There are several categories of work that drive collaborative and mutually beneficial school partnerships in the iMentor model. The below responsibilities are essential to building and maintaining successful partner site relationships, and can be assigned to the most appropriate staff member based on your program’s staffing structure (i.e. Executive Director, Managing Director, Deputy Director, Director of School Partnerships, Program Director or Program Coordinator). 

Framework for School Partnership Support

Relationship Management

• Identify a primary Program point person for all current and potential school partners
• Manage annual partner site contracting and billing process, including the collection of signed partnership agreements and program fees from schools and districts
• For new cohorts, communicate to school partner when students have been matched and have begun to email their mentors
• For new cohorts, share a status update on the current number of students matched and number of students that will not be matched prior to the first event, with corresponding rationale
• For new cohorts, remind schools of the date/time of the iMentor kick-off event, and encourage their attendance and participation at the event
• For new cohorts, provide schools with some basic information about the college-educated professionals that will serve as their students’ mentors
• Orient teachers and relevant staff to iMentor program and establish protocols for classroom management, grading and ongoing communication
• Schedule, prepare for and facilitate annual school-based meetings
• Facilitate brief monthly check-ins with the Principal and/or school-based point person at each partner site and share monthly program reports
• Observe weekly iMentor class sessions and monthly events
• Maintain an iMentor presence at important school-based events
• Routinely request feedback on classroom sessions from iMentor teacher(s) (structure and frequency TBD)
• Check-in weekly with iMentor teacher(s) regarding class session (structure TBD)
• Establish overall and site-specific protocols for parent engagement
• Attend, at minimum, one school-based grade team, college team or other relevant faculty meeting per month
• Develop and communicate processes that allow iMentor Program staff to execute iMentor programming as intended, while maintaining positive relationships with school partners and deepening programmatic integration within existing school structures
• Frequently communicate a focus list of students who: have not turned in their consent forms, have been or will be unmatched, and/or are regularly absent from iMentor class sessions or events to school-based contacts
• Provide timely reminders to school staff about monthly pair events, including related logistics and support needed
• Share pair stories and email excerpts with school staff

Strategy

• Annually lead the exploration and acquisition of new school partners to meet organizational growth goals

• Refine methods for communicating and re-framing iMentor’s value add as a college readiness and success intervention on a school-specific level
• Onboard school partners to iMentor model fidelity and integration expectations
• Ensure each school partner has committed to an annual program implementation plan that is reflective of iMentor model fidelity.
• Facilitate the development of strategies to increase iMentor Program staff interaction with and integration into school structures
• Develop methods for building shared accountability with schools for program participation though communication and thought partnership
• Evaluate school partner quality and share related findings and recommendations with organizational leadership 

Evaluation and Reporting

• Develop methods for effective program data sharing (i.e. real-time program enrollment and participation data; curricular progress; and summative program impact data) with school and school district/network partners
• Coordinate timely and accurate data collection from school partners
• Ensure engagement and compliance from schools participating in a longitudinal study of iMentor’s program (iMentor NYC only)
• Administer mid and end-of-program-year surveys to school leaders
• Analyze and communicate findings and related recommendations from annual school leader surveys to organizational leadership

Knowledge Management

• Inform organizational leadership of major partner site developments, including accomplishments and challenges (structure and frequency TBD)
• Share key iMentor documents and formal evidence of program implementation with school partners including: curriculum, program data reports, pair profiles and event photos (structure and frequency TBD)
• Manage documentation of general information related to school partnerships on Salesforce and Huddle
• Document and communicate best practices for working with school partners to Program staff working in schools to ensure quality programming within and across partner sites

Resource Development

• Facilitate the creation of tools and resources that school partners may need to better understand and articulate iMentor’s long-term value
• Develop and disseminate print and electronic materials about iMentor to key school-related stakeholders (i.e. school leadership and staff, districts, networks, parents students, etc.)

Goal Setting

• Set annual goals around school partner recruitment, satisfaction and retention