C.C.N. (Central's Current News)Central Elementary School Shelby, Ohio We, the Action Team at Central Elementary, worked very hard during the 1997-98 school year to improve the communication between our families and the school. We developed three practices to keep parents informed about school activities and events. More... Marti Kyle, Action Team Chair (419) 347-1018 Type 2 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
Chat With The Principal Over Coffee and DonutsWilliamston Elementary School Williamston, Michigan The coffee was hot and the donuts were fresh! What a great way to start a new tradition at Williamston Elementary School -- the "Principal's Coffee." This informal gathering brought together parents; principal, Dr. Chris Jencka; assistant principal, Mrs. Jill Hilla; and parent & community involvement coordinator, Jean M. Smith. The "Principal's Coffee" provided parents with an opportunity to share compliments, comments, and concerns. More... Jean Smith, Parent and Community Involvement Coordinator (517) 655-2174 Type 2 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
CommunicationCurtis Bay Elementary School Baltimore, Maryland Curtis Bay Elementary School has been a part of the School, Family, Community Partnership Initiative for nine years. We feel the partnerships encouraged by this initiative are responsible, at least in part, for the academic improvement made by our students in the last few years. Curtis Bay has also seen an increase in students scoring at a satisfactory or better level on the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program from 6.5% in 1993 to 44% in 1998. More... Jackie Griswold, Action Team Chair (410) 396-1397 Type 2 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
Daily NotebooksMary Kay Vollmer Elementary School West Henrietta, New York "Daily Notebooks" began at Vollmer Elementary School in fall of 1996 when the school opened. They provide daily, on-going communication between home and school and school and home. Every teacher has been sending home daily communications through the notebooks for the past two school years. More... Kay Lyons, Partnership Schools Coordinator (716) 359-5029 Type 2 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
Friendship Breakfast for Parents and TeachersBarrett Academy Akron, Ohio To improve family-school communication (Type 2), teachers, parents, and staff at Barrett Academy started "Friendship Breakfasts for Parents and Teachers." Parents are invited to come for a friendship breakfast with their child’s teacher. This breakfast was developed in response to the needs of parents who expressed interest in a special time to become better acquainted with their children’s teachers, and to parents who felt uncomfortable in their relations with school staff. More... Carolyn Collins, Counselor (330) 773-1227 Type 2 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
Kinder's Family RoomKinder Elementary School Miamisburg, Ohio Our partnership activity is a family resource center located at the school. It helps increase our parent involvement and awareness of school activities and functions. Information on community services and various parenting resources are also available for parents to use. More... Ann Neiss, Teacher (937) 865-5339 Type 1 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
Learn and Grow Parent Education SeriesBarrett Academy Akron, Ohio After assessing the needs of families, the Barrett Academy Action Team decided they wanted parents to have practical instruction from school/community staff (Type 1: Parenting). They developed the ‘Learn and Grow’ Parent Education Series. More... Carolyn Collins, Counselor (330) 773-1227 Type 1 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
Moms On The MoveHoward Elementary School Cincinnati, Ohio We, the parent volunteers at Howard Elementary School, have many programs to encourage parental involvement in children’s education. One that I feel works best is our coordination of school volunteers. Parent volunteers help with childcare, tutoring, copying, mailings, and many other tasks. More... Melissa Bradford, Parent (513) 791-7933 Type 3 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
Parent Information FolderArbor Hills Junior High Sylvania, Ohio Arbor Hills is located in a suburban town in Northwest Ohio. The 1997-98 school year brought a unique situation to Arbor Hills with the introduction of two new grade levels into our school. We had an entirely new sixth grade being added to our building as well as the regularly planned seventh graders. More... Rita M. Fruth, Action Team Leader (419) 885-7997 Type 2 | Middle Grades | Climate of Partnership |
Parent Resource DirectoryWilliamston Middle School and Williamston High School Williamston, Michigan It may be a small community, but Williamston, Michigan is filled with talented, skilled people with a myriad of areas of expertise! Our middle and high schools faced an interesting challenge: how could we tap into the tremendous untapped resource our schools' parents had to offer? More... Ann Cody, Action Team Co-Chair (517) 655-4668 Type 3 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
School-Family Communication BagsBarrett Academy Akron, Ohio Staff and parents at Barrett Academy will try using "communication bags" during the ‘98-’99 academic year. These bags include materials that are color-coded according to grade. For example, first grade might be assigned the color yellow, and second grade might be assigned green. Inside the bag of the first grader would be a yellow refrigerator clip and a yellow pad of paper. The purpose of the clip is for the child and parent to post teacher communication about the child. In addition, all homework assignments would be printed on yellow paper for first graders and green paper for second graders. To encourage parent-teacher communication, the color pad of paper is included so that parents may write notes to their children’s teachers. More... Carolyn Collins, counselor (330) 773-1227 Type 2 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
The Business of Attracting BusinessEdmondson-Westside High School Baltimore, Maryland One goal of our Action Team at Edmondson-Westside is to encourage additional business and community support for our vo-tech high school. A luncheon was planned to attract new businesses as partners and provide them with a first hand look at what we do. Edmondson-Westside staff members take the job of preparing the future work force very seriously. The Action Team wanted to see how the business world would rate our efforts. They also wanted to present opportunities for these future employers to intervene at this critical point of preparation, allowing them the ability to offer expert advice and assistance. We wanted to explore avenues which would eventually allow our students to gain as many first hand, practical experiences as possible in their chosen or considered trade. More... Vivian Castian, Action Team Chair (410) 396-8094 Type 6 | High School | Climate of Partnership |
The Parent Resource CenterMax Leuchter School Vineland, New Jersey The purpose of this partnership program is to increase parental involvement and to improve student achievement in mathematics. Our district moved from a traditional instructional mathematics program to a hands-on manipulative program. Test results indicated that although we were meeting the minimal level of proficiency required by the state, math was the area where we received the lowest scores. More... Mary Gruccio, Principal (609) 794-6922 Type 1 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
VIP EnvelopesNorthside Elementary School St. James, Minnesota We began using VIP (Very Important Papers) Envelopes at Northside Elementary School in January 1997. It was our hope that the envelopes would help to foster improved communication between school and home. The envelopes are not intended for daily class work; they are intended for special papers that sometimes get lost at the bottom of a school bag or that are often discarded with worksheets. More... Barb Price, Staff Representative on Type 4 Committee (507) 375-5952 Type 2 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |
Year of the FamilyOakdale Elementary School Cincinnati, Ohio "Year of the Family" was the Oakdale Elementary P.T.A. theme for the 1997-98 school year. We noticed a lack of volunteers, especially new volunteers, who help out at our school. Therefore, the "Year of the Family" originated with these goals: Encourage volunteerism, especially among parents who had never become involved Enhance the family atmosphere at Oakdale Make parents feel more comfortable at our school Let children know their parents are committed to their schooling Encourage repeat volunteerism More... Denise Bourke, P.T.A. President (513) 574-8612 Type 2 | Elementary Grades | Climate of Partnership |