TheImportance ofEducational Partnerships

1 1 TheImportanceof EducationalPar tne rships3 Afterreading thischapter,youshouldhavea betterun derstandingof : whatpartnerships areandreasons forpr omotingthemwithinschool s andclassrooms; themyriad be nefitstocreatingpartnershipsamongschools ,bu sinesses, universities,families, andother communitygroups; examplesof co mmunity, pr ofessional,andfa mi ly part nershipsto en hancetheeducationof students; howhome, school ,andcommunityallin fluence theeducat ional potenti al andaccessforstudents andfamilie s; theroleofsituatedlearning(Lave& Wenger,19 91)andcommunitiesofpractice(Wenger,1998) in enhancingandsustaining Partnerships ; thediffer ence be tweenacculturati onandassimilationwhenworkingwi thch ildrenfromdiverseculturalba ck grounds; collaborationmodelsandexamples;and shared,sequential,an d separateresponsibi litiesrelatedto educationof PARTITHEBASICSOFEDUCATIONALPARTNERSHIPSU se theinformationyouenterin providea backgroundas yo u readaboutth e reasonsforeducationa l Partnerships andex amplesof differenttypesof zerDes cri be yourexperienceswitheducationalpartnershi psas a childandas an thepartnership,the pa rtners, the learning,an d anyspecificactivitiesthatyouremember (po si tiveandnegative).

2 Overviewof EducationalPa rtnershi psWhatIs an Edu cationalPartnership?Thereare manydefinitionsandideasthatsurface wh en describing a partnershi ,apartnershipis an agreementwh ere twoor morepeopleor groupsworktogethertowardmutualgo n be formal, informal,or eve n unspokenas longas theyincludepeople or groupswo rk expertsagreetha t apartnershipmust benefitbothsidesforit to be tw o partiesco me to getherfo r the com mongoodof a sch ool or to enhancestudentlearning,we cal l th is anedu cational partnership . Partnersca n includeanyonewho is in terestedin or committedto enrichingeducati onal experiencesforstudents,fam il ies,sch ools, andthecommunit y. Most important, partnershipsdono t includeone individ ualor onegroupdictatingwhatshouldbe doneand whyit shouldbe collaborativelywithina educati onalpart-nerships can be formed betweenteachersandstudents , thecollaborationsdi scu ssedinthisbookwillrel atemostlyto th oseoutsidetheteache r-studentrelationshipstoincludeentirefam ilies, professionals,andthebroadereducati onalcommunity.

3 Thesepartnershipsalwaysin cludestudentsbutareinte gratedwi thi n la rg er groups,an dorg anizationscansupplementsch oo l learning andencourage li felonglearning (1999)createda CenteronSchool,Family,andCommunityPartne rshipsat Johns HopkinsUniversityin Ma rylandin anefforttoinformandpromote co mmunitypartner ships to enhanceeducationforstudentsan dfam il has threego al s: (a)creating,assessing,andsharing eff ective part-nership strategies; (b)enhancing theeducati onof teachersandteac hereducationprogramsto encouragemoreco mmunityinvolvement;and(c ) conductingresearchon communitypartnershipsan d org anizedwithsimilargoalsin eac h ch ap ter,stepsforcreatingand assessingpartnershipswill be fea tured in additionto st ep -b y-stepexamples to helptea chers plan,implement,and assesscurrent andfutureed ucational Partnerships .WhyTaketh eTime to EstablishPartnerships?Theanswerto thequestionabove is quitesimple:Wesho uldes ta bli sh pa rtner-shi ps to providethebested ucation po ssible forall chi reality, partne rs hi ps arecreatedfora varietyof reasonsthatin cl udeenhancingpublic relations, seeking addi-tion al fu nding,andwo rk in g toward a particular ca useor issu e.

4 Somepa rtnershipsaredevelopedwithina fo rmalstructure,andothersaredevelopedba sedon an clude partnershipswit hstudents homeandco mmunitywithintheir missionstatementsor educational ,themoredifficultch all en ge is forsch oolsand districtsto ac tually ena ct thosepartnershipsduringth e busy sch oo l pri nci paloncetoldmeth at herteachers we re maxedout andthatthe y haddoneeverythinginstructional ly to in creasestudents educati onalachievementinclud-ing ext ra instructionalminutes forreadingand ever,their studentsdidnotshowsignificantimprovement sin learningin theseareas. Shetoldmethathe r schoolChapter1 TheImportanceofEducationalPartnerships 5haddecidedto changeits strategiesan d focusfromadditionaldrillandpracticetimet o working withfa miliesandth e broadercommunityto increaseacademi c ,af termultipleparentsessionsandthedevelopme nt ofpartnersh ip programs,sheandher teachersstartedtoobservebetteracademicpr ogressforall students,a hig hermotivationfor learning,anda moreposi in creased spending forel em entaryandsec ondarysch ools,butthisextramonet arysupport hasno t resultedin significantlyhi gher aca-demic achievement,accord ingto Departmentof Educati on stat ist addition,spending to ass is t disadvantaged ch il drengre w by 45%be tween20 01 and20 06,re sult-ingin an achievement gapthatcontinuesto exi st am ongvarious groupsof students.

