• Find the 21 School-to-Work activities listed alphabetically in the Table of Contents.

• Locate the activity of your choice and read through and follow the procedure outlined for that specific activity.

• Decide whether the community partnership will be long or short term.

• Identify prospective partners.

• Learn whether other schools have previously worked with, or are currently in a partnership with, the employer or agency; consider contacting those schools.

• Prepare a list of questions for your partner.

• Discuss the activity with students and contact prospective partners and parents.

• Share learning objectives among students, educators, parents, and employers.

• Agree on the goals and expectations of the partnership.

• When you design an activity, make sure it is age-appropriate. For some ideas and suggestions, please see Appendix B, page B-1.

• Identify the best times to contact each other and plan open and frequent communication with your partner — at least twice a week.

• Once the activity has started, maintain open lines of communi-cation among students, educators, parents, and employers.

• Periodically assess the effectiveness of the activity (i.e., are student learning objectives met, is the employer satisfied?) and communicate the assessment with all parties, using what you’ve learned to improve student learning and the partnership.