Lucy Keola, Carol Dickson (NNPS Key Contact), Camille Maben, Anne Just, Howie DeLane, Francesca Wright, and Teresa Gerringer.
Leaders for parental involvement in the California Department of Education (CDE) have received three consecutive Partnership State Awards for their policies and state-level practices of involvement. The Title I Policy and Partnerships (TIPP) office collaborates with other units, divisions, and branches in CDE and with state organizations to improve state policies and district and school programs of family and community involvement. This includes connections with colleagues in the Assessment and Accountability, Curriculum and Instruction, Finance Technology and Administration, and School and District Operations Branches. These connections have brought expertise in data management, child development, English language learning, school health, and nutrition to discussions and work on partnerships.
The state’s leader for partnerships and Key Contact to NNPS notes that her supervisor, Dr. Anne E. Just, State Title I Director and Administrator, initially attended staff presentations on school, family, and community partnerships. Now, she makes many presentations herself. This kind of departmental leadership helps increase CDE communications about family and community involvement statewide.
Among other responsibilities, TIPP monitors districts for compliance on NCLB Title I requirements for parental involvement. The staff developed a rubric for scoring items collected from LEAs to review, code, and analyze the documents from districts and schools in the state. TIPP’s work, however, goes beyond collecting district and school policies and notifying parents of districts and schools that need improvement. The CDE leaders for partnerships want to encourage and support districts and schools in addressing the NCLB requirements for goal-linked partnership programs in Section 1118. The goal is to build expertise at the state level to understand both the legal requirements of federal and state laws about parental involvement, and to help districts and schools align family and community involvement with the academic and behavioral goals in all schools’ Single Plan for Student Achievement.
In 2006, CDE worked with the California School Boards Association (CSBA) and the Family Area Network (FAN) -- representatives for family and community involvement from all regions in the state to develop information briefs, templates, and standards for improving policies and programs of family and community involvement. The standards (California Model Standards for School, Family, and Community Partnerships) are based on research and exemplary practice, and are fully consistent with NNPS approaches. The guidelines will be pilot tested this year and then will help all districts and schools assess and monitor progress on partnership program development. The standards also will help the state assess the quality and progress of family and community involvement across jurisdictions.
CDE continued to work with the California PARENT Center (CPC) on frequent training workshops for schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships. Special attention was given this year to districts and schools identified for Program Improvement under NCLB. CDE and CPC also developed and tested a new program to train and certify parent involvement liaisons through the San Diego State University Extension program. (See the summary of the work of CPC – a 2006 NNPS Partnership Organization Award winner.)
In another innovative action, CDE supported the creation of an independent, nonprofit organization, The California Alliance for School, Family, and Community Partnerships, to improve legislation and financial investments in results-oriented partnership programs in all districts and schools.
NNPS information and experience benefit our entire state – from the SEA through school districts to individual schools and parents. Because of its guidelines for creating an Action Team for Partnerships and an Action Plan for Partnerships, our SEA doesn’t have to invent these (structures and tools). . . State leaders benefit from attending the NNPS Leadership Development Conference in Baltimore. NNPS UPDATE surveys provide a process for evaluating the state’s program of school, family, and community partnerships. The NNPS process encourages reflection and keeps a state honest about its progress.
See the summary of CDE’s Partnership State Awards in 2004 on the website, www.partnershipschools.org in the section Success Stories. To learn more about CDE’s work on partnerships, visit www.cde.ca.gov/ls/pf/pf/