DropBox for Part C: School and Community Relationships for School Leaders Start Assignment Part C: Building a plan to create productive partnerships with specific entities. After learning about and de

Part B and D

Determine the strengths and areas of growth that re needed for the school and community

Oak Park Elementary has numerous strengths in its focused academic interventions and professional development for teachers, particularly in essential content areas, including mathematics and language arts (MDE, 2024). Furthermore, the appointment of a community liaison and the implementation of focused Parent’s Association meetings increase parental and community involvement. However, areas of improvement are adding more resources to embrace a wider spectrum of subjects and students, as well as involving a larger segment of the community. In order to maintain and enhance these programs, process evaluation and feedback, in addition to annual cultural competence training sessions, are crucial. Continuously soliciting feedback and adopting a more relaxed schedule as part of an effective parent engagement framework will also guarantee the inclusion of all community members in the school’s progress.

Incorporate how the strategies and goals you created (Part A) would include stakeholder inclusion in the decisions that would strengthen learning and school progress. 

The strategies and goals proposed in Part A focus on stakeholder engagement and selection by actively incorporating both internal and external stakeholders. The Comprehensive Academic Support Program will incorporate teacher impressions of the child and the student learning outcomes to inform the approaches to be taken. Effective Parental and Community Participation will entail efficient parent meetings and consultation and the appointment of a community relations officer. Evaluations that include family and community members at least once a month will ensure the strategies and objectives are being developed with current data. In this way, decision-making reflects the consensus of a number of people, and the educational process as well as the development of a school becomes more effective and consistent with the overall efforts of a single collective.

Part B: Focus on trends as revealed by both quantitative and qualitative data analysis found in print and public records and analyze the trends with community partners. Document your resources. (The instructor will direct candidates as to how many interviews and/or resources to include.) (NELP 5.2, PSEL 8.F)

Analyzing the quantitative data, we can notice that the students are underperforming in both maths and English and are frequently absent from school. Paper surveys and interviews reveal that parents and teachers believe there is insufficient academic assistance and parental involvement. Engaging these trends with community collaborators, such as businesses and non-profits, shows the need for improved after-school tutoring or better communication with families. Such collaborations call for the adoption of effective support programs and parental training sessions to curb such problems. Evaluation evidence included school performance data, community needs assessment, and communications that took place with various stakeholders to address academic achievement and community engagement.

Part D:  Identify, through interviews and research, how best to engage families, students, and school personnel to strengthen learning and school progress, as a result of diversity (the racial make-up, family makeup, nationalities, languages spoken, religions, housing, and job types/growth). Document your resources. (The instructor will direct candidates as to how many interviews and/or resources to include.) (NELP 5.2, PSEL 8.F)

Per conversation with Dr. Leaner Bridges II (2024) and research show the following approaches to show how to involve multicultural families, students, and school staff. It is necessary to provide multilingual communication and translation services to address the needs of families that do not speak English. This shows that cultural competence training for staff can promote an inclusive environment. Cultural-related activities such as celebrations of different nationalities and religions performances and workshops can foster togetherness. Scheduling meetings at different times and using a range of communication technologies help increase parents' engagement. Working with other organizations can help in solving problems related to housing and job growth among students. Sources include interviews with parents, teachers, and community members, overcomes, and research on best practices for diverse populations to improve academic achievement and school success.

Using the school's demographical information and data how you will involve internal and external stakeholders (families, students, teachers, community leaders, etc)?

According to the data from Mississippi Department of Education, demographic analysis of Oak Park Elementary, targeted strategies will be used to involve internal and external stakeholders. Communication with families will be conducted in multiple languages and during the parents’ convenient time. Students will be engaged in feedback sessions and cultural activities; their input will be valued. Teachers will be trained on issues to do with cultural competence and will help in the formulation of support services for students. Schools will engage the community representatives in advisory committees to ensure that their undertakings are inclusive of the community’s needs. There will be regular workshops and meetings to ensure constant communication of the all parties involved. Such an approach, backed by population statistics, guarantees diverse input into processes and thereby optimizes academic achievement and school development.

What are the strengths of your goals and strategies to include internal and external stakeholders in the decision-making that would strengthen learning and progress in your school and community?

The main strength of the goals and strategies is that they are integrated and address internal and external stakeholders' interests. This way, the multilingual communication and engagement opportunities help families, students, teachers, and community leaders to be involved more in the decision-making processes. Cultural competence training aims at increasing the level of staff's knowledge about culturally diverse populations and ways to work with them. Besides, the formation of advisory committees with community elders enhances partnerships that align school activities with community goals. These are followed by feedback loops and workshops that ensure constant communication and updates the process. These strengths allow all stakeholders to feel valued and enabled in the process of developing the school and enhancing the learning of students and members of the wider society.

Area of growth that is needed in order to include the stakeholders in the decision-making process.

One of the areas of development that could be enhanced to incorporate the stakeholders in the decision-making process is accessing them. This includes making sure that the minority or those less fortunate are given an opportunity and recognized in all policy-making forums. Some of the approaches may include means to ensure other forms of support for participation are offered, for instance, child care or transport means, and, more importantly, looking for ways of incorporating different views. Other factors that are important in the achievement of full stakeholder engagement are trust and the establishment of a communication network, which should be created to ensure that any hurdles that restrict the optimum engagement of the stakeholder are eliminated. Thus, it is crucial to ensure that all the aspects of the decision-making process are fair and not have a bias towards a particular group of people.

How will you sustain or strengthen your program for success?

References

Bridges, Leander. (2024, May 22). Personal interview.

Mississippi Department of Education (MDE). https://msrc.mdek12.org/entity?EntityID=3420-024&SchoolYear=2022