Education Partnerships

Reading about educational partnerships and talking about this subject in class made me

think about how important this topic is in today's society. Before this course, I did not think

about this concept overall and how important it is to a school’s atmosphere but also in the

workforce. When people are working in their organization/business, there must be a welcoming

and friendly atmosphere where workers feel comfortable going up to people to ask for help or

when working with a team on an important project or pitch.

The website I found talks about all the different partnerships that happen within a school

organization. One of the things that the article talks about is an example of “Massachusetts

Afterschool Research Study found that afterschool programs with stronger relationships with

schoolteachers and principals were more successful at improving students’ homework

completion, homework effort, positive behavior, and initiative” (Little, n.d.). This study shows

that when students have the opportunity to create a professional bond with the school employees

will help the overall atmosphere of the classroom. As a teacher, it is important to create a

welcoming environment for students because it will allow learning to grow, even when there are

mistakes along the way. The four key components that the article talks about when creating an

education partnership are a “shared vision for learning and developmental outcomes for students,

diverse set of partnerships with effective communications mechanisms and relationships among

multiple staff levels, intentionally blended staffing with role clarity to promote understanding of

how the work is relevant to all, and clear data-sharing processes and agreements” (Little, n.d.).

The first major information that Little (n.d.) talks about is the idea of a shared vision for

learning and developmental outcomes for students. When schools have a vision of what their

student wants to be able to accomplish, this is when the whole staff works together as one team.
For example, this occurs when the teachers get together to plan the curriculum/lesson for certain

subjects, then teach it to their students. Students must be able to form professional relationships

with other staff members that work in a school setting, such as their guidance counselor,

specialist teacher, and coaches for athletics. This allows the student to be able to build trust and

go to the teacher that they feel can help them through difficult times, plus the teacher shows that

they care about their health, not just academics.

The second piece of information that the author talks about in her article is having a

“diverse set of partners with effective communications mechanisms” (Little, n.d.). What she

means by this is involving the schools' district board staff members that release the important

information or messages to the classroom teachers that work in the district, such as elementary,

middle, and high school. Another component that she talks about is building relationships

between staff who teach different grade levels because they could give each other feedback on

how they would teach a lesson to fit their needs and maybe could help other teachers as well.

Even though a teacher is teaching a specific grade, other teachers may still know about teaching

the lesson as well because they might have experience in that grade from a previous district.

I wanted to see if there was an organization that has programs to support the students or

faculty. In my search, I found a program that is geared toward teachers, which helps the teacher

build their teaching skills and receive professional development opportunities. This program is

called “Bank Street College of Education.” The website has a section that talks about the

organization’s approach to learning, which is a “systems-level instructional improvement that

builds a coherent throughline from the central office and pedagogical supervisors to teacher

teams and their students” (Benison, n.d.). A couple of the core concepts are having a vision of

leadership if needed, changing the way management is done, having teachers learn from
experiences, using evidence-based learning methods, and student-driven learning (Bank Street

College of Education. 2023). All these core concepts are important to have in a classroom for the

teacher to go by and use throughout the whole school year. This is a great program for all school

districts to follow because it offers many opportunities for a successful school.

The family also plays an important role in educational partnerships by being involved

when there are school events, meeting their child's teacher, attending athletic games, and more.

As a parent, it is crucial to feel that one’s child is at a school where staff care about them. One

website I found is directed toward teachers, and it provides information for teachers to learn why

involving or letting the parents know what their child is doing at school helps build that

partnership between both adults. On the website, teachers can print handouts for parents to get

more information about upcoming events. The one sentence that caught my eye was “schools and

community organizations also make efforts to listen to parents, support them, and ensure that

they have the tools to be active partners in their children’s school experience “ (National Center

on Safe Supportive Learning Environments. 2023). This is so true for everyone who works in the

school to allow parents to speak their minds and hear what they have to say about an issue or

provide any positive feedback.

A graphic from the Utah PTA sums up everything important for educational partnership

within schools (see Figure 1). The first and most important thing to do is to make sure that all

families feel welcome when they step foot into the school even from the first time they visit,

such as the open house. The second piece relates to the staff who work in the building because

teachers need to be able to communicate with their special education teachers, paraprofessionals,

and parents on what is happening during their school days or important events that are coming

up. The regular teacher also needs to be able to inform the special education teachers on what
materials they are teaching their students that week or special education teachers should inform

them on how well they are doing with the lesson. This next component is supporting each

student's success (Utah PTA, 2023) when it comes to finally understanding the lesson and getting

the answer correct. This can also be the other way around when a student is having trouble with

the lesson, the teacher needs to be able to have the student's back by saying “you can do this, I

believe in you.” The next piece is geared toward special education teachers when the text says to

speak up for every child because they are relying on their teacher to get them the help and

support they need so the students will learn the material they need for their grade level. Share

power (Utah PTA, 2023) is important for teachers to have this skill because all students in that

grade will need to be able to reach the benchmark by the end of the year. Depending on how long

the person has been in this profession, they can have valuable insight on how to teach the lesson

based on their experience. These pieces are important for schools to have as they build

educational partnerships.

Figure 1

Family-School Partnerships

(Utah PTA, n.d.)

 References

Benison, S. (n.d.). Our approach. Bank Street College of Education. https://www.bankstreet.edu/our-

work-with-schools-and-communities/bank-street-education-center/school-system-partnerships-

programs/our-approach/

Little, P. (n.d.). School-Community Learning Partnerships: Essential to expanded learning success. The

Expanded Learning and Afterschool Project.

https://www.expandinglearning.org/expandingminds/article/school-community-learning-

partnerships-essential-expanded-learning-success

National standards for family-school partnerships. n/d. (2023, January 30). UtahPTA.org.

https://www.utahpta.org/national-standards-family-school-partnerships