Across the country, policy-makers, educators, and the public are calling for improved academic achievement and school accountability. To achieve these goals, new models of school reform continue to be developed, implemented, and evaluated. All aim to improve student learning, and most rely heavily on family and community involvement to ensure success.

Research-based school reform programs fall into two main categories: curricular and comprehensive. Curricular programs tend to emphasize improved learning in one or more academic disciplines and usually "fit" well into conventional school activities. Examples of curricular reform programs include removal of students from the classroom for focused instruction and the infusion of new content areas (such as prevention) into existing academic disciplines. In contrast, comprehensive programs tend to focus on changing or modifying school governance and organization (though they may also target revisions to curricular content).

School-community partnerships play an integral role in both types of reform models. Research-based curricula such as Core Knowledge, designed to improve students' cultural literacy, and Reading Recovery, designed to improve reading skills, promote parent involvement. Other programs, such as the multidisciplinary curriculum Different Ways of Knowing, promote both parent and community involvement.

Most comprehensive school reform models also emphasize the value of bringing together parents, educators, students, and community members to define a coherent vision or mission for a school. For example, programs such as Accelerated Schools, Community for Learning, and School Development have specific parent and community involvement components. In addition, many comprehensive models focus on expanding the notion of "classroom" to include students' larger learning environment. Programs within these models often promote linkages between schools and medical, psychological, and social services.

Although each possesses a distinct set of features, all high-quality school reform programs share the common goal of promoting high academic achievement among students. Building strong and enduring school-community partnerships is an effective strategy for improving both learning and health-related outcomes among young people. As your planning team works to develop and implement a comprehensive prevention plan at your middle school, be sure to determine whether or not the school is already instituting a school reform program. If so, it is imperative that you become part of that initiative. Yet even if your school is not implementing a reform program, coordination with any and all education reform efforts in your school is vital to the success of your prevention activities.

To learn more about these and other school reform models, please visit:
The Catalog of School Reform Models.

References

Wang, M.C., Haertel, G.D., & Walberg, H.J. (1998, April). Models of reform: A comparative guide. Educational Leadership, 66-71.

"Good partnerships withstand questions, conflicts, debates, and disagreements; provide structures and processes to solve problems; and are maintained -- even strengthened -- after differences have been resolved."

Joyce Epstein, Center on School, Family, and
Community Partnerships

Keeping your planning team enthused and running smoothly isn't always easy -- particularly once the initial excitement dies down and the real work begins. For every step forward, you seem to take two steps back: turf issues arise, hidden agendas surface, progress slows down, or your most dedicated members become disillusioned.

No team is immune to these challenges, but they needn't be devastating. Here are 10 guidelines for building a team that not only functions well as a group, but also has the fortitude to withstand potential problems when they arise.

Provide leadership. Respondents to a National Association of Community Action Agencies study identify the following as the most important qualities of successful collaboration leaders:

• A reputation for reliability
• Expertise related to the issue being addressed
• Charisma
• An ability to relate to a cross-section of groups
• Power from one's position
• Access to money or important people

Successful leadership requires an awareness of how your own roles and responsibilities interconnect with those of your partners, and the ability to weave together the perspectives, needs, and resources of all involved.

Establish a foundation of trust and respect. Allow ample time for relationship-building, i.e., for partners to get acquainted, understand what each needs and can offer, appreciate what constraints each operates under, and focus on shared goals. Develop a common language and framework for discussing prevention; representatives from different agencies may use similar terms that have very different meanings. Then, create an open and fair process that allows everyone to participate, set the ground rules, and shape your prevention plan. When individual members represent a broad constituency, remember to respect their points of view. Don't expect them to be able to comprehensively characterize or analyze the perspectives held by an entire race, ethnic group, sexual orientation, or faith.

Delegate. Your primary role is that of catalyst. Support the active engagement of all members. Allow group members to initiate and carry out effective problem-solving and to share leadership responsibilities. Ultimately, the team will need to establish a mechanism for ongoing communication, advocacy, evaluation, and problem-solving among the individuals and organizations involved.

Communicate. Communication within the school and between schools and community partners throughout the planning process will strengthen ownership and facilitate implementation of your prevention program. Be a good listener, and make sure that team members have a clear understanding of the group's purpose and feel free to express their feelings and points of view. Establish formal communication channels, such as weekly memos or electronic mailing lists, and send out meeting notes to keep those unable to attend updated on activities; this will help them feel included.

Be organized and explicit. Plan ahead: Set an agenda and stick to it. Make sure to keep the team on track and stick to pertinent issues. Have copies of all needed information available. Make sure that members know what you expect of them -- otherwise, important tasks may go undone. Always end a task-oriented meeting by identifying "next steps" and asking, "Who is going to do what by when?"

Respect people's time. Keep meetings to a reasonable length (approximately one hour), and schedule them at convenient times and in convenient locations.

Don't lose sight of the individual. Strike an appropriate balance between group productivity and the satisfaction of individual needs. Make intelligent use of the differing abilities of your members. Get to know team members and what their particular concerns are. Take their interests into account as you move ahead. Recognize team members publicly, and don't forget to celebrate your successes!