5 Whenschoolschooseto enhan ce part nershipswithfamilies,thishasunlimited possi-bi litiesforimprovingeducationalprogress foral l st during thepast25 years all su pport family andco mmunity involvementas a strategytha t sup-ports student le the re asonsforcontinuedinequitiesandac hi evementgapscou ld be basedonthefa ct thatthereis oftena disconnectionbetweenparents andtea chers. Family-teacherpartnership s have beenstrained at ti mesdueto thest ressrelatedto standard-izedtestingandnegative informationhighlightedwith ne published a seriesof articlesrelatedto teachersand parentsat oddswitheachother(Gibbs, 2005). As a teacher anda parent,I wa s shockedby the coverhead-line, What Te achersHateAboutParents. I believe thatparentsdono t evenrealizeth at teachers mayactually hate th th pa re ntswhofeeltha tth ey ar e intrudingif theyques tio n or impedeformal sc hoolingandwithteacherswhoth inkth at pa rentsshould be doingmore,and you de finite ly havemisc om municationbetweenfamiliesandsch d th oughthereare many teacherswhoworkcollab-orativelywithfamil ies, therearejustas manyteac he rs whodo not havetheexperience,education,or strategiesto developpo sitivereciprocal relationshi ps outsidethefourwa lls of the cl ch er-famil y relationships doexist; howeve r, manydonotexistfora numberof sonincludesthedi verseculturalbeliefsof te achers, students, andfamilies;thelackof time in busyda ily schedules.

6 An addition,mostfamilies are doi ng all th ey can eac h da y to takecareof th eir childre n ti meand effortforcreatingpartnershipswithsch oolsis notusuall y a , if famili es andteachersknewof theultimatebenefits thatan educationalpartner sh ip couldhaveon theacademic development ofchildren,theywould makeit mo re of a onalpartners hi ps taketimeandeffortto develop,butoncetheyaredevelopedandsus tai ned,thebe nefitsareen d-lessforall groupsand Benefits FromEducationalPartners hip s?Havingpar tnersin educationhelpsprovide a moreevenplayingfieldforallfamilies an d children . Society benefits whenst udents,families,th e community,schools,an d teachers worktogetherto educate ch il (1998)describesspecific out-co mesandbenefitsto th e school , families,student s, teachers,administrators,andtheco mmunitywhentheyworktogetheras outlinedbe PARTITHEBASICSOFEDUCATIONALPARTNERSHIPST he schoolbene fit s by n amongal l parties; e; ; forfac ul ty andstaff; diversestudentsandtheirfam ilies; erp er so nalre lationshipsamongstudents; , communication,andrelationshipsamongteach ers,students, andfamilies; participationin schooleve nt familiesbene fit by gaini andunderstandingof education; serrelationshipswiththeirch ild ren; pport;Chapter1 TheImportanceofEducationalPartnerships 7 Parents andteachersworke d togetherto createan I sland-ThemedDay.

7 Stu dent sdanced to a st ee l dr umbandandsampledtraditionalisla nd di ; d knowledgeabout howto helptheirchildrenle arn; to providepositive learningactivit ies at home; thecu rriculum,instruction,andev ents; portunitiesto workwithteachers; s abouthomeworkandhomelea rningpractices; school (andcommunity)resources; powermentto make de cisionsthatwillenhancetheirchildr en studentsbene fit by ga gherachievementan d motivationto lea rn; positi ve attitudetoward sc hool; homeworkandmorefrequent complet ionof homework; ance; opoutrates,su spensions,and disciplineproblems; f-c onfidence; rel te achersbene fit by ; siti ve teachingexperiences; ; ; ; d frustration; familydiversitywithlessstereotyping; serrelationshipswithst udents; gherexpectationsforal l nefitby dents, families,andteachers; omfa milies; resources; creasedcommunicatio n withfamilies; family an d communitysu PARTITHEBASICSOFEDUCATIONALPARTNERSHIPST he community benefitsby ga ini ng work co ll ab orativelyas co nt ributingmembers of so ciety; theeducationaldevelopment of theirchildren; a PartnershipsSchools ca n considerdi fferent typesof partnershipsandhowth ey willme et students is commo n to includefamiliesandeducat io nalprofessionalsas pri marypa rt , schoolscanalsoformpartnershipswiththe broadereducat ionalcom-muni ty includinglo calcorpor ations,media agencies,sportste ams,organizations, an d schoolsshould workclosely withpa rtners to de te rmineoverallgoals;thetimeneededto develop,implement, andsu staina partnership .

