordinating body, under which serve SchoolNeighborhood Advisory Committees at each school;action teams focus on particular issues in the school

and across the neighborhood; and the NeighborhoodAction Team links back to the Mayors Strong SafeNeighborhoods Initiative, bringing communicationfull circle.

The Lincoln Community Learning Centersprovide an invaluable resource servingfamilies and schools in our community.They are great partners focusing on theneeds of the whole child so they are

better equipped to reach their full learningpotential.

Jenni Absalon, president, Lincoln Education Association

STRATEGY #6: Using targeted outreach to focuson high-needs communities, schools, and students: Effective programs identify groups of students thatneed special attention, learn about their concerns andneeds, and respond in culturally appropriate ways.

Examples:Daly Elementary School in Germantown, Md., servesa pocket of high need in a county known for itsafuence. To connect with Hispanic families, theschool began offering monthly workshops, in Spanish,to address topics suggested by the parents, suchas reading and math instruction, state assessments,bullying, gang prevention, and Internet safety. Theseworkshops have led to the creation of the Hispanic Parents Council .

During the summer, the school offered weeklyevenings of literacy activities, arts and crafts,computer activities, and sports at a county recreationcenter near the trailer park community where manyof the Hispanic families live. When the recreation


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center closed for a two-year renovation, the schoolarranged scholarships or tuition waivers for theneediest students to attend its regional summer

school program for students from Daly and othercounty schools. To maintain contact with the Hispanicfamilies, school administrators and teachers hosteda meet and greet in the parking lot of the trailerpark in May and again shortly before the start of the 2010-2011 school year. Several bilingual parentsvolunteered as interpreters.

Hispanic family involvement has increased signicantly,and the school is meeting its AYP targets for Hispanicstudents.

At its most meaningful, parent involvementis about creating a community of trust, aschool culture in which families want togive back to the school as much as they may need to take from it.Susan Zimmerman-Orozco, assistant principal,

Daly Elementary School

James A. Shanks Middle School in rural Quincy, Fla.,had been chronically under-performing. A series of NEA-supported community conversations guided byDouglas Harris, an organizer for the Florida EducationAssociation, led to an action plan for change thatis transforming the school. Under Making ParentsCount , a number of strategies to reach familiesand community members have been employed toimprove outcomes for the students, 80 percent of whom are African American. To bolster Hispanicfamily attendance, the Panhandle Area EducationalConsortium, which offers services to migrantfarmworker families, conducted focused outreach andprovided translators at all community conversations.Families and educators came together to renovate theschoola move that increased personal ownershipand pride and saved the school district more than$100,000 in services and materials expenses.

To follow up, parents and community memberscreated the Strategic Organizing Group (SOG), whosemembers agreed to take responsibility for developing

and carrying out action plans. One SOG activity,designed to build family involvement, was to mount adoor-to-door campaign during the summer of 2011 towelcome families of students who would be enteringShanks in the fall, establish relationships with them,and ease the transition to middle school for studentsand their families.

STRATEGY #7: Building one-to-one relationshipsbetween families and educators that are linked tolearning: In effective programs, participants take timeto discuss and reach agreement on how they canmeaningfully collaborate in order to improve studentachievement.

Examples:Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School inElmont, N.Y., is deeply committed to providingadditional support to students through programsbeyond the school day. Since 2005, the Before- and Afterschool Support Programs have been expandedto target junior high school students and are staffedby Interdisciplinary Team Center teachers. Studentscan use the time to complete homework, get extrahelp from a teacher, or make up missed assignments.

Everything stems from personalizedstudent attention, and you cant do that

without the parents. John Capozzi, principal,

Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School

Communication with parents is an integral part of thesesupport programs. Teachers meet with parents beforeand after school hours to discuss student progress;they also meet with parents during their planning time.Parents are included in the process of developingindividualized academic intervention plans for students


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who show academic difculty. When speaking withparents at team meetings, teachers can offer before-and afterschool sessions to students as a way to make

up missed work, study for a test, or practice skills.

The local union takes pride in having developed thearrangements between teachers and the school thatmake these services possible.

The Sewanhaka Federation of Teachersis very proud of this work.Teachers atthe school understand the diversity of the students and work diligently to meet

the educational needs of all. The unionand the district continue to work togetherto ensure our students receive the besteducation possible.