Learn from history. Find out everything you can about both your school's and your community's history of conflict and cooperation. Learn from their successes and mistakes.

Revisit your vision and purpose regularly. To keep your team from going off on tangents, review your vision regularly and assess the extent to which the team is accomplishing its original purpose. Review your prevention plan: Are you accomplishing your goals? Are you meeting your timelines? Make sure to evaluate both your program and your process. Use the evaluation data to review and revise the course of your initiative.

Get things done. Avoid getting bogged down in lengthy planning and abstract discussions. Keep moving toward action and accomplishment. Long-lasting partnerships keep on acting -- visibly, energetically, and effectively.

Click on the icon for a tip for some concluding remarks on this section before visiting the Discussion area. (Click here to read these comments.)

References

Bruner, C. (July 8 and 9, 1999). Remarks from Head Start Focus Group on Collaboration. Washington, DC.

Center for Mental Health in Schools (2001). School-Community Partnerships: A Guide. Los Angeles, CA: Author.

Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (in press). Collaboration Training Manual, Working Draft. Developed for CSAP's Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies. Newton, MA: Education Development Center, Inc.

Epstein, J. L. (1995, May). School/family/community partnerships: Caring for the children we share. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(9), 701-712.

Gottfredson, G.D., Gottfredson, D.C., Czeh, E.R., Cantor, D., Crosse, S.B., & Hantman, I. (2000, July). National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools. Ellicott City, MD: Gottfredson Associates, Inc.

Henderson, A. T. and Berla, N. (1995). A New Generation of Evidence: The Family Is Critical to Student Achievement. Washington, DC: Center for Law and Education.

Jehl, J., Blank, M. J., and McCloud, B. (2001). Education and Community Building. Washington, DC: Institute for Educational Leadership.

Marx, E., Wooley, S. F., and Northrop, D. (1998). Health Is Academic: A Guide to Coordinated School Health Programs. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Massachusetts Department of Education (2000). The Parent, Family, and Community Involvement Guide. Malden, MA: Author.

National Association of Community Action Agencies (1998). National Study on Collaboration.

National PTA (1998). Parents on Public Education: National Survey of Parents of Public School Students. Washington, DC: Bennett, Petts, and Blumenthal.

National PTA (2000). Building Successful Partnerships: A Guide for Developing Parent and Family Involvement Programs. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.

Wolff, T. (2000). Coalition Barriers and How to Overcome Them (or Help! I'm Trapped in a Coalition and Can't Get Out!). Amherst, MA: Area Health Education Center/Community Partners.

Wolff, T. (2000). Coalition Barriers and How to Overcome Them: Part II. Amherst, MA: Area Health Education Center/Community Partners.

Wolff, T. (2000). Coalition Leadership. Amherst, MA: Area Health Education Center/Community Partners.

"More than 20 years of research indicates that children benefit from family-school collaborations that provide parents with opportunities to shape their children's learning."

Heather Weiss, Harvard Family Research Project

On Day 2, we addressed the importance of including parents and caregivers on your planning team. Families also can -- and should -- play a significant role in your district's overall prevention initiative. Young people require support at home and at school to develop the critical-thinking, social, and emotional skills needed to avoid high-risk behaviors, build rewarding relationships, and achieve academically.

Research-based drug and violence prevention programs typically incorporate classroom-based instruction to foster the development of these skills, and schools often establish and enforce policies that further guide appropriate behavior. These efforts will succeed only if they are reinforced at home.

There are many ways that your school can partner with families to prevent substance use and violence, including the following:

Keep families informed about prevention efforts. Communication with parents and caregivers about school-based efforts to prevent high-risk behaviors increases their awareness of the different skills their children need to lead safe, healthy, and productive lives; helps them understand what they can do at home to support the development of these skills; and lets them know how their children are progressing. Your planning team and other school personnel might consider strategies like newsletters, phone calls, progress reports, personal notes, and home visits to stay in touch with students' families. Frequent and positive communication increases parents' self-confidence, comfort with the school, and willingness to become involved.

Click on the icon for another recommended school-home communication strategy. (Click here to read these comments.)

Invite parents and caregivers into the classroom and school. Parents and other family members should feel welcome at their children's school and have opportunities to visit with school staff, observe and volunteer in classrooms, and participate in different education and prevention activities. Some schools have even created parent centers that are equipped with comfortable furniture, coffee, and resource materials.

Build family capacity to support students' health and education. One important way to promote students' well-being is to increase the capacity of their parents and caregivers to address school- and health-related issues. Consider offering family education workshops as part of your district's prevention initiative.

As your planning team examines different research-based prevention programs, make sure to identify if and how they promote family involvement. Many research-based prevention programs include tools such as sample informational letters for students' families, agendas for parent meetings, classroom-based sessions that call for parent volunteers, and manuals for family education courses. Part of your role as a middle school coordinator is to support the implementation of these and other program elements.

