1. Action Teams for School-Family-Community Partnerships
presented by Michele Anciaux Aoki,
Parent Involvement Consultant

2. What the (International) Research Says
Families vary in their involvement
Parents care about success for their kids
Students need multiple sources of support to succeed
Teachers and administrators are initially resistant to partnerships (but become supportive when they see results)
Schools must reach out to involve families (most families won’t do it on their own)

3. From Ordinary to Excellent Programs
Have you ever heard people say: “If we just had parent involvement here, we’d have greater achievement”
What kind of achievement are you looking for?
Which kind of parent involvement is needed?
Where’s the link?
Different types of involvement yield different results
Identify the Hurdles - Face the Challenges
Want to select activities that produce results

4. Think: “Like Reading”
That’s what you’d like School-Family-Community Partnerships to become
Partnerships should be a normal, expected part of school life - no matter who is there
We need to move from luck to REGULAR PRACTICE
The National Network can help speed up this process by connecting states, schools, and districts to each other and to best practices.

5. What does a Partnership School Commit to?
Use the framework of six types of involvement
Create an Action Team for Partnerships
Allocate an annual budget for the work of the Action Team
Allocate time for a 1-day team training workshop, and 1 hour/month meeting

6. Keys to Successful School-Family-Community Partnerships
Joyce Epstein Framework: Six Types of Involvement
Parenting
Communicating
Volunteering
Learning at Home
Decision Making
Collaborating with Community

7. The Action Team makes it happen!
What is an Action Team?
The group of people responsible for developing and implementing a program of school-family-community partnerships tailored to the needs of their particular constituency
Links its efforts to goals of the School Improvement Team (District or State Strategic Planning Team, etc.)
The Action Team makes it happen!

8. The ABCs of Action Team Leadership
Account for team members
Be ready to share leadership
Communicate with all partners
Develop good plans
Ensure progress on six types of involvement
Foster team spirit

9. Action Team Structures
School Improvement Team (Site Council, etc.)
Action Team for S-F-C Partnerships
Committees for Types: (1) Parenting, (2) Communicating, (3) Volunteering, (4) Learning at Home, (5) Decision Making, (6) Collaborating with Community
Action Team Structure #3
Academic Goal 1, Academic Goal 2, Non-Academic Goal 3, Partnership Goal 4 (etc.)

10. Checklist: Are We Ready?
Decisions for the Action Team to make
Deliverables:
Starting Points (inventory of current practices)
Three-Year-Outline (broad goals)
Jumping Hurdles & Hard-to-Reach Families
School Goals and Results of Partnerships
One-Year Action Plan (specific goals)
Accountability:
Annual UPDATE report to the Center for School-Family-Community Partnerships