Network Adds Time as a Requirement on New School Membership Forms

Membership forms for school members of the National Network of Partnership Schools now include a requirement to allocate time for training, planning, and evaluating partnership programs and activities. The new School Membership Form requires schools to "Allocate time for an initial day-long team training workshop, and at least one hour per month for the Action Team for School, Family, and Community Partnerships to plan, coordinate, and evaluate activities each year."

The change is based on data collected from Network members on UPDATE surveys and in discussions at National Training Workshops. School members indicated that lack of time is one of the greatest challenges they face in developing partnership programs. Schools need to set aside time for the Action Team for School, Family, and Community Partnerships to meet and conduct its work. Time also is needed for subcommittees to implement activities scheduled on the One-Year Action Plan.

UPDATE data also reveal that schools with more years of experience in conducting partnerships are more likely to have well-implemented and high-quality programs. Maintaining a permanent program of partnerships requires time to meet, plan, implement, and evaluate activities, and to continue to write annual plans for partnerships.

Based on analyses of the ’97 UPDATE data from schools, Assistant Director Mavis Sanders explained, "Time is a central ingredient for schools’ successful partnership program development. The other ingredients—an active and supportive Action Team, appropriate funding, leadership, and guidance from the Network—already are included as requirements on school membership forms. It is necessary to make the importance of time explicit if schools are to succeed in maintaining their partnership programs."

Time also is needed for leadership and team training. The new requirement will encourage schools to take greater advantage of the training opportunities provided by the Network. The team development workshops ensure that new members understand the Network’s approaches and materials, and are prepared to organize and conduct full programs of partnership.

State and district membership forms already include provisions for time by requiring full-time state leaders and full-time or part-time district facilitators, depending on the number of schools in a district. Although time was not a requirement for current school members, the Network encourages all schools to allocate at least one hour per month for Action Team meetings, starting in the 1999-2000 school year.

New Bulletin Board 
On Network Web Site

The National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) opened its Bulletin Board to provide members with an interactive forum for sharing questions, answers, and comments about school, family, and community partnerships. The Bulletin Board includes space to post questions and responses, and to review listings. It is found through the link to the Bulletin Board at www.partnershipschools.org.  

"Members are eager to exchange ideas about their successes and challenges," said Communications Director, Karen Clark Salinas. "We hope that members will use the Bulletin Board to ask each other questions about partnership activities and materials."

Over the past two years, members’ visits to the Network’s web site have increased from 42% to 87% of states, from 22% to 42% of districts, and from 5% to 19% of schools. According to Key Contacts’ reports on the ‘98 UPDATE surveys, most now have access to the Internet. The Network expects that over the next few years its web site will be an important tool for timely and frequent communications among members. For members who do not have access to the Internet yet, selected questions and answers from the Bulletin Board will be shared in each issue of Type 2.

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