If your prevention initiative emphasizes service delivery to students and families at risk for substance use and violence, relationships with community-based groups will be invaluable. You and your team can develop these connections in several ways:

Gather and disseminate information about community-based services. To connect at-risk students and families with the services they need, school personnel must know what services are available and how they can be used. Consider working with your partners to develop or update a directory of social and community service agencies that includes detailed descriptions and contact information. Distribute this directory to families and staff and, if possible, make it available online. You may also want to schedule regular community meetings devoted to sharing information about community services, obtaining input about additional services that may be needed, and/or highlight specific topics and community agencies (e.g., Aid to Families with Dependent Children, available health services).

Improve on- and off-site service delivery. Schools vary dramatically in their capacity to provide mental and physical health services to students and families. Your school may want to improve service delivery by strengthening connections with community providers. Consider working with your planning team to identify any gaps in services and develop recommendations for consideration by district administrators and others.

Build family and staff capacity to connect with appropriate services. In order to make the best use of available services, families and school personnel need to be able to identify problems and make appropriate referrals. Family education and professional development can help the important adults in children's lives identify problems, connect students to appropriate services, and follow up to make sure that needs are being met.

If your planning team seeks to improve service provision for students and families at risk for substance use or violence as part of your comprehensive prevention plan, a prime objective will be to promote a continuum of services. One way to do this is to establish partnerships that include representatives from not only your middle school, but also your feeder elementary and connecting high school(s). Multi-school teams are very attractive to community organizations and agencies that often lack time and personnel to link with individual schools.

Recreational and educational programs provide alternatives to dangerous activities like substance use and violence as well as opportunities to enhance skills children need to avoid these behaviors, build healthy relationships, and perform well in school. Partnerships can enhance enrichment initiatives in many ways:

Link community service experiences to classroom instruction. Service learning is an increasingly popular teaching strategy that promotes student development through active participation in and careful reflection on community service (e.g., tutoring younger students or volunteering in nursing homes). Educators are drawn to service learning because research indicates that it produces important educational results for students, schools, and communities. Evaluations of service learning programs have revealed numerous positive effects on the participants, the teachers, and the overall school climate.

Build rewarding adult-student relationships through mentoring. While parents and other primary caregivers represent the single most important influence on youth development, it is important to acknowledge that other positive adult-student relationships can also have a highly beneficial impact. Mentoring programs offer young people a sustained connection to and structured time with a caring adult who can provide extra attention and guidance.

Such programs are associated with reduced high-risk behaviors, including substance use and violence, and improved school bonding and performance among youth. The transition from elementary to middle school can be a particularly challenging time for young people. Especially for those already at risk, the presence of an adult mentor can reinforce the value of healthy behaviors, the importance of school, and the skills that students need to make good decisions.

Partner with local business to provide career guidance and support. Local businesses have a stake in the education of community youth: Healthy and successful young people are more likely to patronize businesses, and today's students are tomorrow's employees. Businesses can partner with schools to support student development by sponsoring career days and providing internships and school-to-work programs. These opportunities connect young people with caring and invested adults and create safe and productive alternatives to high-risk behaviors. Furthermore, they can provide direction, generate enthusiasm, and build skills among young people that can lead them down a healthy and rewarding path.

Service learning, mentoring, and school-to-work initiatives are all prime opportunities for developing strong and potentially enduring school-community partnerships. Whether as part of an actual research-based program (many of which incorporate these elements) or as a strategy to supplement your district's research-based program(s), these school-community partnerships can enhance any comprehensive prevention plan.

In order to support school and family efforts to promote healthy attitudes and behaviors among young people, the larger community must understand the nature and severity of drug- and violence-related problems and be mobilized for action. Media and public education campaigns, as well as targeted policy changes, can increase community awareness about specific problems facing local youth, garner community support for prevention efforts, reinforce school-based programs, and alter community norms.

Spread the word through press releases and news stories. Working with the media can help you raise community awareness and bring community members on board for prevention activities. There are many ways to connect with the media. For example, your planning team might solicit news coverage of an event or offer ideas for feature stories. You might also write a press release to notify reporters and editors of an upcoming event or recent development. To increase the chances of getting press releases and news stories published or aired, your team should cultivate relationships with reporters and editors.

Develop public service announcements. Public service announcements (PSAs) are educational messages designed to focus public attention on serious issues like drug and violence prevention. A variety of mediums can be used to communicate these messages, including television, radio, print, the World Wide Web, billboards, buses, and subways. Your planning team might consider developing PSAs that address issues specific to your community as part of your prevention initiative.

Bring community policies and practices in line with your message. Establishing and enforcing community policies that limit the availability of harmful substances and weapons represents another critical prevention strategy. Schools can partner with local and state government, public agencies (e.g., social service departments), and private organizations (e.g., HMOs, convenience stores) to effect policy changes. Although your community may need to create some new policies, many sound policies are probably already in place; the challenge will be to promote their consistent enforcement.

Subcommittees or work groups can be created to focus on selected aspects of a prevention plan. For example, a team of teachers, parents, administrators, students, and others from the school or community might target partnerships for prevention and education reform. They could take the lead on such tasks as assessing current partnership practices throughout your district and revising or writing new plans and policies for family and community involvement.

Click on the icon for more about building these subcommittees. (Click here to read these comments.)

