Staffing Using Community-based Partners

Community-based partners, such as zoos, museums, nonprofits, and other environmental education organizations, can provide critical support to your school or district’s in-person instructional goals. Community-based partners can support teacher professional learning, facilitate outdoor classroom set-up, or provide direct student support, depending on your needs. This article outlines some of the options for engaging a community-based partner in your planning.

It is important to note that the options below are not mutually exclusive and could be implemented concurrently or successively. In addition, potential approaches to implementation could include a pilot program at specific schools, a rolling opt-in for teachers at specific sites or all schools, or a district-wide adoption of some combination of the models.

© Brooke Teller, Portland Public Schools, Portland, Maine

Overview of Options

Option 1. Community-based partners can provide professional learning for school staff to take learning outdoors. A district or school can contract with community-based partners to train school staff to teach students outdoors.

Option 2. Community-based partners can provide outdoor instruction for before- and after-school programs. Partner staff can work with existing before- and after-school programs to lead outdoor activities.

Option 3. Community-based partners can provide outdoor instruction during the school day. Partner staff can work with schools or districts to supplement in-person staffing needs for school-day instruction outdoors.

Option 4. Community-based partners can provide outdoor resources to enhance remote learning. Partners can provide resources to help teachers get students outside during remote learning.

Option 1: Professional Learning for
School Staff to Take Learning Outdoors

Community-based partners can provide professional learning for school staff on how to effectively take students outdoors and make the outdoor classroom the “Plan A” learning space to minimize viral transmission risk. Here, the community-based partner educator primarily interacts with the school staff, not students.

A community-based partner could provide professional learning experiences and/or consulting to multiple school sites on a part-time basis. Options could include school staff attending virtual or in-person professional learning for transitioning learning to outdoor classrooms, or school staff could attend virtual and in-person training and could be assigned an “outdoor assistant” who supports lesson development and provides insights into management strategies. The potential budget impacts could be low if the engagement is spread across multiple schools, is online, and uses fewer partner staff.

Option 2: Outdoor Instruction for
Before- and After-School Programs

© maria durana, San Francisco recreation and parks department

Community-based partner staff can support before- and after-school programs in providing supervision of outdoor learning activities on the school campus or at nearby green spaces, and additionally during the school day for remote learners.

Depending on the number of students needing supervision, additional support from community-based partners could bring the student/staff ratio down to 1/10. Options could include community-based partner staff working with the existing before- and after-school program to reduce ratios to safe levels and providing outdoor enrichment activities. Community-based partner staff could also establish new before- and after-school programs to support families and bring students outside. The potential budget impacts could be slightly higher in this scenario due to increased partner staff time and a deeper engagement with before- and after-school programs.

Option 3: Outdoor In-Person Instruction
During the School Day

Community-based partner staff can support schools during the day in many ways. Partner staff can take half of a split class to the outdoor classroom while the teacher instructs inside. This is possible if there is a “roving” credentialed teacher available or a principal who can supervise outdoor activities. Community-based partner staff can also provide increased safety during in-person learning or offer supervision, enrichment activities, and meals on campus during remote learning. This option has the most potential to increase equity in education during the pandemic. With this increased capacity, students have access to high-quality adult support during both in-person and remote learning.

Community-based partners should enter into formal partnerships with schools or districts, thereby determining a scope of work and a funding mechanism. A few iterations of this option are outlined below. Budget impacts will vary depending on the depth of the partner staff involvement, but generally will be higher than other options.

OPTION 3A: DISTRICTS WITH 100 PERCENT REMOTE LEARNING

Community-based partner staff can supplement remote learning during typical school hours by hosting in-person outdoor instruction on or near school sites or at nature centers.

Staffing would depend on the frequency and duration of outdoor learning programming and the number of students served. Options could include community-based partners hosting in-person enrichment for students (learning hubs) for outdoor learning activities and/or supervising remote learning at off-campus locations, such as a nature center. Programming could utilize existing community-based partner-created virtual learning activities and resources. Equity concerns could be addressed through cost-sharing agreements, scholarships, district- or city-provided subsidies, parent-teacher organization fundraising, and so on.

Sample Schedule

A local nature center could partner with an elementary school and host a different class (or grade) at its center each day of the week. Classes can rotate, augmenting their remote learning schedule with one day per week or every other week of outdoor learning taught and led by nature center educators. Additional support could come from parent volunteers.

7:30 - 8:00 am Students arrive, served district-provided breakfast

8:00 - 8:30 am Morning meeting/outdoor social-emotional learning activity

8:30 - 10:45 am Guided nature hike with standards-based science focus, snack

10:45 - 12:00 pm Outdoor team-building activity

12:00 - 12:45 pm Outdoor lunch and free/nature play (recess)

12:45 - 2:00 pm Standards-based outdoor science learning activity

2:00 - 2:30 pm Closing circle, dismissal

OPTION 3B: DISTRICTS WITH HYBRID MODELS

Community-based partner staff can provide in-person supervision of students for remote learning on campus and/or lead outdoor learning during in-person learning time to reduce the number of students in a classroom.

