The four school districts participating in Enhancing Collaborative Relationships between Families and Schools have already undertaken several activities, developed tools and implemented practices to increase family involvement.

Activities

• Signed contracts and formation of the FAST Team
• Several versions of a New Parent Packet, which is given out when a student is newly identified or moves into district with an existing IEP.
• An enclosure for the PPT meeting invitation entitled Preparing for the Planning and Placement Team.   This is sent to the family with the PPT invitation and lets them know their input is important and is designed to help them prepare to share their thoughts on their child’s program.
• Joint training (staff & family) opportunities offered by the districts, presented by various agencies or school personnel.

Tools

• Case Manager Checklist
  This tool has been developed for use by Case Managers to track their communication with families.
• Parent Packet
  The Parent Packet was developed to welcome parents with children new to special education or to the district and offer them information about special education and their specific school system.
• Monthly Family Contact Log
  These tools have been created for teachers to use to help document contacts they have with students’ families. The individual family contact record provides more detailed information about the contact. The monthly family contact log is in spreadsheet format in order to provide an organized list of contacts with each students’ family.
• One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships (School Level, Form G-Goals). National Network of Partnership Schools.
  This tool has been created for use at the school-level; the action plan is organized by school improvement goal, including two academic goals, one behavioral goal, and one goal to promote a welcoming school climate.
• One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships (School Level, Form T-Types)Areas to Consider When Preparing for Your PPT Meeting. National Network of Partnership Schools.
  This tool has been created for use at the school level; the action plan is organized by Joyce Epstein’s Six Types of Family Involvement: Parenting, Communicating, Volunteering, Learning at Home, Decision Making, and Collaborating with the Community.

Practices

• FAST Team
  The Fast Team-Families and Schools Together, is a group comprised of parents, teachers, administrators, and related service providers. The overarching goal of this team is to enhance communication between families of children with special needs and school personnel who provide service.
  The team works towards meeting 4 main needs:
  • A need for all staff members to value and include parents as partners in their children’s education.
  • A need for parents new to the district or parents of newly identified students to get information regarding special education rights, district practices and resources.
  • A need for effective communication between all team members related to curriculum and specific interventions used.
  • A need for effective communication between district administration and parents related to general information about special education.
• Professional Development
  • Developing Positive Relationships between Families and Schools Workshop
    The importance of positive home-school relationships and the effect of these relationships on students’ success will be discussed.  Participants will also learn strategies that families and schools can use to create meaningful relationships as well as the barriers to successful relationships.
  • Families as Partners Training
    Families as Partners is designed to develop partnerships and promote collaboration between schools and families in the implementation of the IEP. Three training modules, available in both English and Spanish, are presented jointly to parents and district personnel on Preparing for the PPT, Developing the IEP and What to Do When You Disagree. Providing joint training allows parents and professionals to hear the same information and it gives them a chance to sit down together in a comfortable setting to talk about their concerns, both parents concerns for their children and the school’s concerns when education the children.
• Parent Leadership Committee
  The Parent Leadership Committee is voluntary and is run by parents from all grade levels. Each grade level has one or two official parent representatives, but all parents are welcome to attend and provide their opinions and input. This committee meets about every-other month but they keep in contact more frequently than that.