Goal 3: Student Achievement and Citizenship states in part that "all students will be involved in activities that promote and demonstrate good citizenship, good health, community service, and personal responsibility."

Goal 4: Teacher Education and Professional Development calls for partnerships to be established "among local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, parents, and local labor, business, and professional associations to provide and support programs for the professional development of educators."

Goal 6: Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning requests that "every major American business will be involved in strengthening the connection between education and work" and that "schools, in implementing comprehensive parent involvement programs, will offer more adult literacy, parent training and lifelong learning opportunities to improve the ties between home and school, and enhance parents' work and home lives."

Goal 8: Parental Participation calls for every school to build partnerships that will "increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children." One of the specific objectives for this goal is that "every school will actively engage parents and families in a partnership that supports the academic work of children at home and shared educational decision-making at school."

Below you will find a summary of the questions and comments that were posted by event participants and facilitators when this event ran November 26th-30th, 2001.

Many of you shared suggestions for coordinating community resources and services for youth, which included the following:

• Convene youth service providers to enhance information-sharing, promote greater coordination, and lessen duplication of services.

• Provide regular opportunities for community agency representatives and teachers to meet and share needs and resources.

• Establish committees to discuss service issues and assess needs and concerns regarding youth and/or identify committees or coalitions that are already in place.

Strategies for "drawing people in and getting them excited" about a new prevention initiative included the following:

• Do your legwork. Find out who might be interested and receptive, then make phone calls.

• Describe project goals so prospective participants have a clear understanding of who you are and what you're about. Point out how and where your goals and their goals may overlap.

• Highlight the connection between prevention and academic achievement.

Several MSCs debated whether it is "better" to join an existing, citywide planning group or establish a school-specific committee.

• Sitting on citywide groups allows you to "bring school issues to the table." It also lets others know how you can be of service to them. As one MSC described it, "the more we make ourselves available to both site staff and community members, the more they do for us."

• On the other hand, site-specific teams may have a better sense of project ownership, and are more likely to focus directly on the needs of students. Before creating a new team at your school, however, make sure to connect with teams that are already in place.

• Ultimately, most MSCs participate in both school-specific and community-wide planning teams.

Several MSCs described difficulties bringing mental health professionals on board who are willing to provide services to students and training to teachers.

Suggested strategies for overcoming this obstacle included the following:

• Connect with not-for-profit youth agencies that have mental health professionals on staff.

• Collaborate with local colleges, including professors in the area of mental health, MSWs who may want more school-based experience, or internship programs.

• Work with the local crisis response team and/or county-level social workers.

• Explore the availability of local funding for mental health in schools, such as a Family & Children's Collaborative, as well as state and federal insurance programs for youth.

Many MSCs presented strategies for connecting prevention to academic achievement, character development, and improved personal, social, and health skills, including the following:

• Look at your school's vision statement. It may explicitly connect academic achievement to reductions in risk behaviors.

• Provide concrete examples of how prevention programs can be woven into the curriculum. For example, one MSC currently implementing an integrated prevention program described how the videos of kids talking about their problems "set the stage for further discussions and academic assignments that are linked to national standards."

• Take a school-wide approach to prevention rather than bringing in another add-on program that teachers need to find the time to implement.

• Try mapping program objectives onto state standards (e.g., for Social Studies or Language Arts) and see how they match up.

• Get in on the ground floor! One MSC has joined her school's Leadership Team so she will have a voice in policy development. Another MSC is helping to define a new category in her district's strategic plan called "Safety and Belonging."

• Rather than focus on a single issue, recognize that many programs promote a healthy relationship between school and students, as well as effective decision-making in all areas of life.

• Finally, recognize that a single program may not meet all the needs of a school.

Several MSCs described how they have incorporated service learning into their prevention programs.

For example:

• One district in Florida has developed Peace! …Pass it On, a service learning program based on the Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders (AVB) curriculum. Middle school students participating in the program develop their own teaching tools, which they then use to teach their feeder elementary schools peaceful solutions to conflict. The students have also taken their project to several community groups. According to the MSC spearheading the program, "it's been a great way to get both community and school buy-in to service learning."

Another MSC described an interesting program designed to increase community awareness and affect social norms.

• Designed by the Montana Social Norms Project, the "Most of Us" campaign counters student perceptions that ATOD use is higher than it actually is. According to the MSC, "This ignorance of the facts increases the power of negative peer pressure on kids. The Most of Us campaign uses marketing phrases such as "Most of Us DON'T smoke" to empower students to resist the pressure from the "user" minority."

MSCs also presented strategies for increasing parent awareness of and involvement in prevention activities, which included the following:

• Contribute a regular column to the school newspaper.

• Showcase various community-wide programs and initiatives, including your prevention initiative, at regularly scheduled events for students, families, and community members.

• Make yourself visible. Attend PTA and school committee meetings, or "any other meetings in which parents are likely to be in attendance."

• Link your parenting programs to Safe Schools and Drug Education. Follow initial, introductory sessions about your programs with more targeted sessions on particular program components.

