Row 1: Yvette Laureano, Mary Beth Waits (Principal/NNPS Key Contact), and Beatriz Mendoza.
Row 2: Peyton Taylor, Chon Davis, Margret Rudt, and Karen Turner.
Lee Middle School’s Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) meets as a full team and in small groups to review the activities scheduled each month, share ideas for activities and tasks, and make decisions about planned tasks. The ATP links to the school’s Instructional Council and collaborates with other team leaders and department chairs to focus on parent input and student academic development. The Principal is an active spokesperson for the ATP, and gives reports on goals and planned activities for family involvement to the Instructional Council. Team leaders rotate after 2 years of service.
Plans for partnerships are discussed and finalized each May for the next school year. Before plans are made, the ATP reviews activities conducted in the prior year, and gathers new ideas for additional activities. The annual plans are shared with the full faculty at the first staff meeting in the fall. Teachers are encouraged to sign up to lead or participate in various committees and activities based on their interests and experience.
In 2006, the school established a committee to focus on family and community involvement to support and improve students’ literacy skills. One activity, Reading for Success, aimed to increase independent reading and decrease the percentage of students at only the “basic” level on state tests. Students recorded reading hours, earned incentives such as free baseball tickets from our partner – the Bowie Baysox AA Baseball Team, obtained library cards, discussed books with guest readers from the community, and enjoyed Family Reading Week in which students and family partners read together and earned gift cards for reaching major reading benchmarks. Another activity, Young Reader’s Day, brought local sports and news media stars, policemen, community members and parents to read with sixth graders. Reading scores improved during the school year, though more work is needed to reach the goals set for high performance.
The school is working hard to communicate with and involve Spanish-speaking parents. This year, one staff member served as a translator to help teachers in various departments in meetings with parents. The school conducted Community Hispanic Parents Nights to encourage parents’ participation. One goal was to help more families learn about free summer camp offered by Montgomery College.
Lee Middle School evaluated the quality of each activity with forms in English and Spanish. In addition to reactions to workshops and presentations, the school asked for parents’ suggestions for future activities. From the school counselor’s view: “By enhancing school/parent/community partnerships. . . educators and parents are now working better than ever to encourage students to take advantage of educational opportunities and to support student success.”
We would explain how each year the school completes a plan and how the format from NNPS helps us think through and select activities that are most beneficial to our school community. We would give another school an overview of NNPS, advise any principal to visit the NNPS website, and share with them our examples of how our program looks in action.