Rosanne Mamo, president,Sewanhaka Federation of Teachers

The Parent-Teacher Home Visit Program (PTHVP),based in Sacramento, Calif., trains teachers to makehome visits to families that will build relationshipsand foster parent-teacher collaboration focusedon improving student achievement. Participation isvoluntary, and teachers are paid for their time.

At the elementary school level, home visits take placein the fall and spring. At the end of the rst visit,teachers invite the family to come to the school andthey develop a plan to communicate throughout theyear. The second visit occurs just before spring testing.In middle and high school, teachers visit the homes of students in the seventh, ninth, and tenth grades, andthe focus is on key transitions. The second home visittakes place in eleventh and twelfth grades and focuseson timely graduation and career or college planning.Evaluations have found that the visits lead to increasedstudent attendance, improved test scores, and reducedsuspension and expulsion rates.

Middle school teacher Tarik McFall made a home visitin which the mother told him that she hoped her son,DeJanerio, would do well in school and go to college.

The son heard what his mother said. I think hearingher say those words to his teacher really inuencedhim to do well in school. For the rest of the year,DeJanerio really evolved into an excellent leader andeven scored procient in math on the CST! McFallcomments.

STRATEGY #8: Setting, communicating, andsupporting high and rigorous expectations: Effectiveprograms make it clear that success is the norm bycreating pathways to college, especially for studentsat risk and at the margins, and they provide studentswith support and services to succeed.

Examples :For Making Parents Count , Shanks Middle School, inFloridas Gadsden County, adopted a goal of helpingthe entire community embrace consistent educationalprinciples and practices. As Juanita Ellis, principal of Shanks, explained, Our goal is to move the school toa higher level by setting high expectations, engagingstudents in meaningful activities to promote literacy,and using data to drive instruction.

The Strategic Organizing Group (SOG) of parents,community members, school leaders, and educatorsdeveloped a nine-point document of expectationsfor students, which is focused on preparing them forcollege. Among the shared values that emerged fromcommunity conversations are these:

Respect for the importance of families in raisingacademic expectations and self-discipline amongstudents.

Commitment to the inclusion of English LanguageLearners.

Consistency of educational messages throughoutthe school, home, and community.


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Making public our collaborative effortstowards excellence, through billboards,use of radio and news announcements,and through active reiteration by the localclergy, has made all the difference ingetting us all on the same pageparents,students, and community.

Arnitta Grice-Walker, president,Gadsden County Classroom Teachers Association

Founded in 2009, the Math and Science LeadershipAcademy (MSLA) is a collaboration among teachers,

their union (the Denver Classroom TeachersAssociation), and the Denver Public Schools. Theschool promises a rigorous education with a focus onmath and science to its predominantly low-income andHispanic student population. In addition to traditionalacademics, students engage in hands-on learning andservice-learning projects in the community. The schoolhas been adding one grade per year with the goal of being a K-5 school beginning in 20122013. Facultyand staff attribute the schools growing numbers

of students and families to its focus, rigor, inclusiveculture, and high expectations.

Results from the Parent Satisfaction Survey for 2009-2010 show that more than 90 percent of parents givethe school positive ratings, well above the districtaverage in all categories.

One of the key strategies that makes MSLA work is the mutual agreement of all partners

families, educators, communityto set the barhigh for our students. Its worth re-thinking your approach to involving parents, particularly if students arent working up to their potential.

Whats even better is if your approach isgrounded in whats been shown to work.

Henry Roman, president, Denver Classroom Teachers Association

STRATEGY #9: Addressing cultural differences: Effective programs provide support for teachers andeducation support professionals to bridge barriers of

culture, class, and language.

Examples:To help engage parents in their childrens educationand give families a voice in the school community, acoalition of groups, including the Reading EducationAssociation, in Reading, Pa., established the Parent and Community Outreach Initiative . One of its goalsis to establish a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in all24 schools in the district.

