Community Engagment and Volunteerism Resources for K-12 Schools
School/Community Partnerships

 
Resources to help bring school administrators, teachers, community (family, neighbors, businesses) and students together to collaborate effectively.

 

• Inviting the Community Into the Classroom
  Project ideas, studies and sample volunteer task descriptions, and links to other resources to help teachers and school administrators involve volunteers in the classroom.

   
  

• National Standards for
  Parent/Family Involvement Programs
  http://www.pta.org/programs/stnrdtoc.htm
  Produced by the National PTA, these guidelines are for leaders of institutions with programs serving parents and families, to help them develop programs that are meaningful, well planned and long lasting. The program standards are also a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of long-term school reform efforts to involve families in their child's education. This comprehensive, detailed online publication includes research findings about Parent/Family Involvement Programs; Standards, Quality Indicators and Sample Applications for Communicating, Student Learning, Volunteering, School Decision Making and Advocacy and Collaborating with Community; outlines of Challenges and Opportunities; Where to Begin; and sample forms and policies, including a Checklist for Quality Indicators, an Action Plan Worksheet, and suggested Project Ideas.

   
  

• Teachers' Best Ideas for Involving Parents
  http://www.pta.org/programs/teachbi.htm
  Since teachers are the crucial link in the partnership between school and parents, National PTA invited teachers across the country to submit their "best ideas" for involving parents and families-whether it's at home, in school, or in the community. This is an online excerpt from the resulting publication, with brief suggestions for volunteer/community programs, home/school activities, and parent education programs. Part of emerging National PTA Leader's Guide to Parent and Family Involvement.

   
  

• Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL)
  http://www.sedl.org
  SEDL promotes and assists in the development of "Collaborative Action Teams", partnerships between school, community, and families, including students. A Collaborative Action Team, or CAT, works together to identify pressing issues in the school community and implements action plans to address these issues. The CAT process emphasizes bringing together representatives of the whole community who become self-reliant and energized to improve results for children, youth, and families. SEDL also produces a number of publications focused on "Building Home, School, Community Partnerships," which are available on their web site at http://www.sedl.org/prep/pubs.html.

   
  

• Worksheets for Local PTA Officers and Chairmen
  http://www.capta.org/Resources/worksheets.html These are specific task descriptions/roles of different people involved in a PTA -- officers, publicity, newsletter, legislation, hospitality , room representative, etc. -- as well as detailed outlines of suggested activities. Produced by the California State Parent Teacher Association.

   
  

• PTA Membership Guide
  http://www.capta.org/Membership/publications.html
  This online guide includes membership worksheets and calendars, suggestions for organizing committees, membership themes, membership campaigns, planning a special event, and "112 Ways to promote PTA membership." Produced by the California State Parent Teacher Association.

   
  

• Suggestions for Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA)
  http://www.capta.org/State_PTA/student_involv/students6_98.html
  Why PTAs should include Students as team members and in school decision-making, and how to involve students effectively. Includes the "Student Involvement Handbook" in English and Spanish. Produced by the California State Parent Teacher Association.

   
  

• Guidelines for School Officials,
  Volunteers and Mentors Participating in
  Public School Community Partnerships
  http://www.ed.gov/inits/religionandschools/v-guide.html
  Includes an excellent document offering guidelines for partnerships involving public schools and faith-based communities

   
  

• The Volunteer Advantage
  http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/AdultEd/InfoBoard/f-5.html
  Involvement of volunteers in instruction affords a number of advantages to adult education learners and programs, including: lower cost of services; more flexibility in class scheduling; more personalized, less-threatening environments for instruction, more opportunities for mentoring, individualized instruction, and flexible pacing and a greater range of services for those individuals who require non-traditional education.

   
  

• National Association of Partners in Education (NAPE)
  http://www.napehq.org
  NAPE has a variety of resources that can help schools target and implement new initiatives or revitalize an established partnership, including publications such as:

  • Creating Connected Communities: Telecommunications Partnerships for the 21st Century
  • A Guide for Evaluating Partnerships: Assessing the Impact of Employee, Parent, Family and Community Involvement in Education
  • Service-Learning & Business/Education Partnerships: A Guide for Service-Learning Coordinators
  • Business & Education: A Practical Guide to Creating and Managing a Business/Education Partnership
  • Handbook for Principals and Teachers: A Collaborative Approach for Effective Involvement of Volunteers
  • Organizing Effective School-Based Mentoring Programs

   
  

• 10 Steps to Design and Conduct School-Family-Community Partnerships
  http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/tensteps.htm
  By the National Network of Partnership Schools. These are selected resources from offline publictaions by Joyce L. Epstein, Director, Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships. Includes sample forms for planning and evaluating partnership activities, suggestions for budgets and funding for the work of partnership programs, and a guide for district-level facilitators of school-family-community partnerships.
   
  

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Last updated 24 July 2000