Trusting Community Partnerships

Trusting Community Partnerships contribute to positive student outcomes when schools work collaboratively with community members, agencies, organizations, businesses and industry around common goals. Community representatives directly participate in school leadership, and schools enhance community resources.

Your school can take specific action steps to develop trusting community partnerships by:

  • Engaging with the community.
  • Jointly identifying mutual interests and goals.
  • Ensuring reciprocity in the partnership.
  • Maintaining an "open door policy" with community members. 
  • Inviting community members to serve in various roles within the school.

For more details on these action steps, download and share SWIFT Guide with your school community!
Riding Through Summer One Success at a Time

Kimber Rice is a Parent Liaison and promotes inclusion by advocating for her own child who has disabilities, as well as being involved in parent groups and committees at school and district levels to make positive changes to support all families. In this SWIFT Talk blog post , Kimber writes about the benefits of family time during the summer break, and using the family's natural instincts and experiences as a guide to help maintain balance along the way.

"By including all kids, we are creating opportunities for new friendships, greater access, higher expectations, increased school staff collaboration, increased appreciation of diversity and difference, increased respect for others, opportunities to master activities by practicing and teaching others, improved academic and social outcomes, and more. This is why the SWIFT mission is so important."

-Emily Bourque, graduate student working with SWIFT

Watch the SWIFT film Together for an example of SWIFT's Integrated Educational Framework, which encompasses ALL students, personnel, and stakeholders within a positive school culture and ensures full access for ALL students to participate in all school-related activities. Be sure to share and discuss with family, school, and  community members to promote All Means All!
Universal Design for Learning
SWIFT Unscripted is our monthly podcast, and makes for a great listen while waiting in the school pickup line, during a morning walk, or while running errands! SWIFT Unscripted welcomes guests from our SWIFT community including this recording by Dr. Loui Lord Nelson on Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and Universal Design for Learning. Loui is the UDL specialist for SWIFT, as well as an international consultant specializing in the area of UDL.

In this podcast, Loui breaks down the basics of UDL and the importance of recognizing that every single person is unique in how they learn; how UDL works with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS); and her dream for the future of UDL in every classroom.

You can listen on Soundcloud or iTunes, or visit the SWIFT Unscripted page to download the podcast to your computer. A transcript link for each SWIFT Unscripted podcast is available at the end of its description. 

SWIFT Center has the latest and most relevant resources on equity-based inclusive education.  Please share these with your family and community networks to promote improved social, educational, and behavioral outcomes for ALL students!  If this SWIFT Family Feature was shared with you, don’t miss the next one — sign up here to be added to our mailing list. 
SWIFT is a national K-8 technical assistance center that builds school capacity to provide academic and behavioral support to improve outcomes for all students through equity-based inclusion http://www.swiftschools.org/ 
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The SWIFT Center produced this document under U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs Grant No. H326Y120005. OSEP Project Officers Grace Zamora Durán and Tina Diamond served as the project officers. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred. This product is public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: SWIFT Center. (2017). SWIFT Family & Community, Issue 4, May 2017. Lawrence, KS: SWIFT Center.

 SWIFT Center
1315 Wakarusa Drive,
Lawrence, KS 66049
swift@ku.edu