Judith Roberson, Kathy Critharis, and Cristy Rivera Coordinators; Marion Cañedo, Superintendent
Christy Rivera (NNPS Key Contact), Kathy Critharis, Judy Roberson (NNPS Key Contact), Rita Eisenbeis (NNPS Key Contact), Marion Canedo (Superintendent), and Allison Turley.
Buffalo Public Schools has been working with the National Network of Partnership Schools since 1999. Over the past three years, using research-based approaches, the district's facilitators have "scaled up" their training and support for 37 schools to 52 schools. The district also developed a new District Parent Involvement Policy.
The district's facilitators for partnerships work with the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent of Leadership and Evaluation, and other colleagues in Special Education, the Buffalo Parent Center, and other departments to gain support for partnerships and to coordinate partnership activities. The Superintendent recently mandated that all elementary schools join the Buffalo and National Networks to work on partnership programs and practices linked to their Comprehensive School Education Plans (CSEP) to increase students' learning and success.
District leaders often attend the Network's national leadership conferences, obtain new information, and select, extend, and strengthen Buffalo's district-level and schools' partnership programs. For example, Buffalo's facilitators conduct training workshops and cluster meetings, and provide on-going guidance to help schools form Action Teams, write action plans, share best practices, reflect on their work, complete annual assessments, and conduct other basic activities that build school-based capacities to implement productive partnership programs.
Several years ago, before they began to develop positive partnership programs, some schools in Buffalo were struggling to find better ways to make parents and families feel welcomes. Now, the schools have become active and welcoming places that reach out to inform and involve all families. District leaders and NNPS guide educators and families to work together to improve partnership programs and practices from year to year. To counter educators' concerns that partnership programs mean "more or extra work," the district leaders guide schools to link their partnership plans and activities to their Comprehensive School Education Plans (CSEPs) for school improvement so that partnerships contribute to the attainment of school goals for student success.
The district leaders developed family friendly workshops for parents on new state learning standards for students. Classroom teachers shared sample assignments and examples that illustrated new state standards. District and parent representatives appeared on local morning TV to invite parents to attend the workshop.
Buffalo's facilitators are helping schools use Network tools to evaluate their work and to share good ideas at the end of the school year. The district leaders have found that evaluations, celebrations, and the recognition of good practices encourage school teams to sustain their work on partnerships. The Buffalo "chapter" of the National Network of Partnership Schools is an active and ever-improving program.
Buffalo's leaders wrote: Our district's Parent Involvement Policy reflects the belief that education is the shared responsibility of the students, parents, families, schools, and communities. Indeed the district's motto: "Putting children and families first to ensure high academic achievement for all" matches the goals of the National Network of Partnership Schools. . . . We help our schools actively support and promote parent involvement as part of the comprehensive school improvement process.
Also see the Partnership School Award in 2002 for Buffalo's Follow Through Urban Learning Laboratory (below) and Buffalo's examples of Promising Partnership Programs on the website, www.partnershipschools.org, in the section Success In the Spotlight.