Parent engagement is important in Reading, where theschool district has been facing severe budget challengesand changing demographics. Reading was recentlyidentied in the New York Timesas a struggling cityof 88,000 that has earned the unwelcome distinction of having the largest share of its residents living in poverty,barely edging out Flint, Mich., according to new CensusBureau data. Readings growing Hispanic population,currently around 80 percent, includes many highlymobile students whose families often relocate to ndwork or affordable housing. Parent organizations canhelp boost student achievement by helping to breakdown language barriers and by fostering a sense of community among parents and educators.

Forming a parent organization has been effectivein increasing schools responsiveness to families inReading. Miriam Feliciano rst became involved inorganizing parents at Ford Elementary School afterher son was rushed to the emergency room for

dehydration caused by severely overheated schoolclassrooms. She collected evidence about conditionsin the building, gained support from other parentsand from school staff, and presented the schools caseat a school board meeting. The next day, contractorsarrived to install air conditioning.


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If we have an established parentorganization at a school, that opens adoor for further parent involvement. Only

with buy-in from teachers, parents, andadministrators will we truly be able to do

what is right for our students by doing what is right for the community: promotingtotal involvement in the educationalsuccess of our citys future leaders.

Bryan Sanguinito, president, Reading Education Association

The Hispanic Parents Council , led by Hispanic parentsat Daly Elementary School in Germantown, Md.,offers monthly workshops, conducted in Spanish, toaddress topics suggested by parents, such as readingand math instruction, state assessments, bullying,gang prevention, and Internet safety. The Councilalso is becoming a full partner in school improvementefforts. For example, when parents expressed aninterest in computer literacy, a Hispanic parentvolunteered to teach a computer class. Parents also

expressed a need for afterschool programs duringthe winter months, and the school began offeringafterschool tness instruction on campus, with tuitionscholarships arranged through partnerships withinstructors in the community. But the programs thatmost directly advance student achievement are theafterschool instructional programs to help studentsprepare for state testing. They are run by teachersand meet twice a week from January through March.

STRATEGY #10: Connecting students to thecommunity: Effective programs make learning hands-on and relevant to students lives while also showingthat students and schools serve the community.

Examples:Bringing Learning to Life in Columbus, Ohio, is aprogram that provides professional developmentthrough The Ohio State University College of

Education and Human Ecologyto local K-12teachers, so that teachers can help students applywhat they learn in the classroom to community

service projects of their own design. The programconcept evolved from an NEA-supported projectthrough which the Columbus Education Associationconducted two community conversations whereparents and students expressed frustration overtheir local high schools lack of connectedness to thecommunity. A grant from the Corporation for Nationaland Community Service helped address this issue byproviding additional support.

As part of this professional development training,TeLario Watkins, a teacher at Linden-McKinley STEMAcademy, is working with students on a project theycall, Water, Water, Everywhere . The students areinvestigating how improper disposal of hazardousmaterials affects water quality. They study thecommunity water supply and work with organizationsin the community that focus on reducingcontamination and improving local water quality.Students then present what they have learned andmake proposals for achieving a clean water supply inthe Linden neighborhood of Columbus.

As Watkins states: Our project will give mystudents the opportunity to connect in a meaningfulway and give valuable information back to theircommunity. My students and their parents have bothexpressed their excitement about the project andtheir involvement in working with and helping theirneighborhood.

Through such projects, students become informedcitizens who can contribute to the ongoing workof community-based organizations, using whatthey learn in class to analyze and address real-lifecommunity challenges.

At the union teacher-led Math and ScienceLeadership Academy (MSLA) in Denver, Colo.,


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students not only learn traditional academics, but theyalso engage in hands-on learning using knowledgegained in the classroom to conduct real-world,

community-based projects. The program developsleadership skills and encourages civic responsibility.

Upper Merion Area Middle School in King of Prussia,Pa., has an ethic of community service and partnershipswith more than 30 community organizations. The localRotary Club, for example, has been spending $2,000per year on books for the school library on topics suchas heroes and respect and diversity and goodcitizenship. All staff and students perform service-learning or community service activities. Parentsand community members also engage in volunteeractivities.

These 10 strategies, all interconnected, build uponand reinforce practices that lay a foundation formaking a school a great place to learn and work.The highest priority of such initiatives is to create alearning community that fosters trusting relationshipsamong all its members.

