Employers and Family Involvement

1. Employers and Family Involvement

2. Learning OutcomesSchool-Business Partnership • Students are able to: • Describe the genuine partnership between schools and the business sector • Elaborate commitment needed by schools and the business sector to embark on such partnership • Explain the benefits of such partnership for both parties • Describe the strategic involvement of the business for such partnership • Provide examples of strategic partnerships between schools and businesses

3. What is School-Business Partnership? • A school-business partnership is an ongoing, dynamic relationship that must be mutually beneficially for the school and the business. Partners commit to the concept of a business and a school working together

4. Traditionally, businesses provided one-time resources and materials to schools. Today, the business community is working to play a more active and long-term role in education • Extra reading: http://www.ed.gov.databases/ERIC_Digests/ed383856.html • http://www.corpschoolpartners.org

5. School Business Partnerships are designed to encourage a cooperative relationship between a school and a business or organization. • Partnerships range from a one-person business involved with a school to large corporations involved with many schools and sometimes district-wide. No business is too large or small • Each partnership starts with an agreement in which both the business and the school outline what the expectations are for each party

6. A partnership is not based on donations made to a school or for one-time activities. A successful business/school partnership is a long-term relationship in which the business helps the school develop the necessary tools to meet its educational mission. • Contributions of time and resources are more important that monetary contributions

7. Four Ways businesses can Improve EducationBallen, Casey and de Kanter, 1998 • Initiating and developing partnerships with schools and their employees • Collaborating with other businesses and community organizations • Implementing policies and programs that promote involvement in education by working parents and other employees • Contributing resources to schools

8. What Needs to be Done? • Flexi time and leave policies Employees using flexi time are required to be at the work site during designated core hours in the middle of the day Another version is called ‘lunchtime flex’. 47% of the employees have access to lunchtime flex (1994)

9. Offering part-time work and job sharing Work-at-home or telecommuting

10. Support and education for working parents Employers offer seminars, often at lunch time, on a range of parenting issues Employers keep family resource library, subscribe to newsletters for parents Employers provide literacy training Employers contract with providers of parent resource hotlines (how to motivate their child, help in homework, etc)

11. Business provide child care for their employees (or near-site centers), sponsoring child care resource, and referral services and subsidizing the high costs of child care Give employees access to trained specialists

12. Improve schools Employers provide resources for schools Fund special projects such as ‘homework hotline’, parent rooms, creation and dissemination of booklets Business serve on the boards of agencies that foster family involvement in education Business press for more challenging standards for student performance

13. Contribution in terms of donations • Business actually developed schools on their grounds for employee children (partnerships with public school departments or opening private schools)

14. Potential Benefits of School-Business Partnerships (plus School-to-work Programs) • Benefits for students and educators: Discover how classroom learning links to the work place Allow them to get a sense for the business world and for their future careers Educating and training students, giving them the skills they will need to be competitive in the workplace Emphasizes the career opportunities available exposing students to successful local companies

15. Educators become better informed about expectations of their students in the workplace • Educators become more aware of resources and available support • Providing input about skills needed in the workplace

16. Testimonials • The Partnership Program is an outstanding way to ‘reach’ students of all ages. By working in a business environment they realize how the basic classroom skills they’re learning are needed and utilized in the working world. This innovative approach is long overdue." William EnnisEnnis Restaurants, Inc.D.B.A. Pier 57 Restaurant

17. I wish we had the resources to allow all our teachers in the building to do collaborative school/business partnerships. It not only motivates students, but it reenergizes teachers and gives new life to their curriculum." • Annette Speach, PrincipalCicero Elementary School

18. Benefits for business Enhancing their corporate image Motivating corporate staff to become models of excellence Receive better trained, future employees Contribute to the development of the community and human resources Understand the education system and its complexities Building customers’ loyalty Resource: http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/32000/31923.pdf

19. Promoting Partnerships with Schools • How to promote strategic education partnerships in your school setting?

20. Strategic Education Partnerships • Steps for creating the partnerships • Step 1 • Create a corporate environment that supports educational involvement • Step 2 • Assess your company’s involvement in business-education partnerships

21. Step 3 Link to business and school • Step 4 Build coalitions • Step 5 Plan, implement and evaluate

22. Step 1: Create a Corporate Culture that Supports Education Involvement • Create a company culture, and program/policies/resources that support educational involvement • What is your vision of company’s education approaches? • What structures/systems have you put in place to support this vision? • What unspoken rules affect translating this vision into action?

