A Guide to Building Education Partnerships

by Hora, Matthew T.; Millar, Susan B.; Ramaley, Judith A.

• ISBN13: 9781579224721
• ISBN10: 1579224725
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-31
• Publisher: Stylus Pub Llc

Summary

The authors of this book seek to answer the critical questions that potential education partners must ask themselves if they hope to succeed. Why engage in a partnership? How do you select the best organizational structure for a partnership? How can school and university leaders and teachers effectively develop and operate partnerships? How can you fruitfully address the challenges of designing cross-organizational structures and procedures, while simultaneously negotiating cultural dynamics and conflict? How do you communicate the potential benefits of partnership to motivate teachers, faculty, and administrators? Based on their research data and the literature, the authors identify the principles ' which form the core of this book ' that they consider critical to answering these questions. They do not minimize the differences and complexities inherent in partnership work, because they believe that doing so would be to present coherence and homogeneity where none exists. Instead, they seek to make evident how these principles underlie many different partnership situations. Thus, rather than presenting a package of best practices, or a cookie-cutter approach, this book presents the organizational principles for planning and implementing education partnerships, along with sets of strategies for working through them.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Foreword	p. ix
Introduction: The Challenge and Promise of Education Partnerships	p. 1
The Nature of Education Partnerships
Working in a Partnership: New Tasks and Challenges
Methodology: Understanding the Underlying Mechanisms of Partnership
The Five Principles of Partnership
How to Use This Book
Getting Ready for Partnership	p. 29
Shall We Dance?	p. 31
Convening a Pre-Partnership Planning Group
A Final Word on Pre-Partnership Planning
Sizing Up Organizational Aspirations and Attributes	p. 45
Problems, Goals, and Objectives
Motivations
Capacity and Resources
Autonomy and Interdependence
Understanding Cultural Dynamics	p. 67
Avoiding the Common-Culture Myth
Focusing on Cultural Dynamics Within Organizations
Agenda Items for Your Pre-Partnership Meetings
Crossing Organizational and Cultural Boundaries	p. 83
Why Boundary Crossing Is Important
Characteristics of Boundary Crossing
Agenda Items for Your Pre-Partnership Planning Meetings
Designing A Partnership	p. 95
Types of Organizational Structures for Partnership	p. 99
Three Main Partnership Structures
Selecting a Partnership Type
Administration and Leadership	p. 113
Governance
Selecting Leaders
Other Administrative Functions
Effective Communication Systems	p. 133
Working With Existing Systems
Creating a Progressive Partnership Communication System
Implementing Partnerships	p. 145
Designing the Work	p. 47
Understand the Task Environment
Select a Leverage Point
Identify the Right Type of Intervention
Build Bridges to All Levels of the Local Partner Organization
Developing and Managing Working Groups	p. 159
Guidelines for All Working Groups
Additional Guidelines for Collaborative Working Groups
The Key Roles of Trust and Managing Conflict	p. 173
Dynamics of Trust in Partnerships
Strategies for Developing Trust
Managing Conflict in Education Partnerships
Epilogue	p. 185
Appendix: Methodology	p. 191
References	p. 197
Glossary	p. 205
Index	p. 209
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