Linda Ariyasu, School-Family Facilitator; Richard A. Alonzo, Local Superintendent
Row 1: Virginia Lampson, Richard A. Alonzo, (Superintendent), and Linda Ariyasu, (NNPS Key Contact). Row 2: Mary Kurzeka, Elaine Kinoshita, Diane Ramirez, Eve Sherman, and Maria Gonzalez.
In Local District F, one of eleven districts in LAUSD, the facilitator for school-family-community partnership programs reports directly to the local superintendent and participates on his leadership team. The facilitator's regular interactions with the heads of other departments (e.g., instruction, health and human services, special education, budget, operations, and others) mean that all offices know about the district's emphasis on family and community involvement for student success. Connections also are made with the Central LAUSD Parent Community Services Branch.
District F conducts many programs to help schools reach out to students' families, including Read with Me/Lea Conmigo, Parent Academies, and Parents as Learning Partners. The facilitator conducts monthly "town hall" meetings for parents to answer questions and gather ideas. Each school is encouraged to have a Parent Center staffed by a bilingual school-community liaison, and to promote the active engagement of all parents and teachers in assisting students to improve academic achievement and success. On these and other activities District F is assisted by Families In Schools and conducts some partnership activities with Local District B (see the Partnership Awards for District B, above, and for Families In Schools, below).
At District F's Spring 2002 Parent Conference, over 300 parents, principals, teachers, instructional support staff, school board, and others attended sessions and exchanged information. At the individual school level, plans for partnerships are linked to school improvement plans. District F guides Action Teams for Partnerships to implement family and community involvement activities that help students reach school goals and increase learning. The district also supports and trains 60 community representatives to assist all schools with their work on family involvement.
The district leaders are thoughtful about evaluating their work. The district increased conference attendance from about 130 to over 250 and placed more emphasis on student learning. The district is "scaling up" the number of schools conducting programs such as Read with Me/Lea Conmigo to include more schools each year (see Partnership Award for 2001). More schools are organizing their own plans and activities, working with community partners, conducting family nights, and sharing ideas with one another.
As the next challenge, District F's facilitator is working to help all principals and teachers understand the importance of family involvement and Action Teams. The district has set five goals for good partnerships in all schools: (1) Provide a welcoming environment; (2) Connect parent involvement to students' instructional program; (3) Conduct on going communications with parents; (4) Help parents build their leadership, parenting, and computer literacy skills; and (5) Increase staff accountability for parental involvement. District F's Facilitator has identified three to six activities to support each of these goals and will help all schools' Action Teams incorporate these activities in their plans for partnerships.
District F's leaders wrote: "Organizing parent involvement to focus on increasing student success and creating systemic change is a tremendous undertaking for any district. Joining the National Network of Partnership Schools is essential to helping you accomplish this goal. Membership provides research, information, implementation models, best practices, and technical assistance to build a comprehensive program in your schools. The annual conference in Baltimore offers opportunities to network, compare strategies, and learn from individuals from all over the country who are doing the same work in their districts."
Also see Local District F's history of Partnership District Awards in 2001 and examples of Promising Partnership Programs on the website, www.partnershipschools.org, in the section Success In the Spotlight.