In her coaching work with teachers on revitalizingtheir school-parent compacts, Patti Avallone, a formerConnecticut teacher of the year who now works as aconsultant with the state Department of Education,found that teachers began to look at parentsdifferently once they got to know each other.

After having conversations with parents abouthow to improve student learning, teachers saidthey appreciated how much parents were willing

to help, Avallone said. As teachers, they came torealize that they had not been specic about thelearning skills and strategies that they wanted parents

19 OVERVIEW


to do at home. Teachers said, We often assumedthat there was no support. Boy, were we wrong! Ourrelationship with families grew stronger and nally,

we were all on the same page. This is the kind of collaboration that strengthens student achievement.


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Traditional Family Involvement Activities Strategic Family Engagement Programs

Individual responsibility: Sending home a ierthat tells parents to make sure their kids get tobed on time before the state tests next week.

Shared responsibility: Holding a team meeting with parents toshare data on student progress and model learning strategiesparents can use at home to improve specic skills. (Academic Parent-Teacher Teams, Arizona)

Decit-based and adversarial: Putting upno trespassing signs around the school andoffering parenting classes.

Strength-based and collaborative: Holding communityconversations to hear family members ideas for improvingstudent learning, and following up on suggestions such asadding more bilingual staff and improving the ELL program.(Compadres in Education, Oklahoma)

Random acts of family involvement: Lets

send home backpacks with school suppliesinside! We could ask parents to chaperonethe eld trip. The parent group could hold abake sale to raise funds for new band uniforms.

Systemic program linked to learning: Creating a Parent Portal

to the district website so that parents can access informationabout their childrens progress, and providing training to helpfamilies use it and connect with teachers when problems arise.(Parent Portal, Nevada)

Add-on: Referring struggling students to a localtutoring program

Integrated: Building partnerships with local communityorganizations and social service agencies to offer tutoring andenrichment programs that are linked to the school curriculum,and monitoring student progress jointly with communitypartners. (SUN Service System, Oregon)

Compliance: Running the district-draftedboilerplate Title I School-Parent Compact pastthe PTA for approval, then putting it on ashelf.

Shared ownership: Holding data team meetings to identify skillsthat students need to strengthen. Then conferring with parentsabout workshops and information they would like to improve theirchildrens skills. Finally, creating a Title I Compact that lays out theirshared responsibility. (Compact Revitalization, Connecticut)

One-time project: Holding a Family Fun Nightonce a year.

Continuous improvement: Forming a committee that focuseson creating a positive and inclusive school climate and surveysfamilies each year to get feedback for improvement. (Math and Science Leadership Academy, Colorado)

Getting More Strategic About Engaging FamiliesThe National Working Group on Family and Community Engagement has observed that far too many effortsto involve parents are rooted in outdated thinking and faulty assumptions. The Working Group, a leadership

collaborative created to inform federal policy on family, school, and community engagement in education,includes the Harvard Family Research Project and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. This group hasproposed a framework for moving these efforts from traditional thinking to new strategies that are systemicand strategic.

Using the Working Groups framework, the following chart illustrates how the programs proled in this reporthave moved away from outdated thinking to create new and vibrant partnership approaches to advancestudent learning.


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Expanding Strategic PartnershipsThe 16 programs and initiatives described in thisreport show how the National Education Association

and its afliates can leverage signicant change inlocal communities. In the schools and local schooldistricts proled, the role of the Association hasranged from willing and active individual member,to key initiator, to lead partner. NEA aims to supportits afliates in taking on new and important roles asproblem-solvers and leaders in school improvementefforts.

Through its network of state and local afliates, NEA

has both the experience and the capacity to:collaboratively develop programs that transcendtraditional ways of doing business

create new strategic and systemwide approaches forbuilding and sustaining family-school-communitypartnerships.

In addition, the meaningful dialogue betweeneducators and family members created by

NEA-supported community conversations andtransformation efforts can give local educators anew perspective on possibilities for collaborationwith families. It can help both the school and thecommunity determine their mutual priorities and takeaction.

Building an InfrastructureThese initiatives to engage families and improvestudent outcomesmany of which are led by teachers

and education support professionalsare a positivedevelopment, but they are not yet part of a nationaltrend. Many of these efforts are in their beginningstages, and they merit further study and scaling up,with guidance from the research.