Example 1: Convincing Your Principal that a Planning Team with Multiple Partners Is Important

• As part of our Middle School Drug Prevention and School Safety Initiative, I need to touch base with you around building a planning team and the need to include multiple community partners.

• Community partners are essential to the success of our initiative. Prevention can't happen in a vacuum. The lessons we teach our students while they're on school grounds need to be reinforced within their families and community.

• Many community agencies provide services to our students and are committed to their health and well-being. Each community partner can bring a unique perspective to our effort, as well as resources (e.g., skills, facilities, or money) to support our initiative.

• We also need to make sure that we involve parents in this effort. We're always looking for ways to include parents in the things we do, and joining our school prevention planning team is a great way to get involved. The more involved they are in the process of creating our plan, the more invested they'll become in making it a success. Parents are the best prevention advocates we can hope for!

• What are your thoughts? Can I count on your support? Here is a list of people and community agencies I would like to contact. Can I begin to move forward on this?

Example 2: Convincing a Community Partner to Come On Board

• As part of our Middle School Drug Prevention and School Safety Initiative, I'd like to talk with you about becoming a member of our school planning team.

• Through your work in the community, I know that you are passionately committed to substance use and violence prevention. I'm also sure that you recognize the importance of partnering with a variety of organizations to meet all of our school and community needs.

• I would like you to be part of our team because of the many valuable qualities and skills that you bring to the table. As a community partner, your vision, experience, and ability to get things done will make a vital contribution to our initiative.

• I also feel this will be a great opportunity for you to become more involved with what is happening in our schools.

• I really value your participation. I hope you will join us. Our first meeting is...

Note: If you want to print this document, please choose either the MS Word or PDF file below. If you choose this option, you will be able to type information directly into the tables as you revise or fill in the tools that are provided. A PDF file will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader and can be printed, but not manipulated.

Activity 2 Worksheet MS Word (32KB) | PDF (12KB)

Answer the following questions for a planning team to which you have belonged. A majority of "no" responses may indicate a less than satisfying experience. Keep in mind, however, that there is no magic yes/no ratio for success, since you may assign different weight to different questions.

Name of Planning Team: _________________________________

From Center for Mental Health in Schools (2001). School-Community Partnerships: A Guide. Los Angeles, CA: Author.

Adapted from National PTA (2000). Building Successful Partnerships: A Guide for Developing Parent and Family Involvement Programs. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.

Adapted from Fetro, J. (1998). Implementing coordinated school health programs in local schools. In E. Marx, S.F. Wooley, and D. Northrop (Eds.), Health Is Academic: A Guide to Coordinated School Health Programs (pp. 67-95). New York: Teachers College Press.

The most effective partnership leaders have the following skills and competencies:

• An inclusive, welcoming manner. Leaders set the tone for welcoming new members and for bringing them onto the team. They take the time to orient new members and urge them to take on active roles.

• Excellent communication skills. Leaders take complex materials and make them understandable to all audiences.

• Group facilitation skills. Leaders conduct meetings so that all members can contribute but no member is allowed to dominate. They follow the agenda, move through a constructive problem-solving process, and make decisions, as needed.

• Conflict resolution skills. Excellent leaders appreciate the benefits of conflict, since conflict is a regular part of what happens in team meetings. They see conflict as an opportunity, rather than a problem to be avoided. They identify the various self-interests, see the common ground, and help to seek compromises.

• An ability to share the spotlight. Leaders leave their egos at the door and are able to share the glory and spotlight with other team members from the school and community.

• Trustworthiness. Leaders engender trust in those with whom they work. They are reliable, prompt, honest, and true to their word.

Leaders bring energy and hope to their teams through both their style and their skill. It is rare to find one individual with all of these assets. Sometimes partnerships function well with co-leaders who have complementary skills.

Adapted from Wolff, T. (2000). Coalition Leadership. Amherst, MA: Area Health Education Center/Community Partners.

Electronic mailing lists are useful tools for communicating with and maintaining connections to the different members of your school-community planning team. Here is some basic information.

What is an Electronic Mailing List?

An electronic mailing list is a software program run on a central computer that allows messages sent to one e-mail address to be distributed to a group of people -- the subscribers of the mailing list. Sometimes called listservs -- because that is the name of a popular list management software program -- electronic mailing lists can be used as a tool for information dissemination and discussion among individuals with similar interests and/or professional responsibilities.

Are There Different Types of Mailing Lists?

While all electronic mailing lists function similarly, lists can vary in their purpose, their openness to subscribers and messages, and the manner in which subscribers can elect to receive messages.

One distinction is between announcement and discussion lists.

Announcement lists are basically online newsletters: The list manager alone can post messages and subscribers do not have the option to respond. Announcement lists are a great way to send and receive information quickly and cheaply.

Discussion lists provide subscribers with an online forum for discussion. Typically, any and all subscribers can post, read, and respond to messages. List managers may establish rules for posting messages (e.g., appropriate topics and styles) in order to ensure that the discussion is appropriate for subscribers.

Another distinction is between public and private lists.

Public (or open) lists allow anyone interested in the topic to subscribe.

Private (or closed) lists require subscribers to be approved by the list manager, based on some type of requirement (e.g., group membership).

