Row 1: Bee Lee, Mary Guerra,
Elizabeth Hoodecheck, Yusef Mgeni, Donald Sysyn,
Pablo Matamoros, and Pierre Cejudo.
Row 2: Joe Munnich (NNPS Key Contact),
Betty Gerlach, and Abdisalam Adam.
District-Level Leadership for Partnerships
St. Paul Public Schools has been working with NNPS to improve district and school partnership programs for many years and is a four-time Partnership District Award winner. Each year, district leadership for partnerships and the facilitation of schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships continue to improve. In 2008, district leaders developed a new kindergarten-readiness project – Blast Off to Kindergarten.
Working with officials from the St. Paul Public Library, who heard about the approach and wanted to try it in St. Paul, the district leaders for partnerships conducted a series of meetings with various city offices, organizations, and potential corporate sponsors, including the mayor’s office, the public library, and the United Way. These partners identified and consolidated important information for incoming parents of preschool children on a single website “portal” in English, Spanish, and Hmong. In addition, they developed a series of informational brochures for parents with kindergarten-readiness tips and online resources, and distributed nearly 5000 backpacks at various child friendly events around the city. See this project at http://www.blastofftok.org.
Facilitation of Schools’ ATPs
Over the summer, St. Paul’s leader for partnerships, other district and school leaders, and parents met, discussed, and developed a list of strategies to help schools provide families with useful ideas and activities for supporting student learning at home. The result was a “tip sheet” called Children and Youth Are Always Learning, which was included in the district’s 07-08 Back to School Guide. During the school year, district leaders met with educators and parents to learn if the list was helpful. Input from parents and teachers helped revise and expand the list into a colorful booklet of grade-level-specific learning standards and good ideas.
The booklet, now available on line (http://www.title1.spps.org/Learning_Standards ) in English, Hmong, Spanish, and Somali, helps parents see what their children are learning, whether their children’s work meets district, school, and teacher expectations, and how to talk about school work at each grade level with their children at home.
See St. Paul’s history of Partnership District Awards in 2003, 2004, and 2007 and examples of Promising Partnership Practices on the website, www.partnershipschools.org, in the section Success Stories. Visit the district at http://www.spps.org.