23. Does your company have the following structures/systems? • Policy statement which express its commitment to educational issues • Communication strategies designed to indicate the importance of employees involvement in education • Opportunities for involvement • Employee recognition (for those who are involved in education) • Manager performance evaluations linked to support of employee’s involvement/volunteerism

24. What policies, programs, and resources are available at your workplace? Information about ways of getting involved Training/workshops Flexible/alternative work arrangements Paid time-off/employee leave policies for volunteering in schools, accompanying children during transition, or attending teacher conferences

25. Step 2: Assess your company’s involvement in Business-Education Partnerships • Become an employer of choice Employees able to balance their work and home lives – will create benefits in terms of recruitment, retention, loyalty and productivity Corporate education approaches include: Resource donation Business-education programs Stakeholder/community-wide collaboration

26. Resource donation Questions to be asked: Who is responsible for resource donations? What types of resource/donation are occurring? What have been some of the benefits/results of resource donations? What barriers have been encountered?

27. Business-education program • Who is responsible? • What types of activities? • What is the rational? • What are the benefits? • What are the obstacles?

28. Assess stakeholder/community wide collaborations • Who is responsible? • What types if collaborations are occurring? • What is the rational? • What are the obstacles?

29. Step 3: Link to Business and School Objectives • Link the approaches to business and school objectives • Ask the following questions: What are your company’s priorities, mission and values? What are the most important educational issues? Have you done any benchmarking to determine what other companies are doing in the educational arena?

30. What are the school’s goals and objectives? What could corporate educational partners help the school system to meet educational goals?

31. Align your educational approaches with your business and school objectives Does this educational approach reflect both business and school objectives? What resources are available or needed to continue or redirect your educational approach?

32. Step 4: Build Coalitions • Identify champions/internal stakeholders and their educational priorities Who are the ‘movers and shakers’ in your company, the people who can make things happen Who are the people who can take the leadership role?

33. Identify external stakeholders and their educational priorities Which individuals and groups might share your motivators for involvement? Which external stakeholders are willing to join with you and take responsibility to commit resources to succeed?

34. Step 5: Plan, implement and evaluate • Develop and implement a business plan A four-stage plan for action: Vision Leadership Measurable indicators Continuous improvement

35. Create a communications strategy • What do you want to communicate? • What are your target audience(s)? • What is your timetable? (3 months/6 months/1 year) • What vehicles will you use to communicate your message?

36. Tips for Partnerships • In successful partnerships, leadership builds commitment and gather resources. The resources are used to help participants become comfortable with and adept at new ways of performing. • Successful educational partnership use evaluation and strategic and adaptive planning to ensure that activities meet local needs, values, and conditions • Need special rules and guidelines to avoid criticism, such as commercialism in the school environment

37. Successful partnerships acknowledge and confront problems, using them as the opportunity to build relationships among partners

38. Examples of School-Business Partnership Initiatives • Shell Oil Company and the Los Angeles Unified School District • Involves ten inner city high schools and helps students graduate from high school, continue their education by going to college, and gain valuable career skills • An 84-hour after-school program covers topics such as job searching and career planning

39. After completing the program, students are placed into after school jobs sponsored by a network of local business • Half of the students’ salaries is paid by local business and half is paid by Shell • 80% continued to college after high school graduation

40. The Community Learning Program (CLP) in Florissant, Missouri • The program gives students a chance to pursue a career they are interested in while still in seniors Students enroll in a one-semester program and are matched with area organizations or businesses • Participants commit to a three-class period of time, four days a week and are not paid, but do receive school credit

41. Students explore fields as diverse as TV and radio production, auto body repair and X-ray technology

42. SURVEY OF SCHOOL-BUSINESS LINKS IN ENGLAND IN 1997/98 • Sample of 850 primary and 545 secondary schools. A total of 630 primary and 411 secondary schools replied, giving response rates of 74 per cent and 75 per cent respectively

43. Primary schools • Forty-eight per cent of primary schools reported they had links with business The most common business link for primary schools was visits to businesses, with 30 per cent of schools participating

44. Secondary schools Ninety two per cent of secondary schools had links with business Forty-eight per cent of secondary schools reported that they had link activities with small, medium and large firms or organizations.