Educators say that engaging families is their No. 1challenge and that it is the part of their job for whichthey feel the least prepared. There is a tremendous

need for capacity-building, not just for classroomteachers and education support professionals,but also for school and district administrators

to understand how to encourage and supportcollaborations with families and community members.

This work will not happen on its own. What is neededis the infrastructure at the state and district levels tosupport, evaluate, replicate, and report on this work.Finding ways to fund development, dissemination,and implementation of the effective strategiesdiscussed in this report is part of the challenge.

RecommendationsThe following recommendations identify a number of ways to scale up and strengthen this important work,so that it can become an intentional focus for theAssociation at the local, state, and national levels:

1. At the local level: Build capacity in schools

Use professional development to enhanceeducators knowledge and skills in collaboratingwith families and community members. For

example, build collaboration with nearby institutionsof higher learning such as colleges of educationto provide practice guidance and professionaldevelopment programs for which teachers canreceive graduate credits.

Bargain contract language or create Memorandumsof Understanding that provide time, opportunities,and reimbursement for educators, as a way tosupport stronger and deeper educator-parentconnections. Work with the school district tosupport capacity-building for educators onfamily engagement, using district professionaldevelopment days.

Provide technical assistance on appropriate use of Title I funds for educator-parent collaborations toachieve the goals of the school improvement plan,such as using the School-Parent Compact requiredunder Section 1118.


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Provide technical assistance to educators on showingparents how to use data to monitor and supporttheir childrens progress.

Identify cultural brokers in the community who canhelp enhance communication between educatorsand families and develop shared expectationsaround learning.

2. At the school district level: Work collaborativelyon policies and practices

Support districtwide policies that promote effectivefamily-school-community partnerships and commit

resources such as funding and professionaldevelopment to make them work.

Support wraparound community services to addressthe health and social needs of students, as well astheir academic ones.

Ensure that the needs of families from diverse culturesare addressed in a systemic way, and provide neededtranslation and interpretation services.

Give rst priority to those sites with the greatestneeds.

Create structures such as action teams and regularpublic meetings to ensure student progress.

3. At the state level: Provide opportunities fordialogue and offer technical assistance

Train local facilitators to conduct communitywideconversations that can leverage change, focusingrst on the neighborhoods with the greatest needs.

Disseminate information on appropriate andeffective use of Title I funds to further engagefamilies in partnerships that improve studentlearning outcomes.

Use the strategies described in this report tomake recommendations to public ofcials andpolicymakers.

4. At the national level: Promote research-based strategies on family-school-communitypartnerships

Place family-school-community partnerships at thecenter of school reform.

Include provisions for family-school-communitypartnerships in proposed legislative and policylanguage, in comments on federal regulations, andin policy forums and conferences.

Continue to advocate for meaningful, research-driven family-school-community partnerships infederal legislation.

Disseminate the strategies for family-school-community partnerships recommended in thisreport throughout the Association.

These recommendations aim to support and informNEAs continuing mission to create a great publicschool for every student and to give priority attentionto the highest-need schools and communities.


25/81NEA PRIORITY SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN 23

Community andFamily-CommunityPrograms






Setting high and consistent expectations

Making Parents Count James A. Shanks Middle SchoolQuincy, Florida

In 2007, Florida Education Association (FEA) organizer Douglas Harris appliedthe FEA campaign message, Making Our Schools a Priority, to his work inrural and economically depressed Quincy, Fla. Shanks Middle School was afocal point for local change efforts because it had a strong leader committed toincreasing parent involvement and its mid-county location could help promoteimprovement throughout the area.

Harris and a community organization partner guided a series of publicconversations with the Shanks community, which led to a wish list and actionplan for change that is transforming the school. For the rst time, Shanksstudents now perform above the district average in reading and math. Eighty-one percent of Shanks students are African American. Another 18 percent areHispanic, most of whom are children of migrant agricultural workers.

Our goal is to move the school to a higher level by setting high expectations,engaging students in meaningful activities to promote literacy, and using datato drive instruction, says Shanks Middle School Principal Juanita Ellis.