A third distinction is between moderated and unmoderated lists.

Moderated lists provide a moderator who screens all messages that come in. Moderators can approve, edit, or reject messages in order to prevent inappropriate or irrelevant postings.

Unmoderated lists automatically post and distribute all subscriber messages.

Finally, subscribers can receive messages as a digest or individually.

Messages received in digest form are delivered all together at the end of a specified length of time (e.g., daily or weekly) or once accumulated messages have reached a specified size (e.g., 40 KB). This is a good way to keep mailing list and personal e-mail separate.

Messages can also be delivered as soon as they are posted, or individually (sometimes called immediate messages). Many mailing lists only deliver individual messages. If you prefer the digest arrangement, you can use Eudora, Netscape Messenger, or another e-mail program that includes filters that sort all mailing list messages into a separate folder.

How Do I Create a Mailing List?

There are many issues to consider when creating and running a mailing list. To be effective, you will have to make a variety of informed decisions.

Make a plan. Before you set up an electronic mailing list, you will need to
answer these questions:

• What will you name and how will you describe your list?
• Will membership be private (based on invitation or approval) or public (open to anyone)? If it is private, how will you select or reject subscribers?
• Will you moderate the list and screen messages prior to posting them?
• Will you serve as the sole list manager, or will others assist you?
• Will you configure your list so that only subscribers are able to obtain a list of members, or will others be able to see who is on your list?
• Do you want to archive the messages that are posted to your list?
• What will you include in your welcome message to new subscribers?

Get started. Once you have made your plan, follow these steps:

• Decide where you will host the list. You can use a list server program if you have access to one through your organization or your Internet Service Provider, or you can use a Web-based mailing list site.

• Follow the instructions provided by your list server or Web-based mailing list site. Each list server and mailing list site differs, and the instructions change over time.

• Subscribe yourself and send a test message. It is important to make sure that you are on the mailing list, so follow the subscription instructions specified by your list server. Then try to post a message to the list to make sure that it is working. As a subscriber, you should receive this test message.

Spread the word. Once your list is up and running, you will want to let
people know about it. Start identifying and talking with potential subscribers whom you happen to know. You might also want to promote your list through participation in other lists and discussion forums relevant to your topic, or create a website for your list.

Matching Partners Worksheet MS Word (21KB) | PDF (23KB)

Adapted from National PTA (2000). Building Successful Partnerships: A Guide for Developing Parent and Family Involvement Programs. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.

Adapted from the National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs, National Parent-Teacher Association. These and other parent/family involvement tools are available online at http://www.pta.org/programs/invstand.htm.

As your planning team considers building school-community partnerships to enhance your district's prevention initiative, consider the following questions that you may want to ask to help guide your partnership-building efforts.

Sample Questions That Your Planning Team May Want to Ask Parents and Caregivers

• From what sources do you get most of your information about the school?

• Would you be interested in attending a workshop on how families can help students learn at home?

  • What youth, school, or parenting issues would you like to see covered in family workshops?
  • Where would you like these workshops to be held (e.g., in the school, community facility, home of a parent in your neighborhood)?
  • Would you be willing to host such a workshop?
  • When would you like to attend these workshops (i.e., day of the week and time of day)?
  • What is your preferred method(s) of communication with the school?

• Do you feel comfortable talking openly with teachers and administrators?

• Would you be interested in volunteering at the school?

  • If so, in what ways (e.g., clerical or administrative tasks, classroom duties, event planning or chaperoning, serving on the advisory committee, discussing hobbies or careers)?
  • What kinds of hobbies or work experience would you be willing to share with students?

• What kinds of resources or services would you like to see made available through the school?

Sample Questions that Your Planning Team May Want to Ask Community Groups and Businesses

• What youth, school, or community issues are most important to you?

• What are your current needs for volunteers?

  • Do you currently have parents or students volunteering in your community projects or other activities?
  • Would you consider using parent or student volunteers in your projects?

• What type of support could your business or group provide to a school (e.g., materials, volunteers)?

• In what ways would your business or group like to assist the school (e.g., sitting on an advisory committee, organizing events, providing mentoring or school-to-work programs, providing family support groups or workshops)?

• What methods have you found effective for improving school-community communications and collaborations (e.g., phone calls, newsletters, meetings)?

Note: If you want to print this document, please choose either the RTF or PDF file below. An RTF file will open in Microsoft Word. If you choose this option, you will be able to type information directly into the tables as you revise or fill in the tools that are provided. A PDF file will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader and can be printed, but not manipulated.

Assessing School-Family Communication HTML | MS Word (32KB) | PDF (9.76KB)

Communication between the school and students' homes should be regular, two-way, and meaningful.

Adapted from the National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs, National Parent-Teacher Association. This and other parent/family involvement tools are available online at http://www.pta.org/programs/invstand.htm.

Note: If you want to print this document, please choose either the RTF or PDF file below. An RTF file will open in Microsoft Word. If you choose this option, you will be able to type information directly into the tables as you revise or fill in the tools that are provided. A PDF file will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader and can be printed, but not manipulated.

