Brenda Thomas, Vicki Strella,Thom Harr (Director), Barbara Gimperling (NNPS Key Contact), and Iveth Smith.
The Family Works, Maryland’s Parent Information Resource Center (PIRC) in 2006, implemented four strategies to increase family and community involvement throughout the state. These included: 1) Parents as Teachers (PAT) – a comprehensive home visiting program that aligned information for parents on how to support their children’s early development with the state’s kindergarten assessments; 2) National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) to help districts and schools develop goal-linked partnership programs and meet requirements for family involvement in NCLB’s Section 1118; 3) Parent Leadership Institute (PLI), which developed a network of skilled parents who understand Maryland’s standards-based assessment system, NCLB, and who involve other parents in working with schools to improve student achievement; and 4) Information Dissemination through community organizations, websites, workshops, and an annual Family Involvement Conference.
The Family Works is a strong partner with the Maryland State Department of Education. Assistant State Superintendent, Ann Chafin, noted that the organization’s four strategies play “an integral role in student achievement and support MSDE’s family involvement policies and recommendations.” The close alignment of state and organization agendas sends a clear message to districts and schools about the importance of effective partnership programs that support student achievement and success.
The Family Works conducted an ambitious program with districts and K-12 schools with the assistance of Brenda Thomas, the Maryland Director for Partnership Program Development. Each district that identified a “key contact” for partnerships was assisted with training and on-going support to guide their schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships. The schools organized programs and practices that involved families in ways that supported specific academic, behavioral, and climate goals in their School Improvement Plans. Over the past two years, these efforts helped more than 12 districts and 300 schools to strengthen teamwork and goal-oriented partnership programs. Small districts (e.g., Kent County or St. Mary’s County), middle-sized districts (e.g., Queen Anne’s County or Washington County), and large districts (e.g., Montgomery County and Howard County) have leaders who are better able to assist schools to use research-based approaches to organize their work, write plans, and evaluate how well they are involving diverse families in their children’s education.
Among many activities, The Family Works sponsored periodic District Leadership Institutes to increase the knowledge, skills, and connections of the leaders for partnerships from each district; Team Training Workshops prepared schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships (i.e., parents, teachers, and administrators) to plan and implement family and community involvement programs at the school level; a Maryland Links newsletter kept locations informed about progress and available services. The Family Works also sharpened the focus of the annual Maryland Family Involvement Conference to cover “tracks” for strengthening partnership programs in schools across the state.
The Family Works identified several challenges for on-going attention as statewide efforts on partnerships proceed in Maryland. These include having district superintendents give their leaders for partnerships adequate time for the job and not “too many hats” to wear; sustaining and improving the quality of school programs of family and community involvement; “scaling up” the program to more schools in large districts; and enabling all 24 districts in Maryland to work better and smarter on partnerships.
By all means, organizations should WANT to join NNPS to assist their work on family and community involvement. Our funding enabled us to help many districts and schools across the state connect with NNPS and with The Family Works to advance their programs of family and community involvement. NNPS is research based, goal oriented, provides materials and tools for developing strong programs and for evaluating progress, and offers many ways to “network” with others to gather and share ideas.