How the program worksWith a $10,000 grant from the National Education Association, Harriscollaborated with Gadsden Coalition for Change, a community-basedorganization committed to educational equity and social justice, to guidea series of community conversations with Shanks parents and communitymembers. Partners included businesses, media outlets, elected ofcials,prominent citizens, and members of the school board and PTA. To boostattendance by Hispanic families, the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium,which offers services to migrant farmworker families, targeted its outreach tofamilies and provided translators at all community conversations.

The rst community conversation became the starting point for all ensuingactivities. To develop and carry out action plans, parents and communitymembers organized the Strategic Organizing Group (SOG), whose membersagreed to take responsibility for following up. Because parents rst priority wasimproving the school building and groundsa goal that would unite the whole

SNAPSHOTProgram:Making Parents Count

School:Shanks Middle School

District:

Gadsden County SchoolDistrict

Location: Quincy, Fla.

Grades: 6-8

Enrollment: 610

Free/reduced-price lunch:92%


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NEA PRIORITY SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN 25QUINCY, FLORIDA

communitythe SOG rst addressed that need.Some 500 volunteers spent eight days painting walls,

replacing oors, installing sod, and planting trees.Their sweat equity and donated materials saved theschool district more than $100,000, and their exampleinspired students to aim high. The initiative led tofurther changes coordinated by SOG, with a collectivegoal to promote parent involvement, increase studentachievement, and improve graduation rates.

Evidence of effectivenessAccording to the Florida Department of Education:

James A. Shanks Middle School earned a total of 508 points on the 2011 Florida ComprehensiveAssessment Test (FCAT), moving up from 433 in2008. The schools grade moved from D in 2008, toC in 2010, and then to B in 2011.

The percentage of students meeting high standardsin reading and math rose steadily from 2008-09 to2010-11, as did the percentage of students makinglearning gains. Students in the lowest quartilemade the most notable gains, increasing from 63 to76 percent in reading and from 66 to 77 percent inmath.

Despite these gains, the school did not quite makeAdequate Yearly Progress for Title I accountabilitypurposes, although the school has met 82 percentof the necessary criteria.

Exemplary practicesConsistently communicating high expectations: To help the entire community embrace consistenteducational principles and practices, the SOG andschool leaders developed a nine-point document of expectations for students that is focused on preparingfor college.

Ensuring that the PTA remains parent-focused andinclusive: Earlier, PTA meetings at Shanks had been a

forum for the principal to report on school business.Under the leadership of Shanks PTA President GwenForehand, who is also a SOG leader, parents nowrun the meetings, freely discuss their challenges,and create student-focused solutions. To ensurethat all public meetings at Shanks are welcoming toELL parents, the district has invested in translationequipment to serve the needs of its Spanish-speaking families.

Agreeing on core values: The communityconversations and SOG meetings have encouragedshared values:

Respect for the importance of families in raisingacademic expectations and self-discipline amongstudents

Belief that the physical condition of a school has animpact on student and family engagement

Commitment to the inclusion of English LanguageLearners

Consistency of educational messages throughoutthe school, home, and community.

Using targeted outreach: To sustain parent and familyinvolvement, SOG mounted a door-to-door campaignduring the summer of 2011 to personally welcomefamilies of students who would be entering Shanks inthe fall.

Identifying high-level advocates for change: TheSOG has reached out to powerful partners whoare willing to promote success at Shanks. Theseinclude the chairman of the board of education, thesuperintendent, the local state representative, and thedirector of the Gadsden Coalition for Change.


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1201 16 ST., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-3290 www.nea.orgNEA Contact: Roberta E. HantganManager, NEA Public Engagement Project(202) 822-7721; [email protected]

QUINCY, FLORIDA

Starting a service-learning program: Shankss mathteacher Roosevelt Sea secured a service-learning

grant from NEA in partnership with FEA for studentsto plant a community garden. Students will hone skillsin science, technology, engineering, and mathematics(STEM) as well as give back to their community bydonating the garden produce to needy communityresidents.

OutlookThe commitment of the community and its leaders ishigh, and the school is making steady progress.

Association perspectiveThe Gadsden County Classroom Teachers Associationis a major partner in the effort. Local President ArnittaGrice-Walker says, Making public our collaborativeefforts towards excellence through billboards, use of radio and television, and through active reiteration bythe local clergy, has made all the difference in gettingus all on the same pageparents, students, andcommunity.

