Spring, 2001, No. 10 National Network of Partnership Schools
Getting the Word out about Your School, Family, and Community Partnerships
Steven B. Sheldon
Postdoctoral Research ScientistCommunicating with others about the work that you are doing on school, family, and community partnerships is a significant challenge for schools, school districts, and state departments of education. How well are you sharing information about your partnership program with your colleagues, families, and community? Elementary and middle schools that received a Network Partnership School Award last year reported how they work to increase and improve communications with other faculty, staff, parents, the media, and the community. Some of their activities are noteworthy and may give you ideas about how to “get the word out” about your partnership program.
Communicating with Colleagues
An important responsibility of the Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) is to communicate with other teachers, administrators, and staff who are not on the Action Team to inform and involve them in planning, implementing, and evaluating school-wide partnership activities. Several Partnership Award schools discuss partnership plans and upcoming activities in faculty, grade level, in-service, school council, PTA/PTO, and other school meetings to gain the support and assistance of other teachers and staff. For example, Mount Logan Middle School in Utah organizes its Action Team through its Community Council, which includes members of the PTSA. According to the principal, Dan Johnson, the linked structures of Community Council, Action Team, and PTSA create a powerful connection because of the strong lines of communication they have developed among these groups. It also is important to give copies of Type 2 to colleagues on and off the Action Team to help see how your work in partnerships is part of a national agenda.
Communicating with Families
Almost every Partnership School Award winner uses parent surveys and frequent two-way communications, such as tear-offs in newsletters and flyers, to learn about parents’ views and reactions to important topics and issues. Bouquet Canyon Elementary School in California spreads the word with notices of dates to remember, full calendars, a school bulletin board, and a billboard outside the building. Some schools publish a draft of their One-Year Action Plan in the spring newsletter to get input from parents and faculty. Then, they publish the final Action Plan for Partnerships in the first newsletter of the next school year, so that all parents, teachers, and others know the scheduled activities for the year and who to contact if they can help.
In some schools, newsletters and other communications may be needed in more than one language, or may need to be written for easy reading. Park Avenue Elementary School in Connecticut posted welcome signs in several languages so that all families knew they were valued members of the school community. Another Network school, Westlake Elementary School in Ohio, uses Parent-Grams, phone systems, voice-mail, and telephone trees for voice-to-voice communications. These schools and many others implement practices to increase the number of parents with whom they communicate effectively.
Communicating with the
Whole CommunityMany families and others in the community learn about school programs and opportunities for involvement through local TV or radio broadcasts, or news articles. Franklin-York Elementary School in Ohio spotlights “students of the month” for improved attendance, grades, or other successes in the city newspaper. Mount Logan Middle School sent a press release to the local city paper, which resulted in a detailed news story about the school’s Partnership School Award and program of family and community involvement.
Your school, district, state, or organization should consider submitting press releases after completing successful partnership events, or when special involvement activities are scheduled. The local media may be happy to spotlight your work and keep the community updated on partnership activities.
The National Network of Partnership Schools provides sample press releases and ideas for communicating with families and the public. This information is on the Network’s website at www.partnershipschools.org. Click on “Join the Network” and “Member Services.” It is important to get the word out about good partnerships to colleagues, families, and the community to build a strong, stable, and well supported program.
