Guide to a Student-Family-School-Community Partnership: Using a Student & Data Driven Process to Improve School Environments & Promote Student Success

N

58

Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health

Partnerships in Education; Educational Environment; Educational Improvement; School Community Relationship; Focus Groups; Resilience (Psychology); Barriers; Stakeholders; Family School Relationship; Success; Adolescent Development; Middle School Students; Planning

This guide presents a data-driven, research-based process--referred to as the "school-community forum process"--for increasing youth voice, promoting resilience, strengthening adult-youth connections, and ultimately, for improving schools. It uses a "student listening circle"--a special type of focus group involving eight to ten student participants who respond to five or six questions determined from data on resilience and non-academic barriers to learning. A separate listening circle is conducted with each of the primary stakeholder groups in the school-community (family, school staff, and community members). This forum process helps these groups hear and better meet the needs of students to promote the healthy development of youth, and their success in school and life. It is also a powerful process for actually demonstrating a resilience practice that brings forth the wisdom of youth, and the support of adults in improving school environments and student success. The guide is meant to help adults who work with youth in school- and community-based organizations, and is based on lessons learned in the Student-Family-School-Community Partnership Project carried out at a San Francisco Bay Area middle school. This guide aims to help parents, educators, and community members better understand the critical role of resilience in improving student success and school climate, and shows them one way to capture and use the power of student voice and community involvement in improving schools and fostering youth resilience. Contains a list of Resilience and Youth Development resources. The following are appended: (1) Data Sheet Example; (2) Resilience Handout Example; (3) Resilience and Youth Development Framework Model; (4) Forum Evaluation (Student Participant Form) Example; (5) Forum Evaluation ("Listener" Form) Example; (6) Listening Circle Agreement; (7) School Listening Circle Question Handout; (8) Community Listening Circle Question Handout; and (9) Home Listening Circle Question Handout. [This document was created by Bonnie Bernard and Carol Burgoa, and was written with the assistance of Jamie Hillenberg.]

ERIC

13

ED545367

2010

ED566395