Research suggests that schools’ capacities to develop and implement programs for educational improvements depend, in part, on the district’s guidance and support for these efforts. In a recently published article, Dr. Mavis G. Sanders, an NNPS research colleague, reported the results of an intensive case study on how one district’s leaders improved their program in a large urban school district. Sanders found that the district’s collaboration with a community parent involvement organization (CPIO) was important for strengthening and sustaining partnership programs at the district level, in schools, and in the community for over ten years.
In this district, the community-based organization’s agenda focused explicitly on increasing parent and family engagement in schools. By working with this organization, the district’s leaders for partnerships were able to keep attention focused on family and community involvement in the schools, despite budget problems that resulted in cutbacks in funding for district staff and program activities.
Collaboration Counts
District and organization leaders worked together to conduct parent leadership training to increase the number of family members able to advocate for students and serve on schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships. The two groups also planned and implemented district-wide activities to increase involvement. The organization sent advocacy messages to district leaders to continue supporting personnel and resources to improve partnerships in all schools and with all families.
The community-based organization began as an informal group of parent leaders. With support from the district’s Title I office, the group established a formal organization with at least one parent leader from every school. The organization’s purposes were to ensure that good partnerships developed in the district and to monitor the implementation of the board of education’s family involvement policy.
The district’s partnership leaders and the community-based organization have worked together and with NNPS for over ten years, always trying to improve policies and practices. They have produced many parent leaders and stronger partnership programs in schools, despite changes in superintendents and partnership leaders, and despite financial cut backs. By working together, the community-based organization and the school district are continuing to meet their shared organizational goals and objectives. Their work has benefited many schools, students, families, and the community as a whole.
From: Sanders, M. G. (2009). Collaborating for change: How an urban school district and community-based organization support and sustain school, family, and community partnerships. Teachers College Record, 111, 1693-1712