Community-based partner staff could provide outdoor instruction for half the class while classroom teachers teach indoors. Existing school staff could also be used to teach outdoors to reduce the budget. Options could include community-based partners providing supervision of remote learning, meals, and outdoor activities during breaks. Community-based partners could supplement in-person classroom instruction during the school day by leading outdoor instruction in their field of expertise. Partners could supervise groups of students outdoors during independent reading, writing, or math practice to reduce the number of students in a classroom to a safe level. School districts could provide in-person learning for certain populations only, such as pre-K–2nd graders and Special Education students, while the rest of the school population does remote learning. And finally, community-based partners could provide outdoor instruction and/or supervision to increase safety for those students while on campus. Budget impacts could be low to high depending on how the district or school approaches cohorts and outdoor infrastructure.

Some example outdoor activities community-based partners could lead or supervise include environmental, outdoor science, or garden lessons; outside time for physical education, stress reduction, social-emotional learning, or team building; stewardship activities on-site at school or at a nearby park; art, theater, or music supported by music and arts-based organizations; or outdoor reading, writers’ workshops, or journaling time supported by literacy organizations or librarians.

OPTION 3C: DISTRICTS WITH 100 PERCENT IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION

Schools can partner with community-based partners to offer in-person learning experiences outdoors during the school day to enable adequate social distancing, making use of similar rotations described above in 3B.

Schools would need at least one additional adult per classroom to reduce the ratio to 1 to 10 or 1 to 14. Options could include community-based partner staff supplementing in-person classroom instruction during the school day by leading outdoor instruction. Community-based partner staff could supervise and provide instructional support to groups of students outdoors during independent reading, writing, or math practice to reduce the number of students in a classroom to a safe level.

Sample School Day

1 Class = Cohort A + Cohort B; 14 students/cohort

Cohort B

8:00 - 9:00 am Staggered Arrival and Breakfast

Morning outside with community-based partners staff

9:00 - 9:30 am Community and Wellness

9:30 - 10:00 am Science

10:00 - 10:30 am Recess

10:30 - 11:00 am Science Workshop

11:00 - 11:30 am Field Studies

11:30 - 12:00 pm Physical Education

Afternoon inside with classroom teacher

12:00 - 12:30 pm Lunch

12:30 - 1:00 pm Math Lesson

1:00 - 1:30 pm Math Workshop

1:30 - 2:00 pm Language Arts

2:00 - 2:30 pm Literacy Workshop

2:30 - 3:30 pm Staggered Departure

Cohort A

8:00 - 9:00 am Staggered Arrival and Breakfast

Morning inside with classroom teacher

9:00 - 9:30 am Community and Wellness

9:30 - 10:00 am Language Arts

10:00 - 10:30 am Literacy Workshop

10:30 - 11:00 am Recess

11:00 - 11:30 am Math Lesson

11:30 - 12:00 pm Math Workshop

Afternoon outside with community-based partners staff

12:00 - 12:30 pm Physical Education

12:30 - 1:00 pm Lunch

1:00 - 1:30 pm Science

1:30 - 2:00 pm Science Workshop

2:00 - 2:30 pm Field Studies

2:30 - 3:30 pm Staggered Departure

Option 4: Outdoor Resources
to Enhance Remote Learning

Community-based partners can offer virtual experiences like guest speakers, virtual field trips, teacher training, and activities for students to learn outside during remote learning.

Schools could contract with one or more community-based partners to make use of partner resources designed to support students in observing and learning outdoors near or at their home. This would likely be a short-term, fee-based contract. Options could include teachers incorporating a virtual field trip to a local nature site into a science unit. Community-based partners could lead a multi-lesson unit created for the remote learning environment, which includes hands-on outdoor activities and assignments for students while they are learning at home. Teachers could take part in a virtual professional learning workshop offered by a partner, designed to train teachers on ideas and resources for incorporating outdoor learning into students’ remote learning experience. Finally, families could supplement their children’s remote learning experience with virtual programs provided by community-based partners.

Ready to help

Community-based partners are ready to become an indispensable part of a school or district’s reopening plans. As outlined above, there are several options for engaging with a partner to support your staffing needs, and often, community-based partners have worked with schools and districts for many years. In addition, due to the pandemic, many zoos, aquariums, museums, and environmental education organizations have been forced to close or reduce programming. Therefore many organizations are looking for ways to keep their staff employed and engaged and are ready to help schools return to in-person learning. For guidance on finding, maintaining, and funding a community-based partner, please see our Guiding Questions article in this section.

Credits

This article was written by Sarah Barnes, M.Ed., Sierra Nevada Journeys; Vanessa Carter, MA, San Francisco Unified School District; Janice Kelley, MS, Nature Detectives; and Rachel Pringle, MA, Green Schoolyards America.

National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative

The National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative supports schools and districts around the country in their efforts to reopen safely and equitably using outdoor spaces as strategic, cost-effective solutions to increase physical distancing capacity onsite and provide access to abundant fresh air. The Initiative seeks to equitably improve learning, mental and physical health, and happiness for children and adults using an affordable, time-tested outdoor approach to keeping schools open during a pandemic.

Community-Based Partners