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WISH A Whole Scholar
Approach to Education

About » Active Partnerships

Active Partnerships

We are so grateful to our extraordinary volunteers. From supporting teachers and staff in the classroom, working hard in the garden, organizing events, chaperoning field trips to many late night and weekend meetings, you make it all happen. Without you WISH would not be able to achieve our mission and vision. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to each and every one of you.
 
Families
WISH values all kinds of partners. However, parent partnerships are deemed especially essential to the WISH community. As a public school, WISH does not have a requirement for parent volunteering, nor does it have a requirement for parent donations. Nevertheless, WISH parents show up. WISH has been voted best public school, best charter school, and the best place to volunteer for 7 years running by local news publications. Over 85% of parents donate annually (not including grandparents or friends), and many parents whose students have matriculated or graduated continue to volunteer their time in classrooms or at events. Please click here to submit a volunteer interest form. 
 
Loyola Marymount University
Since 2010, WISH has maintained a relationship with Loyola Marymount University (LMU). In 2016, this relationship was deepened when WISH became an official research-to-practice knowledge demonstration site for the LMU School of Education. Additionally, LMU faculty conduct professional development exercises for WISH staff and offer support and expertise. 
 
LMU assists WISH in growing our model by providing high-quality student teachers who:
• Improve WISH’s student-teacher ratio
• Provide a feedback loop between WISH faculty and fieldwork students and teachers
• Mentor and tutor WISH students through one-on-one experiences
• Support our commitment to continually refine our instruction as a research-to-practice model school
 
The WISH partnership with LMU goes well beyond the School of Education. Each semester, WISH students work with the LMU School of Engineering to design assistive technology tools that help students better access the classroom environment. LMU Associate Professor Dr. Matthew Siniawski and a team of LMU engineering students built an assistive stander for WISH student, Jack Steinberg. LMU School of Film and Television students documented the engineers design and creation in their documentary, “I am Standing", which won the Best Film Award for the American Society for Engineering Education’s Community Engagement Division’s Film Festival.
 
SWIFT
In 2013, WISH was selected as one of only six schools in the United States to partner with SWIFT (Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation). Located at the University of Kansas, SWIFT works as a technical assistance center to boost elementary school capacity for academic and behavioral support with the goal of improving outcomes for all students. As a partner with SWIFT, WISH hosts visitors from around the world to observe and learn about best practices in education, including fully inclusive education. With SWIFT’s partnership, WISH has been able to better disseminate its accomplishments and has influenced an extensive international technical assistance effort.