DOCUMENT RESUME ED 338 799 CE 052 042 AUTHOR Kramer, Judith TITLE "...Of Interest." Connection Resource Ban Newsletter. Informing School System Staff Members about a School-Community-Business Cooperative Project. Final Report. INSTITUTION Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, Md. SPONS AGENCY Department of Education, Washington, DC. PUB DATE Sep 88 CONTRACT ERI-G-860108 NOTE 242p. PUB TYPE Reports - Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Community Resources; Cooperative Programs; Databases; Elementary Secondary Education; Ins,..itutional Cooperation; *Mathematics Instruction; *Newsletters; Program Development; Program Implementation; *School Business Relationship; *Science Instruction IDENTIFIERS *Montgomery County Public Schools MD ABSTRACT The public school system of Montgomery County, Maryland, established a database of more than 1,800 volunteer business and community resources in the areas of science and mathematics who are willing to share their expertise with student' and teachers in 1F,4 county schools. Through a grant, a monthly newsletter that highlights this sharing is published. More than 7,50J copies are distributed each month to teachers, school administrators, and career specialists. Newsletter articles about teachers' use of business and community experts as speakers in the classroom or mentors for students make all teachers aware of the resources , available. Specific objectives that teachers are required to teach in science and mathematics are identified and applicable resources are listed. Special attention is paid to use of minority role models whenever possible. Alternative careers for women in science and mathematics are emphasized as well. The newsletter editor acts as a community resource and links teachers and businesses. Through the newsletter, the resource bank encourages teachers and students to look outside the classroom and encourages the business community to become involved in its schuols. Documents used in the project comprise a large portion of this report. These include brochures, forms, rlorrespondence, media articles, and two volumes of the newsletter. (Author/KC) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Final Report "...OFINTEREST" Connection Resource Bank Newsletter Informing school system staff members about a school community -business cooperative project U S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION dir°Ma of Educabonal Hasaann and Impaniernpnl Ei) CATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Mrs documenl hes been reproducedas received Irom the person ororganization originating it 0 Minor changes have been madeto improve reproduction Q wall y Points of view or opinions staled inthis docu ment do not necessarily representofficial OERI position or policy Funded through an Excellence in Education Award to Paint Branch HighSchool Montgomery Comity, Maryland September 1988 lEST COPY AVAILABLE An Excellence in Education award to Paint Branch High School Montgomery County Public Schools Office of Information 850 Hungerford Drive Room 112 Rockville, Maryland 20850 Harry Pitt, superintendent Steven Dickoff, principal Sally Keeler, project director Report Prepared By Judith Kramer,resource specialist September 1988 11 Abstract for Grant #ERI-G-86-0108 This project documents the establishment and maintenance of a connection and mutual exchange of resources between the business community and the school system of a large suburban county. The public school system of Montgomery County, Maryland, with help from its education foundation, the Montgomery Education Connection, Inc., has established a data base of more than 1,800 volunteer business and community resources in the areas of science arid mathematics who are willing to share their expertise with students and teachers in its 154 schools. Through this grant, a monthly newsletter that lughlights this sharing is being published. More than 7,500 copies are distributed each month to teachers, schuol administrators and career specialists. Newsletter articles about teachers' use of business and community experts as speakers in the classroom or mentors for students make all teachers aware of the resources available. Specific objectives that teachers are required to teach in science and mathematics are identified and applicable resources are listed. Special attention is paid to use of minority role models whenever possible. Alternative careers for women in science and mathematics are emphasized as well. The newsletter editor acts as a community resource specialist and is responsible for helping increase the resources in the data baseas it is expanded to cover more areas of the curriculum. She also works closely with teachers, helping them get the mort from available resources. Through the newsletter, the Bank encourages teachers and students to look outside of the classroom and encourages the business community to become involved in its schools. lii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Staff, Staff Duties and Funding 3 Goals 5 Statement of Additional Goals 6 Project Evaluation. Schedule for Production and Distribution of Newsletter 15 Responsibilities of the funding and supporting institutions 15 Process for production of the newsletter (graphics and format) 15 Process for production of the newsletter (content) 17 Process for distribution of newsletter 18 Conclusions and Recommendations 19 School Comments 19 Cor munity Comments 19 Impact of the Project 20 Prgect Strengths 20 Project Weaknesses 21 Recommendations 22 Conclusion 22 Project Attachments 23 Volume 1 of "Of Interest" Volume 2 of "Of Interest" iv Acknowledgments The editor wishes to thank the many groups and individuals who made this project successful. Sally Keeler, school community/business relations coordinator, applied for and managed the grant thus making the project possible. Her editing skills were much appreciated. William Henry, former director of information for Montgomery County Public Schools, provided generous and kindly instruction, encouragement and support, as well as excellent editing.Judith Messitte, Connection Resource Bank coordinator provided the information that sustained the newsletter and the comraderie that sustained the editor. To Nancy Biggin, Resource Bank secretary, many thanks for assuming the additional burdens of the editor's telephone. Sally Jackson, director of volunteer services for the school system, provided office space, a telephone and the use of a computer that wei e vital to the project's viability. To the graphics department of Montgomery County schools for the time of William Mills, project photographer, Pat Oland, phototypsetting supervisor, Lisa Connor, project typesetter, Wayne Thompson, project graphics designer, the editor extends thanks and appreciation. To John Stephanos, supervisor of publications services, many thanks for overseeing the printing of "Of Interest." The editor also wishes to thank the unknown printers who prepared the photographs, inked the presses and printed the newsletter. And finally, to Wayne Harris, supervisor of the mail room, many thanks for the work done by the mail room staff. INTRODUCTION How can business communities and school systems interact to the benefit of both? This document is a step-by-step non-technical explanation of how to establish and maintain a connection between the business community and the school system of a large suburban county. The mechanism for this relationship is composed of two interrelated parts. The first part is the Connection Resoune Bank, a computerized data base of more than 1,800 experts in science and mathematics from the business community, who have volunteered to visit schools and share what they know with teachers and students. The second part is "Of Interest," a newsletter funded by this grant, published by the school system and distributed to all 7,000 teachers monthly to Iet them know the programs the Bank is providing to enrich and expand the curriculum. What is the Connection Resource Bank? A group of high-level business executives in the county establisheda broad-based foundation in 1984 to stimulate involvement of business and other community members in enhancing the counties educational program. The foundation's first projectwas establishing a computerized bank of resources to enrich the secondary math and science curricula. A computerized data base of volunteer experts was established to accomplish this goal. Software to manage the data base was developed by businesses working closely with school system curriculum coordinators and school resource teachers. The data base grew from 300resources to more than 1,800 in two years. How can teachers use the Resource Bank? Teachers can use the data base by telephoning the bank coordinator and communicating a need. "I needa mentor to help a student study how the salinity of water affects the reproduction of crustacea." "I'd like a paramedic to speak to the class about emergency medicine on January 21 at 1:15." The coordinator accesses the data base, finds and contacts the appropriate resource, and arranges for the program or mentoring to take place on the date and at the time the teacher requested. Letters of confirmation are sent by the coordinator to both teacher and resource, including phone numbers so the two may speak further. A letter of confirmation is sent to the teacher, along with a speaker evaluation