Local contactDouglas Harris , Florida Education Association850-728-3844; [email protected]

Related informationFlorida School Grades: http://schoolgrades.doe.org/

NCLB Public Accountability report for Shanks: http://bit.ly/qVf3e0

Shanks Middle School website: http://www.jasms.gcps.k12..us/?PageName=%27AboutTheSchool%27
http://bit.ly/qVf3e0mailto:rhantgan%40nea.org?subject=Collaborative%20Strategies%20to%20Advance%20%20Student%20Learningmailto:Douglas.Harris%40floridaea.org?subject=http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/%20http://bit.ly/qVf3e0http://www.jasms.gcps.k12.fl.us/?PageName=%27AboutTheSchool%27http://www.jasms.gcps.k12.fl.us/?PageName=%27AboutTheSchool%27http://www.jasms.gcps.k12.fl.us/?PageName=%27AboutTheSchool%27http://www.jasms.gcps.k12.fl.us/?PageName=%27AboutTheSchool%27http://bit.ly/qVf3e0http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/%20mailto:Douglas.Harris%40floridaea.org?subject=mailto:rhantgan%40nea.org?subject=Collaborative%20Strategies%20to%20Advance%20%20Student%20Learninghttp://bit.ly/qVf3e0





Developing volunteer mentors

Wicomico Mentoring Project Wicomico County Public SchoolsWicomico County, Maryland

In 1994, the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce, the Wicomico CountyBoard of Education, and a group of business and professional leaders called theGreater Salisbury Committee, began looking for a way to help raise high schoolgraduation rates. Together, they formed a task force that came up with the ideaof a mentorship program for students at risk of school failure. With funding froman AmeriCorps grant, the task force hired Henrietta Parker to administer theWicomico Mentoring Project (WMP).

This one-on-one mentoring program, which Parker continues to oversee, hasgrown from 27 mentors in three schools to 754 mentors serving the countys 26schools. Mentors include college students and volunteers from more than 50 localgovernment agencies, businesses, civic organizations, and faith-based groups, aswell as the schools themselves. In fact, 55 percent of the mentors are teachers oreducation support professionals. The superintendent also serves as a mentor.

How the program works

The Wicomico Mentoring Project is funded by the Wicomico County Board of Education as part of the Student Services Team. Its 11-member Advisory Boardis comprised of mentors from a range of backgrounds. The project coordinatorand two staff work closely with coordinators at each school. Students arereferred to the program by teachers, guidance staff, or others who knowthem well. Mentors choose a schoolusually based on proximity to home orworkplaceand commit to meeting one hour per week for the school year.

Mentors act as role models and provide support for studentssocial, emotional, and academic growth. They can sit in classwith their student, read, play board games, eat lunch together,take a walk and talk together, or do whatever is comfortable.WMP schedules summer activities for students and mentors,such as roller-skating, baseball games, and eld trips.

Mentors undergo a background check and two hours of training. They also receive a toolkit that includes ice breakers,activities, and other resources. Supplemental training with othermentoring programs is also available.

SNAPSHOTProgram:Wicomico Mentoring Project

District:Wicomico County PublicSchools

Location:Salisbury, Md., andsurrounding area

Grades: PreK-12

Enrollment: 14,400 studentsin the district, including 754WMP students

Free/reduced-price lunch:85% of WMP students


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NEA PRIORITY SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN 28WICOMICO COUNTY, MARYLAND

Mentoring may begin at any grade level and maycontinue through high school. Currently, about half

of the mentored students are in elementary school,a third are in middle school, and the rest are in highschool. Of the students being mentored, 69 percentare African American, 27 percent are white, and 5percent are Hispanic. The school district as a whole isabout 55 percent white, 37 percent African American,and 7 percent Hispanic, Asian, or other.

The WMP annual budget ($177,000 for 2009-2010)covers salaries for the project coordinator and two

staff, as well as materials, mentor background checks,and printing. In addition, the Advisory Board raisesabout $6,000 in community donations each year tocover the cost of activities, food, and transportation.

