Family involvement is a challenge, but continues to be important for the success of students in middle and high schools. Secondary school administrators and Action Teams for Partnerships (ATP) are discovering thrifty and effective ways to support teenagers and their parents, as they plan and implement goal-linked partnership programs using the framework of Six Types of Involvement.
All six types of involvement are important at all school levels, but in middle and high schools Type 6-Collaborating with the Community can play a vital role in strengthening partnership programs. Good connections with the community can enrich the curriculum, assist families with services, extend students’ learning with “real-life” opportunities, and enable students to contribute to the community.
Two activities in Promising Partnership Practices 2007 illustrate useful and innovative connections with the community at the middle and high school levels.
Community Enriches Curriculum
It is important for teens and their parents to connect classroom learning with genuine outcomes. Walton Middle School in Compton, California, conducts Community Partner/Side by Side – a multi-faceted program of community tutors, mentors, field trips, and more. One component, Career Night, on the third Wednesday of each month, involves students and parents with doctors, firefighters, policemen, and others to discuss details of their careers and the educational requirements for their jobs. The activity enables parents and students to explore many career options and reinforces the connection of classwork with students’ future plans.
Students Serve the Community
The Volunteer Tax Assistance Program at Northridge High School in Layton, Utah is a unique activity that involves students, parents, and the community in meaningful ways. Nearly thirty accounting students and a teacher were trained by Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), a federally-sponsored initiative, to assist community members in understanding and preparing their tax returns during the tax season. The experience allowed students to integrate classroom knowledge to real-life activities and to transfer students’ skills to assist more than 200 older and low-income people in the community.
Monitor Participation and Results
Middle and high schools can begin to assess the impact of community partnerships by documenting the number of students, parents, and partners who attend special events and who participate in service learning programs. Students’ reflections about their experiences may illuminate the value of community connections for student learning. The opportunities and interactions may help improve students’ on attendance, behavior, and attitudes about school.
Cecelia S. Martin
cmartin@csos.jhu.edu
NOTES
See these and other involvement activities in middle and high schools in the Promising Partnership Practices 2007, at www.partnershipschools.org in the section Success Stories.
To learn more about the structure and purposes of Type 6 collaborations, see: Sanders, M. G. (2005). Building school-community partnerships: Collaborating for student success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.