Read The Promise of Partnership by Gail R. Meister and Cynthia L. Blitz. Then answer the questions below.

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of including outside partners in your school union's continuous improvement work?
• Beyond the stakeholders in your community, who could you include as partners in your work?

You have been asked by your principal to recruit teachers in your building to serve on the school’s Continuous Improvement Team. While everyone in the school will be engaged in this work, the CIT will represent their peers at important meetings between all stakeholders. It is important to the principal that you reach out to a diversity of voices from different subject areas. No one from the English or math departments is interested in participating on the team. Craft an email explaining to the teachers of these departments the importance of serving on the committee and this work.

While all parents will be asked to participate in various ways throughout the process, some parents will be present at decision making meetings with other stakeholders. Write a letter to parents telling them about the continuous improvement process and inviting them to participate.

Write a letter to community members asking them to consider participating in your continuous improvement work. Include a description of what the team hopes to accomplish, the time commitment and the benefits of serving in this capacity. (community members might include business leaders, school board members, parents and students)

It’s a new school year and the principal at Cycles K-8 School is looking to recruit more parents to be part of the Continuous Improvement Team (CIT). While the team in the past has included many parents, he struggles to find diversity of voices. The representation has been mostly mothers of generally successful students. Describe three ways that he can ensure he has a more diverse representation on the Cycles CIT.

Read this article from the Carnegie Commons Blog on how Networked Improvement Communities Accelerate Collective Efforts for Solving Educational Problems.