8 Andwhichareaor ar ea s of th e curriculum would benefit mostfro m a -ferent typesof partnershiparedescribedbe low:community, family, noted,however,th at manycol laborationsincludemore thanon e ers in Sci enc e( ) recruitsre tiredandcur rently working women in science,engineering, andma th ematicsandfemale uni versity studentspursuingcareersinscie an exampleof acommunitypartnership. Theseind ividualspartnerwithte achersandserveas mentorsfor gi rls in elementary improve girls attitudes to ward,interest in, andachievementin scienceandmathematic s. In addition , th e mentoringac tivitiesarede velopedto providea positivelear ningenvironmentforfe ma le s andtheirfamiliesandto increasetheirkn owledgebaseto promotegirls in terestin a community partnership becausemembers of thebroadercommunityparticipatein educat ionalactivities with onefamily-schoolpa rtnership, fo r example,threekindergartenteache rs andstudents andtheirfamilieswo rk togetherto implementa programca bri ng an olderfa milymem ber,a sibling,or aclosefamilyfriendto thecl ass ro omforthefirs t 40 mi nutesof sc hooleac h We te achers,students, andfamily membersreadto getherandengageinactivities re lat ed to conceptsof prin t, earlyliteracyskills,andphonemic ki ndergarte n teachersarrangeforcoffee,juice, andbreakfast itemsandprovideawelc omingandnonthreatenin g localbagelshopdonatesthebakedgoods,andth eschool provid es th e atte ndtheeve nt.

9 En joyreadingwiththeirchild,learnmoreabout encouragingli teracyat home,andcon-tributebr eakfast tr eatsonso meof the invi ta tionsandenc ou ragetheirparents, ol dersiblings,andotherfamily members to attendat leastonceea ch ter acy Morningsformed a professionalpartne rs hipastheywelcomed studen ts andtheirfamilies as theirpartnersin 9 Prof essionalThenextexa mple describesaprofessionaleducationpartnersh ipcalledTeamTime(Haynes,2007). Fo ur fifth-grade teachersco lla bora tedand createda planto he lplower- ,studentsaretaughtby one of theteachersin a sm all group. About30 extrami nutesof mathpractice are provide d asteachersro tatetheresponsibility. Th e teache rs me et weeklyto di scu ss, collaborateabout, andexchangeideason ho w to provideext ra he lp in teaching mathematics con-cepts andskill s. Theyalsodiscusshowto include morefamilies to he lp th esestudent sat , theyidentifieda need, determinedhowto collaborate to me et th atne ed,and the n workedto getherto executeth e youcansee fromthethr ee differen t exa mples,educat ional partnershipscan besmall or largein scopean d canbe initiatedby an organization,a groupof pr of ession-al s, or an yo u readtherestof thebookyouwi ll no tic e thatpart-nershipsva ry in size andcanincludeone teacherwi th a fewfamiliesor a co mmunityorganization,parents, andanen tireK 8school.

10 In the foll owing NotesFromth eClassroom se ction,Glenda, a third-gr ade teache r, describeshe r rationaleforcreatinga pa rtnershipwiththebroaderco PARTITHEBASICSOFEDUCATIONALPARTNERSHIPSN otesFr omtheClassroom:Glenda sReasonsfor Creatinga CommunityPartnershipVoiceof Glenda,Third-GradeTeacherFrom my earli est da ys as a teacher,students at risk for readi ng failurehavebeena sou rceof bothfasci natio n and frustration to me. I felt fascinatedwhenI was ab le to som eh ow fin da key to hel p a stu dent succeed. Moreoften , I felt frustrationwhenmy effortsseemedin quicklydiscoveredth e role [community]vol unteerscouldplay in my classroomin un locki ngthe pote ntial for moreof thesechild ren. By enlistingthe help of volunteers to readind ivi duall ywith stru gglin g students, I wasabl e to providethosewhoneededit mo st wi th mo reindividualti me, wi thoutneglecti ng the 30 otherstudentsin my cl wondered,thou gh, whet her thosewell-inte nti onedparaprofessionalshad the skillsthey neededto beas effectiveas theypossiblycou ld be.