Atlanta Schools' Public Engagement Partnerships

By: Stacy Andell
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:26:41
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Atlanta Schools’ Office of Public Engagement

The Atlanta Schools’ Office of Public Engagement is responsible for creating and fostering partnerships between Atlanta Schools, community volunteers, teachers, parents, national and local corporations, non-profit groups, and civic organizations in order to advance student achievement. The Office of Public Engagement was created as part of the ongoing educational reform that is occurring throughout the Atlanta Schools. The Office’s aim is to connect the schools with any resource that could offer a positive influence on the success of the students in the Atlanta Schools. Many of these relationships are of a creative and ground-breaking nature. Several of the most successful partnership programs involve some of the largest corporations in the nation.

Hewlett Packard's "Bringing it Home" Program

The Atlanta Schools has for many years been part of the Hewlett Packard's "Bringing it Home" program. The Atlanta Schools partnership with Hewlett Packard is part of a larger program that has representatives from Hewlett Packard visiting over 600 schools in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The main goal of the Hewlett Packard's "Bringing it Home" Program is to encourage students, their parents and teachers to create and communicate with technology. The Hewlett Packard's "Bringing it Home" Program is an interactive exploratory program that allows students to gain practical experience using digital photography and computers.

Atlanta Schools’ Price Middle School was one of the locations where students were exposed to the latest innovations in technology. The Price Middle School’s students were able to see how this technology could be applied to their own assignments and projects. The aim at Price Middle School was to help the students by making their work more efficient. The students, principal and teachers at Price Middle School all profited from Atlanta Schools’ participation in the Hewlett Packard's "Bringing it Home" Program.

Atlanta Schools’ Long Term Partnership with General Electric

Atlanta Schools has been in a partnership with General Electric Energy since 1993 and will continue this partnership in the future. The partnership with General Electric involves several different ongoing projects and was originally started by former Atlanta Schools’ graduates who now are employed by General Electric. The General Electric Partnership was started as a tutoring and mentoring program where General Electric employees would volunteer in schools in the area but it has grown to include Saturday SAT preparation, the Family Technology Resource Center, and scholarship programs. There are now more than 1,500 General Electric employees involved in the General Electric Partnership in some way. The General Electric Partnership has proved to be very influential in student SAT performance.

In 2002, General Electric donated $1 million to Atlanta Schools’ Southside High School as part of General Electric’s national College Bound Grant Program. This donation to Southside High School was the first grant from the College Bound Grant Program to be given to a school in the Atlanta Schools. The grant is being used by Southside High School’s "Strategic Design for Student Success" project. The school wide project plans to double, by 2007, the percentage of Southside High School’s graduating seniors who go on to four-year or two-year colleges or universities, or who enroll in technical institutions.

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