The recently released “Promising Partnership Practices 2012" publication features 92 ways schools are partnering with parents and the community to improve education.
The National Network of Partnership Schools,(NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University publishes a collection of case studies each year to show examples of ways that schools and students benefit when educators and parents work together.
A sampling of the available case studies:
- “Me 2! Getting Parents into Middle School,” explains how Park Middle School in Kennewick, Wash., created the expectation that parents would volunteer for two hours a year at the school. The campaign included tracking progress on the 1,800-hour goal and “talking up” the expectation with students.
- “The A.S.P.I.R.E. Survey” is used at Bassick High School in Bridgeport, Conn., to find out what talents volunteers can share with students. More than 160 parents and community partners have gone through the small-group sessions to identify their skills and talents, which are matched to the needs and requests of teachers, administrators, and students.
- At Scott Elementary School in Naperville, Ill., 350 students and their parents made it through a week without television—an experience that is detailed in “Survivor Week: National TV Turnoff Week.”
- “Life Happens,” a Norwich (Conn.) Technical High School program that offered a series of monthly teen-centric seminars, coupled with programs for parents at a different time. Students responded to surveys to see what subjects they wanted covered, then doctors, nurses and Ph.D.s from a local hospital presented information on concussions, nutrition, sexuality, anxiety and bullying.
Among other topics in the series:
- Reading and Literacy
- Math
- Science
- Achievement in Other Academic Areas
- Transitions
- Climate of Partnership
The publication can be purchased online. Individual success stories are available as downloadable PDFs for free at this link.