Writing Successful Grants KnowledgeBase

This KnowledgeBase archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.

The Writing Successful Grants KnowledgeBase is an online resource aiding education professionals in their pursuit of public and private grants to support local programs. Its five elements contain information and resources that assist the grant seeker with developing their project, writing the grant proposal and managing the grant upon its award.

Task 5: Assess Family and Community Involvement

Guideline: Family involvement is an important part of a child's education. Knowing how parents are involved, the type of activities they participate in, and level of participation may be useful when compiling the grant proposal. Understanding the community's demographics, socio-economic status, and health profiles is important when assessing the community's impact on the school and students. Depending on the nature of the grant sought, a community assessment may be a useful part of the grant proposal.

Resources

Checklists

Family and Community Data Elements

This chart from the U.S. Department of Education publication, An Idea Book on Planning, Vol. I, Implementing Schoolwide Programs, provides a checklist of data elements related to family and community involvement for inclusion in a school profile.

Strengthening Partnerships: Community School Assessment Checklist

This Coalition for Community Schools document contains three checklists designed to help schools assess partnership activities within their community.

Tools

Characteristics of Our Community

This worksheet from the Washington Education Association's Building Community Connections publication may help school leaders create a community profile.

Measure of School, Family, and Community Partnerships

This tool was developed in collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Education Northwest, the former Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. As noted in the document's opening, "it is intended to measure how your school is reaching out to involve parents, community members, and students in a meaningful manner."

School as a Caring Community Profile - II (SCCP-II)

As noted at its website, "the School as a Caring Community Profile-II (SCCP-II) is an instrument developed by the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Responsibility) to help schools assess themselves as caring communities. The SCCP may be administered at any point (ideally at the beginning) of a character education initiative and then at later points to assess progress."

References

Six Types of School-Family-Community Involvement

This National Network of Partnership Schools webpage discusses six types of cooperation among families, schools, and other community organizations as identified by Johns Hopkins University Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships Director Joyce Epstein.