Assessing School-Community Collaboration HTML | MS Word (23KB) | PDF (33KB)

Community resources are used to strengthen schools, families, and student health and learning.

Adapted from the National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs, National Parent-Teacher Association. This and other family/community involvement tools are available online at: http://www.pta.org/programs/invstand.htm.

Adler, L. & Gardner, S. (1994). The Politics of Linking Schools and Social Services. Washington, DC: Falmer Press.

This edited volume includes chapters on a wide array of factors affecting the implementation of school-linked services, including legal, financial, interpersonal, interagency, and organizational issues.

Borden, L. M. & Perkins, D. F. (1999). Assessing Your Collaboration: A Self-Evaluation Tool. Journal of Extension, 37 (2). Available online at http://www.joe.org/joe/1999april/tt1.html.

This self-evaluation tool, developed to assist existing and forming groups, allows groups to rate their collaboration on key factors, including goals, communication, sustainability, evaluation, political climate, resources, catalysts, policies/laws/regulations, history, connectedness, leadership, community development, and understanding community.

Donaldson Jr., G. A. & Sanderson, D. R. (1996). Working Together in Schools: A Guide for Educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

This book offers guidance to teachers, principals, counselors, other school staff members, parents, and community members in building strong, productive working relationships. It describes seven different opportunities for collaboration in schools, as well as a four-phase developmental process for each type of collaboration. Concrete suggestions for effective collaboration are spread throughout the book, including sample ground rules for committees and ways to surface hidden agendas.

Epstein, J. L., Coates, L., Salinas, K. C., Sanders, M. G., & Simon, B. S. (1997). School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.

This handbook enables state, district, and school leaders to organize and implement positive and permanent programs of school, family, and community partnerships. It is designed to guide the work of teams consisting of principals, teachers, parents, and others. The information, forms, and activities will also help state and district leaders support, facilitate, and reward the work of their schools. The handbook's eight chapters offer step-by-step strategies to improve school-family-community connections.

Friend, M. & Cook, L. (1996). Interactions: Collaboration Skills for Professionals (second edition). National Professional Resources, Inc.

This text describes how school professionals can develop the knowledge and skills they need for effective professional collaboration.

Harvard Family Research Project. Evaluating Family/School Partnerships: Learning from Logic Models. Available online at http://hugse1.harvard.edu/
~hfrp/family-school/html/logic.pdf.

This brief offers a step-by-step approach for developing and using a logic model as a framework for a program or organization's evaluation. Its purpose is to provide a tool to guide evaluation processes and to facilitate practitioner and evaluator partnerships. Written primarily for program practitioners, this brief uses the example of a hypothetical family/school partnership program throughout the text to help the reader understand each of the steps described.

Hooper-Briar, K. & Lawson, H. A. (Eds.) (1996). Expanding Partnerships for Vulnerable Children, Youth, and Families. Alexandria, VA: Council on Social Work Education.

This book includes papers originally presented at a conference of the same name held in September 1994. Topics include setting agendas for change, bringing clients into the collaborative process, creating school-based human service systems, developing community-responsive universities, overcoming obstacles to interprofessional education and practice, working with the media, and setting policy changes in motion.

Kretzmann, J. P. & McKnight, J. L. (1993). Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets. Chicago, IL: ACTA Publications.

This is practical guide to rebuilding troubled communities through a strategy called "asset-based community development." After briefly describing how many communities have come to be so devastated and why traditional strategies for improvement have often failed, this guide proceeds to outline strategies for developing community policies and activities based on the capacities, skills, and assets of lower-income people and their neighborhoods.

Melaville, A. & Blank, M. (1991). What It Takes: Structuring Interagency Partnerships to Connect Children and Families with Comprehensive Services. Washington, DC: Education and Human Services Consortium. ERIC Accession Number: ED330748.

This document describes factors that affect the success of collaborative efforts as determined through an analysis of 13 interagency initiatives that include the cooperation of a school with at least one human services agency. Guidelines for successful partnerships are offered, along with an inventory of questions to help agencies assess the need for partnerships, program descriptions, and a list of resource organizations.

National Parent Teacher Association (2000). Building Successful Partnerships: A Guide to Developing Parent and Family Involvement Programs. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service. Available online at http://www.pta.org/programs/bsp/book.htm.

This book describes the benefits of parent involvement, the components of effective parent involvement programs, and how to implement the National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs (which include communicating, parenting, student learning, volunteering, school decision-making and advocacy, and collaborating with the community). The book offers field-tested strategies for overcoming barriers, reaching out to key participants, and developing an effective parent involvement program.

Partnership for Family Involvement, U.S. Department of Education. A Compact for Learning: An Action Handbook for Family-School-Community Partnerships. Available online at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Compact/.

This guidebook and its activity sheets engage partners in a continuous improvement process to build and strengthen partnerships for learning. The guidebook can help teams of school staff, teachers, parents, and others develop and use a compact that outlines the shared responsibilities of school partners for children's learning.

Sensiper, S. Generating Family-School Partnerships Through Social Marketing. Harvard Family Research Project. Available online at http://hugse1.harvard.edu/
~hfrp/family-school/html/sensiper.htm.

