Spring 1997 No. 2 National Network of Partnership Schools
State LineOhio Initiates a Network of 235 Partnership Schools
Connie Ackerman and Cathy Oriole, Ohio's Key Contacts to Partnership Schools, have taken giant steps to help Ohio's districts and schools plan and implement programs of school, family, and community partnerships. This spring they awarded planning grants of $500 to 235 schools to develop and improve their partnership programs.
Ohio's leaders conducted 16 orientation meetings across the state to prepare parents, teachers, principals, counselors, and others to work together to plan their programs of partnership. They report: "After each meeting, people are leaving excited about developing stronger partnerships. Your materials and framework make it easier." Next, Ohio will conduct an ambitious competitive grants program for $3000 implementation grants for program development in the 1997-98 school year.
Ackerman and Oriole's work in Ohio's Office of Family and School Partnerships is supported by John M. Goff, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Gene T. Harris, Chief Program Officer, and by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. The state's office also is working with the State Board of Education and conducting collaborative activities with the Ohio Parent Information and Resource Center, the Ohio PTA, Ohio Family and Children First Initiative, the University of Cincinnati, and other state and local groups to strengthen the partnership program.
Ohio's design is an outstanding example of how state leaders can foster district and school leadership and action. The feasible levels of planning and implementation grants could be matched by any state, district, or school that wants to implement comprehensive programs of home-school-community collaboration.
The National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University welcomes the first 235 schools in Ohio as members. With the Ohio group, the Network has more than doubled its school members!
