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Charleston County School District

Home » Charleston County School District

14 Sep 2022, 2022 Partnership District and Organization Awards | Comments

Charleston, SC

Left: Tammy Dunmeyer (Parent Advocate, Chicora Elementary, 2022 School Partnership Award), Middle: Vanessa Smith (Parent Advocate, Ladson Elementary, 2022 School Partnership Award), Rosa Fulmore (Title I Parent & Family Engagement Coordinator, NNPS District Facilitator), Right: Tyra Johnson (Parent Advocate, North Charleston Elementary); Not Pictured: Clifford Brown (Parent Advocate, C.E. Williams Middle School-North Campus) and Tukayra Bogan (Parent Advocate, Morningside Middle School)

Rosa Fulmore, Title I Parent and Family Engagement Coordinator

Rosa_fulmore@charleston.k12.sc.us

Strengthen leadership for partnerships

Learning & Growing Through Professional Development

Charleston County School District and its schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships (ATPs) met monthly on Zoom to exchange information on their work and progress. Representatives of school-based ATPs heard from district leaders in various departments about programs and services that would assist their schools. For example, ESOL Parent Advocates presented information on best practices to support multilingual students and families.

In addition, schools’ ATPs were spotlighted at each meeting to showcase a noteworthy family engagement activity. In this way, district leaders learned about the efforts, challenges, and successes with family engagement in their schools. Topics included Title I requirements for family engagement, student and family needs, information on state offices and resources for family engagement, and two book-study selections (Mindset by Dweck and Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher’s Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success by Mapp, Carver, & Lander).

Parent leaders, school and district staff, teachers, families, ATP members, and community and business partners were invited to participate in the professional development sessions. They could sign up to present information on their programs, share resources, and consider ways to collaborate with each other. All of the meetings aimed to help schools conduct more effective and equitable programs of school, family, and community partnerships that support students academically, behaviorally, and emotionally.

Over 60 teachers and administrators, more than 75 parents, and numerous district leaders participated in the 21-22 school year. Each workshop was evaluated individually, and the series was evaluated in the middle and end of the school year. One challenge was that leaders were still following COVID-19 guidelines for online meetings only. As the year progressed, school teams and district leaders were eager to meet face-to-face for more powerful interactions. They look forward to in-person and online options when restrictions are relaxed in the new school year.

Read more about Learning & Growing Through Professional Development in Promising Partnership Practices 2022.