Designing Community Partnerships to Expand Student Learning: A Toolki | Page 9

District Support for Recruiting
Community Partners

STEP FOUR: SECURE THE RELATIONSHIPS

As public schools increase their use of outside
staffing resources to expand their curricular
offerings, many districts are creating resources
dedicated to helping their schools find
funding, along with compiling databases or
lists of community organizations that make
great partners.

Once organizations have been vetted and community
partners selected, schools must determine key
aspects of the relationship, such as systems for
communicating, responsibilities and roles, scope
and statement of work, and metrics for measuring
success. Use this checklist to work through the
key parameters of the relationship. Once you have
completed the list, the final product should be a
Community Partnership Agreement, another formal
document that articulates all the elements of your
work together.

For example, Denver Public Schools (DPS) has
created the Office of Extended Learning and
Community Schools. This district-funded group
works with DPS schools to find innovation
funds and community organizations to provide
expanded learning programs and family
wraparound services. The district’s extended
learning time team, in conjunction with the
Denver Afterschool Alliance, has created a
comprehensive database of local community
organizations that have been approved to work
across district schools. The searchable database
provides a breakdown of organizations by age,
subject, time of day they offer programming,
and cost. It also provides tools to determine the
organizations currently serving each school in
the district. This comprehensive system allows
schools and organizations to track the data
associated with their partner programming
and generate reports to track the successes
and weaknesses of the programming. (To gain
access to the Community Partnership System,
contact Heather Intres at heather_intres@
dpsk12.org.)
If your district does not already have a list of
trusted community partners, it will be up to
you to screen and vet potential organizations.
These Prescreening Questions for Potential
Community Partners can be a useful starting
place for sparking the dialogue and gathering
the data you need to decide whether an
organization is the right fit.

Compensating Community Partners

Community partner agreements should include
details about funding and compensation. Innovative
Approaches to Funding Sustainable Programs
includes the budgetary elements of designing an
enrichment program so jump to there for some
helpful resources.

STEP FIVE: RECRUIT VOLUNTEERS
Beyond community partnerships, parents, families,
and community volunteers can significantly influence
enrichments. Educators can determine the best roles
for volunteers based on student needs. For example,
some Colorado schools have used volunteers
to help assist community partners or educators
during enrichments. In other schools, parents or
family members run their own enrichment classes;
participate in the administrative side of the work;
or co-create the expanded learning time model as a
whole, working with staff to redesign the school day
and decide which community partners to leverage.
The resources below can help schools work
effectively with volunteers:
• Volunteer Opportunities Flier. Personalize
this flier template to advertise the volunteer
opportunities in your school.
• Incorporating a Volunteer into Your Classroom.
Use this tool during professional learning time to
co-create with educators the role of a volunteer
in their classroom.
• Questions for Potential Community Partners/

Designing Community Partnerships to Expand Student Learning: A Toolkit — coloradoedinitiative.org

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