This article describes social marketing principles and shows how they apply to family-school partnerships. The paper proposes that a formal introduction to the principles of social marketing can benefit those involved in such efforts. The seven principles outlined by Alan Andreason (Marketing Social Change, 1995) are used as a framework.

Shartrand, A. M., Weiss, H. B., Kreider, H. M., & Lopez, M. E. (1997). New Skills for New Schools: Preparing Teachers in Family Involvement. Harvard Family Research Project. Available online at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NewSkills/.

This report begins with a discussion of the importance of family involvement in children's schooling and the need to prepare teachers to promote this involvement. It then examines the status of teacher preparation, providing analyses of state certification requirements and teacher education programs. A framework for teacher preparation in family involvement highlights content areas and promising training methods. This section is followed by a set of recommendations to advance teacher preparation in family involvement.

Shaw, K. & Replogle, E. (1995). Challenges in Evaluating Comprehensive School-Linked Service Efforts. The Evaluation Exchange: Emerging Strategies in Evaluating Child and Family Services. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project, Harvard University. Available online at http://www.gse.harvard.edu/
~hfrp/eval/issue1/repogle.html.

This working paper, presented at the 1995 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, discusses the evaluation challenges facing complex school-linked services and describes and assesses how 17 such initiatives have been evaluated.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2000). Prevention Works Through Community Partnerships: Findings from SAMHSA/CSAP's National Evaluation. DHHS Publication No. (SMA)00-3373. Available online at http://www.health.org/govstudy/ms666/findings.htm.

This report describes findings from the 48-Community Study, which tracked and evaluated the outcomes of prevention strategies used by 251 community partnerships to decrease substance abuse by improving conditions in the community environment. The study reinforces the need for communities to work together and form partnerships to reduce drug and alcohol abuse -- a strategy proven to be more effective than traditional, fragmented approaches. These materials are designed to assist practitioners, researchers, and policymakers.

Taylor-Powell, E., Rossing, B., & Geran, J. (1998). Evaluating Collaboratives: Reaching the Potential. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-System Board of Regents and University of Wisconsin-Extension, Cooperative Extension.

Drawing primarily on literature in health and human services, this manual provides a compendium of ideas and research to facilitate the self-evaluation efforts of coalitions and other types of collaborations.

U.S. Department of Education (1997). Keeping Schools Open as Community Learning Centers: Extending Learning in a Safe, Drug-Free Environment Before and After School. Available online at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/LearnCenters.

This guidebook outlines the steps needed to successfully convert a school into a community learning center and lists resources for further information and assistance. Included are concrete suggestions for how to develop a community learning center budget, build consensus and partnership, conduct a community assessment of needs and resources, design an effective program, and evaluate a program's accomplishments.

U.S. Department of Education and Regional Educational Laboratory Network. Putting the Pieces Together: Comprehensive School-Linked Strategies for Children and Families. Available online at http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/
envrnmnt/css/ppt/putting.htm.

This guidebook is primarily addressed to school leaders who want to expand their efforts to help children and families succeed. It illustrates how principals, teachers, and other members of a school staff can reach out to families and the community to build a system of strong support for the healthy development and learning of their children.

Drug and Violence Prevention

Blueprints for Violence Prevention
http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/blueprints/

Building a Successful Prevention Program (Western Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies)
http://www.open.org/~westcapt/

CDC Programs That Work (Division of Adolescent and School Health)
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/
dash/rtc/index.htm

CSAP's Decision Support System
http://www.preventiondss.org/

CSAP's Model Programs
http://www.samhsa.gov/centers/csap/
modelprograms/default.htm

Drug Information and Decision Support (DIADS) Assessment
http://education.indiana.edu/cas/
diads/diads.html

Join Together Online
http://www.jointogether.org/

Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program Exemplary and Promising Programs (U.S. Department of Education)
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/
osdfs/programs.html

Partnerships and Prevention

Center for Mental Health in Schools
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/

Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships
http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/center.htm

Coalition for Community Schools
http://www.communityschools.org/

Communities in Schools
http://www.cisnet.org/index.html

Community Tool Box
http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/

Harvard Family Research Project: Family-School-Community Partnerships
http://gseweb.harvard.edu/
~hfrp/projects/family.html

Home and School Institute
http://www.megaskillshsi.org/whoweare/abouthsi.htm

National Association of Partners in Education
http://www.partnersineducation.org

National Coalition for Parental Involvement in Education
http://www.ncpie.org/

North Central Regional Education Laboratory: Pathways to School Improvement
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/

National Network of Partnership Schools
http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/

Partnership for Family Involvement in Education
http://pfie.ed.gov/

Strong Families, Strong Schools
http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/families/strong/

Federal Legislation that Supports Partnerships

Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994

National Education Goals
http://www.negp.gov/page3.htm

Title IV/Parent Information and Resource Centers
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/
GOALS2000/TheAct/sec401.html

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (EASA)

Provisions to Strengthen Parental Involvement
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/
ESEA/sec1118.html

Part B/Even Start
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/
ESEA/sec1201.html

School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994
http://www.stw.ed.gov/factsht/act.htm