Evidence of effectiveness Data for the 2009-2010 school year show thatcompared to the previous year, 41 percent of WMPstudents had improved grades, 46 percent hadimproved attendance, and 27 percent showed

improved behavior. The 2010 graduation rate for mentored high schoolseniors was 99 percent. For the school district as awhole, the graduation rate rose from 78.7 percentin 2009 to 83 percent in 2010.

Survey data shows that 75 percent of mentoredstudents teachers saw personal growth, 73 percentsaw improved work habits and effort, and 72percent saw improved academic achievement.

Among parents surveyed, 92 percent saw improvedwork habits in their mentored children; 91 percentsaid their child had a positive feeling about thementor; and 89 percent observed personal growthin their child.

The Wicomico Mentoring Project has wonnumerous awards, including the 2008 Leadership

Award in Education from the Shore LeadershipAlumni Association and a First Place Awardof Excellence from the Ofce of the AttorneyGenerals Spotlight on Prevention. In addition,Americas Promise Alliance, a national network thataims to ensure that all young people graduate fromhigh school ready for college, named WicomicoCounty one of the 100 Best Communities for YoungPeople in 2010the fourth time the county hasreceived this recognition.

Exemplary practicesUsing targeted outreach: Students are usuallyreferred to the WMP by their guidance counselorsfor reasons such as poor attendance, lack of self-condence, delinquent behavior, or life circumstancesthat limit involvement of their parents. Referrals alsocome from teachers, parents, and even studentsthemselves.

Building community support and buy-in: A monthlynewsletter includes information, a calendar of events, and resources for mentors. News of activities,proles of participants, and inspiring quotes help tobuild support and buy-in from current and potentialmentors.

Developing personal relationships: The trainingprogram helps mentors form reliable relationshipsthat help motivate and support the students. Mentors

make a one-year commitment, which they may chooseto renew at the end of the school year. More than 20WMP mentors have remained active for 5 to 15 years.Feedback from students and mentors shows that morethan 90 percent are satised with their pairing. Ninety-four percent of students reported a great or goodrelationship with their mentor, and 97 percent wantedto keep their mentor for the next year.


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1201 16 ST., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-3290 www.nea.orgNEA Contact: Roberta E. HantganManager, NEA Public Engagement Project(202) 822-7721; [email protected]

WICOMICO COUNTY, MARYLAND

OutlookDemand for WMP mentors is high: In addition tothose in the program, another 1,070 eligible studentsare on a waiting list. Recognizing the potential forother districts to replicate the program, Parker hasshared information and copies of the toolkit withother counties.

Association perspectiveAs the local Association president, Dave White, putsit: The Wicomico County Education Associationis a critical WMP partner organization, and manyof its membersincluding classroom teachers andeducation support professionalsserve as mentors.The Association and district have worked out anagreement that allows school staff the necessary timeto mentor students.

Local contactsHenrietta Henri Parker , WMP project coordinator410-677-4586; [email protected]

Darlene Cole-Culver , WMP Advisory Board chair410-749-3766; [email protected]

Related informationWMP website: www.wcboe.org/programs/mentoring

Report card: http://bit.ly/qxJwX1

WICOMICO COUNTY, MARYLAND
http://bit.ly/qVf3e0mailto:rhantgan%40nea.org?subject=Collaborative%20Strategies%20to%20Advance%20%20Student%20Learningmailto:hparker%40wcboe.org?subject=mailto:dcoleculver%40verizon.net?subject=http://www.wcboe.org/programs/mentoringhttp://bit.ly/qxJwX1http://bit.ly/qxJwX1http://www.wcboe.org/programs/mentoringmailto:dcoleculver%40verizon.net?subject=mailto:hparker%40wcboe.org?subject=mailto:rhantgan%40nea.org?subject=Collaborative%20Strategies%20to%20Advance%20%20Student%20Learninghttp://bit.ly/qVf3e0





SNAPSHOTProgram: Bringing Learning to Life

District: Columbus City Schools

Location:

Columbus, OhioGrades: PreK-12

Enrollment: 51,000

Free/reduced-price lunch: 77%

Making student learning relevantto everyday lifeBringing Learning to LifeColumbus City SchoolsColumbus, Ohio

In survey after survey, students cite bored

family school community partnerships 2.0

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