-Partnership

=Partnership Opportunities=

====A partnership is a verbal or written agreement in which involved parties consent to cooperate or help one another in an effort to advance mutual interests. It is not a new concept in the realm business or trade but many aspects of them can become complicated when applied to education. The idea of a Partnership has been implemented into education in the past; however with technological advances, we believe the possibilities for forming partnerships are now almost limitless. Learning 2025 wants to assist you with forming, maintaining, and promoting a succesful partnership. We also want to showcase partnership opportunities that you may interested in learning more about.====

====One of the hardest parts of forming a partnership is getting started. A wrong move when laying the foundation of your partnership can cause its uncertain future to come to an immediate end. When thinking of starting a partnership, there are three things to remember (Hoffman 2006):====
 * ===="Do your Homework:" Investigate the organization in which you are interested in forming a partnership with. Learn the philosophy, focus, and support interests of this organization before moving forward. If their vision does not align or connect with yours then look for another organization.====


 * ===="Find a Point of Entree:" Find someone you know who has a connection or an in with the organization with which you are interested. Explain your ideas of a partnership to this person and have them contact your perspective organization on your behalf.====


 * ===="Begin by Developing a Relationship:" Begin by getting to know the organization members and letting them get to know you and your school. Work on building a relationship based on mutual goals and interests. Once the commonalities have been defined, then think about a possible partnership.====

====The Partnership formation is the fun part of process. However, we at Learning 2025 want to advise you against being too lenient or likewise too overbearing. There should be give and take in a partnership between the parties. To ensure a long-lasting partnership, Learning 2025 would like to offer you advise of maintaining a successful partneship (Hoffman 2006):====


 * ====Remember that the culture of education is different than the culture of business: Strive to have an open line of communication between you and the organization. Work to have timely responses to questions, concerns, and ideas.====


 * ====Make the opportunity accessible and not overbearing to the organization: If possible handle all paperwork and other maintainence steps on your end of the partnership. This person could be you or someone else very involved with the partnership agreement. This is alleviate stress and work for your partner organization.====


 * ====Generate a written plan of the agreed upon vision, mission, and direction of the partnership: This should eliminate the gray area of your partnership. We believe that by eliminating the gray area, you will avoid uneasiness and other problems in the future of your partnership.====


 * ====Welcome accountability: Provide access to quantitative an qualitative data showcasing the outcomes of your partnership. Invite your partner to view what they are doing within your school, this may be a showcasing in which they physically come to your school or it may be through video and other technolgies.====

According to Frank & Smith (1997), there are four main types of parternships that can be formed:

 * ====**Consultative:** This partnership is formed in an effort to collect and gather information, ideas, concerns, data, etc.====


 * ====**Contributory:** This partnership is formed to benefit the company, business, organization, or agnecy engaged in the agreement. The benefits could be promotional, monetary, or community service related.====


 * ====**Operational:** This partnership is formed in an effort to join forces to accomplish a specific goal or job that neither partner could achieve on their own. It usually pertains to the shared work concept.====


 * ====**Collaborative:** This partnership is formed to share resources, knowledge, personnel, space, and even sometimes money. These types of agreements are often formed with non-profit organizations.====

====Learning 2025 believes the individual interests, needs, and desires of your educational systems' learners will be the driving force in deciding which type of partnership you will form. We can assist you with deciding what type of partnership would be best for your school, who or what would be a good partner for your school, and where along with how to begin starting to set up a partnership. Below you will find examples of different partnerships that Learning 2025 believes have the characteristics of success built in.====

Partnerships between Local Schools, Technical Colleges, and State Universities
-**[|Project Lead the Way and Mechatronics]** is a partnership formed between high schools, technical schools, and state univeristies in which students work with product design through the use of electrical and mechanical systems within the realm of pre-engineering. Students are not only learning through collaboration with experts in the field, but they are also exploring possible career paths.

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-**USC Medical Hospital and Bravo Magnet Medical High School** is a partnership where students from the high school go to and learn from 'working' at the USC Hospital. Students learn methods and workplace skills that are near impossible to teach without physically trying them. Students work with graduate students, alumni, and researchers on cutting edge medical research. Some of the research revolves around pharmaceuticals for anti-cancer drugs and the development of cameras that allow blind people to see images.

Partnerships between School and Businesses/Organizations
====-[|Union Pacific Foundation] created a Principal's Partnership to principals lead change and assist them lead in this fast change 21st century. According to the the Foundation, "Because each school is unique and each principal confronts a particular set of challenges, the Partnership invites its principals to customize the program to fit their particular needs. Working with a personal consulting team, principals set a personalized goal or select an area of study. Supported by the Partnership, they receive the information, training and networking needed to succeed, and the result is a partnership that stays focused on the challenges faced by each individual principal."====

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====-[|Collaboration Global Education] as known as "C-Global-E." This partnership "seeks to bring together universities to provide, on a much wider scale, education that will prepare our youth to meet the challenges of attaining long-term peace, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability. Tomorrow's leaders will be dealing with increasingly complex challenges, as hyper-globalization puts significant pressure on an already unstable world. We must proactively and aggressively educate more of our young people to understand and handle these challenges. " Students from different cultures, religions, economics ranks, and political positions will meet in an online environment to face the challenges of today's world in an effort to move towards a stable world. ====

====-[|GEMS Education] has created Global Partnership Schools all over the world. They seek provide pathways to academic excellence and mold students to be the productive global citizens of the future. A major part of the Partnership Schools is to produce learners to be [|Global Leaders] through strategies and services that transform traditional learning environments. Students will engage with and learn about Global Learning Spaces, Global Reasearch, Development, and Innovation, Global Connections, and some much more.====

====[|Little GEMS International] is a partnership with many local businesses in the Lincoln Park, Illinois area. They have partnerships with the Shedd Aquarium, Chicago's Children's Museum, and the Lincoln Park Zoo. According to the GEMS program, they "provide opportunities for students and families to be involved in local programs, enhanced through the virtual involvement of our global network of international schools. Staff professional development is enriched with the participation of community and higher education institutions. This collaboration encourages the creation of learning communities to support ongoing professional and intellectual development as well as a true sense of community engagement."====

====-[|Qatar Education] was formed because the nation of Qatar wanted to reform and modernize its country through the development of sports, education, and health fields. Qatar Education has formed partnerships with many organizations in the realms of sports, education, and health to energize the movement. It holds a conference and exhibition each year to showcase ideas which have been successful and learn more about the every changing global environment. This Education system is "bilding strong global partnerships, exchanging knowledge among the many organizations committed to education, and inspiring development in building this knowledge-driven society."====

====Learning 2025 would like to offer you "Seven Tips to Building Partnerships" by Kathy Baron. We feel that these tips are important add ons to ensure the success of your partnership. Just like any tips, some may be more important than others depending the type of partnership you are forming and with whom you are forming a partnership.====


 * 1) ===="Find Partners with a Shared Vision or Goal====
 * 2) ====Remember the Leadership Matters====
 * 3) ====Get Creative with Money and Donations====
 * 4) ====Get It In Writing====
 * 5) ====Establish Ongoing Supervision and Communication====
 * 6) ====Make a Commitment for the Long Haul====
 * 7) ====Be Patient" (Baron)====