Spring, 2001, No. 10 National Network of Partnership Schools
Middle Schools Develop Goal-Oriented Programs of Partnership
Is your school working to help students increase writing achievement? Improve attendance? Enhance math skills? These are goals that almost every middle school sets for students. In addition to effective curriculum and instruction, programs of school, family, and community partnerships can support students to reach these goals and more. Many middle schools are developing goal-oriented partnership programs linked directly to their school improvement plans.
The Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) at Sherwood Middle School, Memphis, Tennessee, began a goal-oriented partnership program as part of its comprehensive school reform efforts. After reviewing the school’s improvement plan, the ATP developed a One-Year Action Plan focused on four goals:
improving reading and language arts achievement;
improving mathematics achievement;
increasing attendance; and
partnering with community organizations.
Working Toward Math Goals
The Action Team used the National Network’s framework of six types of involvement to select a few activities to help reach each goal. For example, to help students reach the math goal, the ATP will host a Family Math Night for parents and students to enjoy math activities together. Sherwood will also collaborate with its community for an after-school math tutoring program and a “Mathathon.” The ATP also plans to use the school newsletter to: offer parents suggestions about how to help students with math at home; provide information on the math curriculum; and recognize students for math achievement.
By keeping families informed of the math curriculum, providing guidance on how to interact with their sons and daughters about math, and connecting with the community to enrich the program, Sherwood Middle School is supporting student success in math with the help of school, family, and community partnerships. By implementing similarly well-targeted activities for the other three goals, the school is creating a comprehensive goal-oriented partnership program.
Writing Goal-Linked Plans
Any Action Team for Partnerships can develop a goal-oriented program of school-family-community partnerships. Begin planning by considering the major goals at your school. Most ATP’s choose four school improvement goals to focus on each school year: two academic goals; one non-academic goal; and one overall partnership goal.
To organize your program, use the One-Year Action Plan, Form B, found on page 136 of School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action. The One-Year Action Plan guides your ATP to focus on each goal; identify how you will measure results; select activities using all six types of involvement to support each goal; and schedule and delegate responsibilities for implementing activities.
Conducting Goal-Linked Programs
After completing the One-Year Action Plan, your ATP is ready to implement activities. During its monthly meetings, the ATP discusses implementing upcoming partnership activities and evaluates the effectiveness of activities that were conducted in the past month. At the end of the school year, the ATP will consider whether goals have been met, and how to improve the school’s partnership program in the next school year. Most importantly, remember to focus partnership activities on supporting student success in middle school.
For more information and guidelines for creating and evaluating goal-oriented partnership programs, contact Natalie Rodriguez Jansorn, Middle and High School Facilitator, at 410-516-8893 or njansorn@csos.jhu.edu. Also, visit the Network’s web site, www.partnershipschools.org, and link to “Middle and High Schools.” (Or, Click here to link directly to "Middle and High Schools.")
