Spring, 2003, No. 14 National Network of Partnership Schools
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NNPS Members Share Ideas on Involvement For No Child Left Behind Act Requirements
School, district, and state leaders at the National Network of Partnership Schools’ (NNPS) fall Leadership Development Conference met to learn about the parent involvement requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA).
NCLBA requires schools, districts, and states to involve families in programs and activities to increase student achievement and success in school. The legislation also requires educators to provide parents with annual information on their children’s achievement, teachers’ qualifications, school quality, options to transfer from a failing school, and choices for supplementary services for qualifying students. Further, NCLBA requires annual school, district, and state “report cards” to inform parents and the public about the quality and progress of all schools.
The NCLBA requirements present important opportunities to improve partnership programs, increase communications with parents, and provide parents with important choices for their children’s education. Because NNPS schools, districts, and states are striving to achieve these qualities, it is not surprising that members had many ideas about how they could meet—and even exceed—the NCLBA requirements for parent involvement programs and special reports.
Develop Programs of Partnerships
Focused on Student SuccessNCLBA’s requirements for school-based partnership programs are consistent with the basic goals, tools, guidelines, and activities of NNPS. Indeed, NCLBA states that schools, districts, and states may adopt and implement a parent involvement model. NNPS fills that bill by helping members to establish, evaluate, and sustain research-based programs of school, family, and community partnerships focused on student achievement and success. NNPS also helps district and state leaders to facilitate their schools’ work on partnerships, as required by NCLBA. Members at the fall conference noted that NNPS’ basic structures of an Action Team for Partnerships, One-Year Action Plan, end-of-year evaluations, and annual UPDATE reports on progress help them meet the requirements in Section 1118 of NCLBA for plans and programs for parent involvement.
Data for Parents and the Public on
Student Progress and School QualityNNPS members at the fall conference had many ideas about how their schools, districts, and states could meet the new requirements in NCLBA for annual reports to parents on their children’s achievement and to the public on all schools’ progress. The specific ideas for each required notice or report are on the NNPS website, www.partnershipschools.org (click on the alert button for NCLBA on the homepage). For all reports, NNPS members suggested:
- Include a parent response and question form so that parents can ask questions and offer input to improve the format or content of each report.
- Conduct different kinds of meetings to encourage discussions of Adequate Yearly Progress, state tests, the meaning of students’ scores, options and reasons for supplementary services, and other NCLBA requirements. These may include schoolwide or grade-level meetings, public forums and “town meetings,” school fairs, Extra-Services Nights, individual parent conferences with counselors and teachers, and selective home visits.
- Use different formats and locations for notices and reports; send notices, reports, brochures, and flyers home with students or by mail; put articles in school and district newsletters, community papers, in popular community locations, and on district or school websites; and use oral report forms such as classroom-level telephone trees, neighborhood reps, radio, local or cable TV, and video or audio tapes in families’ languages.
- Make sure that vocabulary, graphs and tables, and comparisons of subgroups of students’ scores and schools’ quality are easy to understand and are in languages that all families can understand. Use bilingual volunteers and other translators as needed.
- Have district and state leaders systematize information so that schools in the same district provide similar reports to the parents of their students. In so doing, districts and states should gather input from their schools and parents about the content and format of reports.
- Help parents decide whether to leave a school that is not making Adequate Yearly Progress or to remain in the school, with information on school plans for improvement and how parents, business partners, and community members can become involved to help their children and to improve their schools.
NNPS members showed that they can, indeed, “lead the way” among schools, districts, and states in the nation to develop excellent partnership programs with responsive activities for the new reporting requirements of NCLBA. NNPS will continue to conduct sessions on parent and community involvement in the No Child Left Behind Act at future Leadership Development Conferences and will report ideas and examples on the website.
Review! Reflect! Evaluate!
NNPS Calls for Your Good Ideas
At the end of each school year, NNPS members have three opportunities to review their work, share ideas, and plan ahead.Excellent Programs: Awards
Apply for a Partnership Award if your school, district, state, or organization has been a member of NNPS for two or more years and can demonstrate excellence in partnership program development. Partnership Awards applications were sent to all members. The applications outline NNPS’ research-based expectations for evidence of progress on the essential elements of teamwork, leadership, action plans, implementation, support, and evaluation. Deadline: July 11, 2003.
Excellent Activities: Best PracticesSubmit one of your school, district, state, or organization’s best practices for NNPS’ annual collection, Promising Partnership Practices-2003. The book is distributed to all members in August and disseminated nationally on the NNPS website. Share an activity that increased the involvement of families who are typically “hard to reach;” involved families in middle and high schools; connected families with students to improve achievement or other school goals; improved district and state assistance to many schools; or that advanced your program this year in other ways. The call for Promising Partnership Practices-2003 is included with this issue of Type 2 for all members. Deadline: May 16, 2003.
Annual Progress: UPDATE Surveys
UPDATE surveys for the 2002-03 school year will be mailed to all NNPS members in early April. UPDATE surveys are required to renew membership in NNPS for the 2003-04 school year at no cost. The free renewal is a unique feature that ensures that NNPS and its members work together to build new knowledge for research-based training, tools, guidelines, and other services. Complete UPDATE with your school Action Team for Partnerships or district, state, or organization colleagues, and use these reflections and assessments to improve partnership plans for next year. Deadline: June 30, 2003.
To download another copy of a Partnership Award application or the call for Promising Partnership Practices, go to www.partnershipschools.org and click on “In the Spotlight.” For UPDATE, click on the alert button on the homepage (after April 1) to download another copy.
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