Fall, 2000 No. 9 National Network of Partnership Schools
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States, Districts, and Schools Receive National Network's Partnership Awards
Concept to Classroom: On-Line Workshop on Partnerships
States, Districts, and Schools Receive National Network's Partnership Awards
Two states, five school districts, and six schools received the first annual Partnership Awards from the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. The awards recognize excellence in developing and sustaining comprehensive programs of school, family, and community partnerships for at least two years.
Key contacts from sites in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, and Utah submitted applications that documented how they implemented essential elements of good partnership programs. They described and gave evidence for teamwork, leadership, plans for action, implementation, evaluation, and connections with the National Network of Partnership Schools. Applications were reviewed by six readers for the comprehensiveness of responses and strength of evidence. The following states, districts, and schools received Partnership Awards for 2000:
- Connecticut State Department of Education, Bureau of School-Family-Community Partnerships;
- Ohio Department of Education, Office of School, Family, and Community Partnerships/Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement;
- Francis Polytechnic/North Hollywood Cluster, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), CA;
- Grand Blanc Community Schools, Grand Blanc, MI;
- Los Angeles County Office of Education, Los Angeles, CA;
- Naperville Community Unit School District 203, Naperville, IL;
- Southern Area of Baltimore City Public Schools, Baltimore, MD;
- Bouquet Canyon Elementary School, Saugus, CA;
- Florence Nightingale Middle School, Los Angeles, CA;
- Franklin-York Learning Community, Massillon, OH;
- Mount Logan Middle School, Logan UT;
- Westlake Elementary School, New Carlisle, OH;
- Woodridge Primary School, Cuyohoga Falls, OH.
See pages 6-7 in this issue for photos of all of the award recipients’ teams.
Dr. Mavis Sanders, Assistant Director of the Network, noted, “The Partnership Award schools, districts, and states demonstrate that structures and processes can be developed to ensure that school, family, and community partnerships are planned, on-going, and productively linked to school improvement goals.”
Summaries of approaches and activities of the Partnership Award recipients, as well as the award criteria, are on the Network’s web site, www.partnershipschools.org. Click on “In the Spotlight” and “National Network Announces Partnership Awards.” (Or, click to go directly to the list of Partnership Award recipients.)
NNPS congratulates the Partnership Award recipients for 1999-2000. The criteria for the awards set standards that all schools, districts, and states in the Network are expected to achieve. Applications for the 2001 awards will be issued in January. (Review Partnership Awards Criteria.)
Concept to Classroom: On-Line Workshop on Partnerships
WNET, a PBS affiliate in New York, and Disney Learning Partnership are offering an on-line workshop, Making Family and Community Connections, based in large part on an extensive interview with Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, Director of the National Network of Partnership Schools.
The workshop, ninth in a series of workshops on school improvement, includes four sections: Explanation, Demonstration, Exploration, and Implementation. Each section outlines a series of questions and answers that explains and illustrates how to develop a comprehensive program of school, family, and community partnerships in schools, districts, and states.
You can meet Dr. Epstein on-line at www.thirteen.org/wnetschool/concept2class/month9 as one of the workshop experts. Read about the research-based approaches that guide the work of the National Network of Partnership Schools, including the six types of involvement; the importance of teachers along with parents and administrators on Action Teams for Partnerships; and the importance of on-going One-Year Action Plans. NNPS members also are featured, including schools in Anoka-Hennepin, MN; Vineland, NJ; Texas; and Wisconsin.
