Leveraging Purposeful Partnerships
December 01, 2022
Appears in December 2022: School Administrator.
Three critical considerations when looking outside the district to increase leverage and capacity for improvement
The demands on school leaders never have been more complex or demanding. They escalate, taking us further from the core mission of teaching and learning, while the needs of the communities that our schools serve never have been greater.
The definition of access to learning has expanded to include all community and family conditions that affect educational outcomes, including health care, mental health, food security, safe housing, family stability, technology access and transportation. While the school is an important hub for community engagement in matters related to the wellness and education of children, the pressure to address noninstructional matters has become overwhelming.
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Getting Partnering Right
Creating deep and meaningful partnerships to advance the goals of a school district is a powerful strategy for creating sustained change.
Based on my superintendent work at state and district levels, here are three considerations when planning for outsider collaborators and bringing on board partners to accelerate progress toward the schools’ mission and to ensure lasting impact.
Focus on capacity you cannot access internally.
This is one of the most significant potential benefits from public-private partnerships, and it is in these areas where you should be focused first. Rather than outsourcing a function that is currently performed by district staff, look for opportunities for partnerships to create expanded capacity and tap into innovations that simply do not exist within the school district and supporting organizations, such as regional service centers.
Leverage a community or school board call to action to move fast.
Problems in the public education system, such as the extensive student learning loss many districts experienced during the pandemic, require a rapid response to mitigate lasting negative impact. However, school district governance and bureaucracy often are not structured to move with speed. The right partner can help to activate solutions much faster than a school district can do on its own, so when there is a call to address a pressing need from the school community or the school board, a superintendent can more quickly drive significant change.
Focus on partnerships that leverage influencer power in the community.
Identifying such partners is all about cultivating personal relationships and securing the support of trusted members of the community to make the mechanics of the program visible to stakeholders at all levels. A good partner will create leverage for the superintendent and share the political capital necessary to see transformational programs through until they are delivering benefits.
— Christina Kishimoto
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