At the recent PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference, I enjoyed a good discussion on this topic by a presenter from the National PTA.  True, our district is based on the National PTO group, but a good idea is a good idea, and I will “steal shamelessly” (to quote GE’s Jack Welch) when it can help.

The presentation was based on a PTA-developed program for evaluating and implementing partnerships though the use of an up-front survey connected to a simple rubric (Edu-term warning: Rubric = a scoring measure and improvement plan in one document).

To be fair and balanced, PTO Today, the group that supports our PTO structure, also has a very good parent-involvement approach with many good ideas, but based on my history with our UPG, I found the survey and rubric approach to be more easily implemented for a group of parents that changes frequently.  The rubric is perhaps more focused on the relationship between families and administrations.

You be the judge and use what you believe works.  I offer this as additional support for all parent involvement activities.