Building sustainable partnerships with schools: three key strategies for mentoring programs

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Abstract

Community-based organizations are increasingly working together with teachers and administrators to bring mentoring programs to schools. To collaborate effectively and ensure maximum benefits for youth, strong partnerships must be forged. Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest uses three key strategies to build sustainable partnerships with schools: 1) begin on common ground; 2) become a commodity, not a burden; and 3) share data. This effective practice describes each strategy and includes concrete action steps to achieve them. Adapted from the U.S. Department of Education’s Mentoring Resource Center’s case study, “Building Sustainable Partnerships With Schools," and submitted by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory: LEARNS, in January 2008.

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Issue

Mentoring has been shown to be useful in both in-school and after-school settings. But due to increasing demands on school staff and teachers, community-based organizations need to work intentionally to build and sustain partnerships that are truly collaborative for these programs to remain successful.

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Action

Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest (BBBS) uses the following key strategies to build sustainable partnerships with schools:

Begin on Common Ground

Both schools and mentoring providers have the same ultimate goal — helping youth — which immediately provides a common ground and shared purpose for mentors and school staff. To make the most of this shared purpose:

  • Find a "champion" for your program — someone respected in the schools that will help promote the program.
  • Discuss what each partner is looking for in the partnership and what each can contribute.
  • Demonstrate how your program can help achieve existing educational objectives.
  • Use research and evaluation findings to show the effects mentoring can have on student attendance, attitudes, behavior, and grades.
  • Create a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to detail expectations of the partnership.

Become a Commodity, Not a Burden

School staff with heavy workloads and limited time may greet new programs — and the additional tasks associated with them — less than enthusiastically. Take steps to counteract any resistance you encounter, including:

  • Invite school staff to help you identify the most appropriate youth for your services.
  • Consider building stipends for school staff into your budget to compensate for extra time spent making referrals or collecting data for your program.
  • Be attentive to the school calendar and schedule services so that they don't conflict with key school events.
  • Become part of the schools' Local Education Agency Plans (LEAPs). Volunteer to draft parts of the LEAP, in particular those that are a good match with your services. You will be helping schools with a difficult task, while building program sustainability at the same time.

Share Data

Both schools and mentoring programs collect data. Build agreements about data collection and sharing into your MOU. The following strategies can help you ease data-collection expectations for schools and provide additional data that may be helpful to them in return:

  • Report back data findings to schools in meaningful ways, so that they can use it as well.
  • Share copies of your own evaluation reports and/or formally present findings at a staff meeting.
  • Consider timing for data collection and be as clear as possible up front about your data needs.
  • Use the summer as a time to connect with the school administration to find out what worked and what can be improved in terms of data collection.

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Context

Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest works with nine school districts in three counties to provide 300 greatest-needs youth, in grades 4-8, with caring one-to-one adult mentors. Because of the growing number of Latino youth in these counties, and the educational challenges they face, at least 40 to 55 percent of youth served are Latino. Adult volunteers are matched with youth and all contact occurs at the school during the school day. Mentors visit their Little Brothers and Sisters once a week and spend approximately one hour together for a minimum of one year.

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Outcome

By setting up a liaison in each school and intentionally fostering school partnerships through regular contact and support, BBBS has created an infrastructure critical to the success of its school-based programs.

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Evidence

External evaluation of the BBBS mentoring program was conducted by Portland State University's Regional Research Institute, and demonstrated that:
  • Participants had improved self-confidence and exhibited more interests and hobbies.
  • Participants had improved school attendance; for the 17 students that were mentored that were matched for 12 months or more, the average number of missed days dropped from 22.5 in 2004-2005 to 15.5 in 2005-2006.
  • Participants (in select districts) had improved scores in reading, writing, and mathematics.

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Posted On

January 15, 2008

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Resources

Savvy Traveling: Volunteers engaging with school culture: http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/filemanager/download/learns/fall2004.pdf

Making the Grade: A guide to incorporating academic achievement into mentoring programs and relationships: http://www.edmentoring.org/pubs/making_the_grade.pdf

 

 

 


Related Practices

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Related sites

The U.S. Department of Education Mentoring Resource Center

The National Mentoring Center

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