National Network of Partnership Schools

Johns Hopkins university

partnership award winners – 2004

WEBSITE SUMMARIES

www.partnershipschools.org

2004 Partnership DISTRICT AWARD

With Special recognition

Local District F (Now, LOCAL district 4) Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), CA

Linda Ariyasu, Coordinator; Richard A. Alonzo, Local Superintendent

Row 1: Dr. Eve Sherman, Elaine Kinoshita, Richard Alonzo (Superintendent), Dr. Rosa Maria Hernandez, and Diane Ramirez. Row 2: Mary Kurzeka, Rocio Arriaga, Angie Cardenas, Virginia Lampson, Linda Ariyasu (NNPS Key Contact), Maria Gonzalez, and Bob Bilovsky.

Local District F (now, Local District 4) in LAUSD serves highly diverse families and many students with many economic and academic challenges. The Office of School, Family, and Community Partnerships includes an administrator and four facilitators who assist schools with their programs of partnership. The Office was created by the Superintendent to ensure that parents become partners in their children’s education in ways that help improve student achievement.

In 2004, the district held its first “parent summit” on high school reform to engage parents and administrators in discussions about students’ experiences and the importance of parental involvement in secondary schools. Working with other departments and the community, sessions and speakers were planned, and translators in Spanish, Korean, and Cantonese were arranged. About 350 parents attended, some of whom had never attended a parent conference before.

Among many other activities in 2004, the district conducted workshops on family involvement, follow-up training for Action Teams for Partnerships, and group and individual meetings to help teams improve their plans and activities for family and community involvement. The district “scaled up” the number of schools with Action Teams for Partnerships and guided them to link family involvement to their Single Plan for Student Achievement and to meet NCLB requirements. Activities included Read with Me/Lea Conmigo, G.O.T College, Literature Circles for Parents, and Literacy Clubs to help parents focus on the district’s literacy and success goals. The district also initiated training in family involvement for National Board Certified teachers, who may be able to help expand schools’ programs and activities. Mini-grants of $1000-$2500 were awarded to 14 schools to help them improve their partnership programs.

The district used NNPS and other measures to assess the quality of schools’ partnership programs, outreach to families, and needed improvements. The various evaluations have helped district leaders learn that schools need ongoing team training and opportunities to share best practices, especially at the secondary school level, and more guidance on activities to link family involvement to school goals in reading, math, and other subjects.

The district faces new challenges because only some schools in District F were included in the reorganized District 4. Leaders will use their award-winning strategies to develop their program in the new and larger district.

ABOUT NNPS: What Local District F’s Leaders Say to Other Districts . . .

Organizing parent involvement efforts that focus on increasing student success and creating systemic change is a tremendous undertaking for any district. Joining NNPS is essential to accomplishing this goal. Membership in NNPS provides the research, resources, models for implementation, best practices, and technical assistance to build a comprehensive program for any school or district. In addition, the two conferences each year in Baltimore offer the opportunity to network, compare strategies, and learn from others who are doing the same work nationwide. NNPS challenges us to expand our vision and scope of our work beyond anything we could have imagined. The number of our schools in NNPS increases every year, which validates the importance of the support that NNPS provides.

Also see Local District F’s history of Partnership District Awards from 2001 to 2003 and examples of Promising Partnership Programs on the website, www.partnershipschools.org, in the section In the Spotlight. Also visit www.lausd.k12.ca.us and click on Local District 4.