We are so pleased to announce our newest class of National PTA Schools of Excellence. The amazing 2019-2021 designees consist of 326 amazing PTA leaders—a whopping 17% increase from last year!
The two-year School of Excellence designation celebrates PTA leadership and accomplishments in building strong, effective family-school partnerships! Through the year-long program process, each PTA examines how their community feels the school measures up to the research-based indicators of the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships. Then the PTA members work in partnership with their school community and administrators to address areas for growth and create new ways for families to support student success.
Here are just a few examples of how the 2019-2021 National PTA Schools of Excellence worked to improve their schools and communities to achieve the designation.
Wiregrass Ranch High School PTSA, Florida
Wiregrass Ranch High School (WRHS) PTSA worked to increase student participation and engagement. Through a coordinated social media and outreach campaign, WRHS PTSA obtained a record number of student liaisons (18). The liaisons diligently attended PTSA Board meetings and managed the PTSA Twitter account. Their perspective and insight were invaluable!
The student engagement didn’t stop at the school walls, however. For the first time in the history of WRHS, the WRHS PTSA student liaisons attended the Florida PTA Legislative Conference in Tallahassee. At the conference student liaisons met with legislators to discuss changes in the law to benefit their education and communities.
Leroy Gordon Cooper PTA, New Jersey
Leroy Gordon Cooper PTA hosted an Art and Music festival to begin strengthening their Family-School Partnerships. At the event, parents, students, and special guests, including district administration, viewed musical performances and artwork created by Leroy Gordon Cooper students.
To get more families involved and bring awareness to the event, Leroy Gordon Cooper PTA held contests for the design of the event program and t-shirts. They also raised money during the event by auctioning off student artwork and hosting raffles and a bake sale. This allowed the PTA to give scholarships and funds directly to the art and music program at Leroy Gordon Cooper, showing the value of PTA!
Barksdale Elementary PTA, Texas
As a part of their work with the School of Excellence program, Barksdale Elementary PTA focused on creating a welcoming culture and climate by helping their school community understand and respect cultural differences. To accomplish this, the PTA created a Cultural Diversity Night, where families volunteered to host tables that showcased their families’ culture.
Barksdale Elementary PTA realized that English was the second language spoken by most families they hoped to involve in the event. To resolve this, Barksdale Elementary PTA worked with an ESL specialist to translate the invitation into Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Russian, Hindi and Spanish. The invitation was then sent home with students in their family’s first language.
By the evening of our event, seventy families had volunteered to host a table, representing twenty-eight countries and six continents! Table host families dressed in customary attire, prepared traditional dishes, performed dances, provided crafts, and displayed artifacts and pictures. Families that did not host a table received a passport upon arrival, which was stamped after the student and their family had ‘explored’ the country’s display. This event was extremely well received, and enthusiastically praised by all that participated. There was a palpable sense of community and inclusion that carried over into the rest of their year!
Congratulations to these amazing PTAs and, once again, to all of our 2019-2021 National PTA School of Excellences. The work that these PTAs accomplished was specific to their unique schools’ needs. How will your PTA work as key decision-makers and action-takers in your school this year?
Take the first step in becoming a nationally-recognized PTA School of Excellence by enrolling now through Oct. 1 at PTA.org/Excellence. Email Excellence@PTA.org with any questions.
Ellie Miller is a Programs & Partnerships Specialist at National PTA.
