Spring, 2003, No. 14 National Network of Partnership Schools
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FLORIDA AWARDS FAMILY INVOLVEMENT PRACTICES LINKED TO SCHOOL GOALS
Things are heating up in Florida as districts work feverishly to select two school nominations to submit for the Florida Department of Education’s Parent Involvement Award. The award, co-sponsored by the state PTA, is one component of Florida’s state-level leadership that spotlights and promotes innovative school-based partnership practices that could be replicated by other schools in the state.The Florida Department of Education has given this award to school-based programs for the past seven years. Office of Family and Community Involvement Director Linda Thompson and her team of program specialists have supported this award, which guides schools to link family involvement to student achievement and other school goals.
Recognize Excellent Partnerships
Each district may submit one elementary and one middle/high school nomination. Nominations are evaluated on the following criteria: impact on family involvement; ability to be replicated; relationship to the school goals and objectives; impact on school improvement; participation of parents/families in planning and implementation; uniqueness and innovation; numbers of parents participating in relationship to program capacity; cost; and collaborative efforts. In addition, schools are required to identify which of the six types of involvement the practice addresses.
Statewide, a total of ten schools are selected as regional winners for the Parent Involvement Award. Winning schools designate a parent representative to accept a plaque and to present their practice during the Florida PTA Leadership Conference in July 2003. All travel expenses related to the conference are reimbursed for the parent representative.
The state’s Office of Family and Community Involvement promotes the award-winning schools’ promising partnership practices through a publication titled Sparkplugs. This publication features summaries that describe each winning program, including details such as the number of parents and students who participated, the costs, and whom to contact for more information. Sparkplugs is made available at no cost to all schools throughout the state and is accessible on the Florida Department of Education’s website.
To assist all Florida schools to implement effective partnership practices like those recognized by the Florida Parent Involvement Award, the Office of Family and Community Involvement provides resources, training, and technical assistance throughout the year. In particular, the office collaborated with the Florida Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, the state’s federally funded PIRC, to conduct five regional one-day partnership trainings based on the NNPS model. Representatives of approximately 125 schools attended these trainings in September 2002 to learn about the essential elements of comprehensive partnership programs.
The Florida Department of Education Office of Family and Community Involvement has integrated its Parent Involvement Award into its strategic plan that inspires, informs, and instructs schools to develop high-quality partnership programs linked to school improvement goals. For more information about the award and other Florida state leadership activities, visit their website at http://www.firn.edu/doe/family/home0077.htm.
Special thanks to Joe Davis, Family Involvement Program Specialist for the Florida Department of Education, for his contributions to this article.
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