Excellence Library

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Welcome School of Excellence Champions!

This resource page serves district, region, council and state PTAs in supporting and promoting the National PTA School of Excellence program. Through the program, individual local PTAs make a year-long commitment to strengthening family-school partnerships at their schools. Based on feedback from their school communities, PTAs will identify and implement an action plan for school improvement based on PTA's National Standards for Family-School Partnerships.

Utilizing the Excellence Library 

 

The information and resources in this Library sections aid in promoting, training, supporting and celebrating local PTAs in enhancing family-school partnerships. Use the dropdown menu to learn more about how to use each section.  

Explore the Excellence Library
  • Message Board: Review timely updates and information from National PTA that you can use to support the program and local PTA participants in your community.

  • Guide to Supporting Excellence: Find step-by-step suggestions, templates and program details to for how to support local PTAs in the program.

  • Excellence Information Bank: Dig into the program with historical reports, resources and stories that highlight the impact of the School of Excellence program. 

Message Board

 

Check out the latest updates, reminders, and useful information to learn what's currently happening in the program and how you can support participating units in your community.

What's happening in the 2024-2025 School of Excellence program?

Enrollment for the 2024-2025 program closed on Oct. 15 and Step #2, by which PTAs were required to submit their Community Feedback Form PTAs, closed on Dec. 15. Only PTAs that met this requirement remain active in the program and will continue working towards the School of Excellence designation. Use the button below to download a report and verify the status of your PTA in the program.


PTAs Active in the Program

Support Participating Local PTAs from Your State

PTAs still active in the program will use the community feedback they gathered in Step #2 to create and implement an Excellence Action Plan aligned to the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships. Email Excellence@PTA.org to request a complete report, including contact information, to connect with participating units and connect them with tools, resources and opportunities to support their program efforts. 

Find more ways your district, region, council or state PTA can help these PTAs achieve their program goals in the Provide PTAs Program Support section below.

   

Congratulations 2023-2025 National PTA Schools of Excellence!


National PTA is proud to recognize over 300 PTAs and schools that collaborated in the 2023-24 school year with the 2-year national designation. We extend a special congratulations to the top three Schools of Excellence that earned top rank and achieved the 2024 Phoebe Apperson Hearst Awards. These PTAs and schools show the impact and importance of schools and families working together to accomplish greatness!

Continue to support these PTAs by celebrating their accomplishment! Check out the Celebrate PTA Designees section below to find ideas to help you celebrate the designees in your state and community and to download graphics and sample messaging in designation celebration toolkit.
   

Promoting Excellence

 

Browse these program quote graphics and share them on social media or other digital platforms to promote the School of Excellence.

SOE-Quotes_Mike-Miller SOE-Quotes_Kaiserslautern SOE-Quotes_Highland SOE-Quotes_Parkland SOE-Quotes_Morgan SOE-Quotes_Norup SOE-Quotes_Phillips SOE-Quotes_Lutz SOE-Quotes_Herndon SOE-Quotes_Farmington-STEAM SOE-Quotes_George-Washington SOE-Quotes_Falling-Creek SOE-Quote_Chickahominy-Middle SOE-Quote_CC-Duff SOE-Quote_Brookview SOE-Quote_Barksdale

Grow Your PTA with Programs

 

YOU Belong in PTA — Grow Your PTA with Programs templates are available for use. Show the value of your PTA with programs including School of Excellence. Learn more.

You Belong in PTA School of Excellence

Guide to Supporting Excellence

 

District, council, region and state PTAs are encouraged to promote, support and celebrate local PTAs through the National PTA School of Excellence program. You know your state and communities best and can best share suggestions and opportunities with participants that will further their family engagement goals.

Provide PTAs Program Support


Provide encouragement and assistance throughout the program process, by knowing which local units are participating in the program and where they are in the program.  

Get Connected

Use the ongoing 2024-25 Excellence Reports to connect with the local units participating in the program. Once connected, consider sending welcome messages to show your support for their efforts to achieve Excellence. Check out these ideas for how you can welcome program participants: 

  • Texas PTA: Create a welcome video naming and welcoming program enrollees 

Check out the School of Excellence Database to find all past School of Excellence designees. Need detailed reports? Email Excellence@PTA.org.

Provide Support 

Through the program, participating PTAs will gather community feedback, analyze the results and develop an Excellence Action Plan to enhance and improve family engagement in their community. You can support PTAs by knowing where they are in the program process and connecting them with opportunities along the way. 

  • Host Program Trainings: Provide training opportunities to participants at state conventions or regular meetings to ensure PTAs are finding the support they need and engaging with other participants. Check out these template training slides from National PTA.
  • Offer Mentorship Connections: Many PTAs are School of Excellence alumni and can offer insight and knowledge to you and new participants. State PTAs, like Free State PTA, can create mentor connections to foster a network of PTAs engaging in transformative family engagement. Here is an example from Free State PTA
  • Use the Excellence Library: Along the way, National PTA will update the Excellence Library Message Board with program updates and outline key dates and reminders to help you support participating PTAs.
Please share with National PTA best practices or tips and tricks that your state uses to support PTAs participating in the School of Excellence program. Email ideas to Excellence@PTA.org.

Key Dates


Mark your calendars with these key program dates to send our reminders or encouragement. 

  • May 1 - Oct. 15: Program Enrollment 

  • August - Nov. 15: Initial Community Feedback Collection 

  • Oct. 1 - Dec. 15: Complete and Submit Community Feedback Form (Deadline extended from Dec. 1)

  • November - May: Create and Implement Excellence Action Plan

  • March - June: Follow Up Community Feedback Collection

  • May 1 - June 15: Complete and Submit Community Impact Form 

  • August: School of Excellence Designees and Hearst Award Recipients Announced

Top Tips


To best provide this support, it will be helpful to understand the program and helpful details like requirements, deadlines and eligibility. 

Know the program steps. Through the program, PTAs complete several steps designed to help build an inclusive and welcoming school community. PTAs that complete Steps #1 - #4, and meet deadlines and relevant requirements for each, will earn the designation. Learn more about each step in the program with this overview resource.
Know the program requirements. PTAs are required to use a set of survey and/or discussion questions, exactly as provided by National PTA to gather feedback from their community in the fall and spring. The questions align directly to PTA's National Standards for Family-School Partnerships and PTAs must verify they used the required questions and the feedback in their program efforts. 
Know the designation details. Once achieved, the designation as a National PTA School of Excellence is for two academic years. National PTA announces the School of Excellence honorees in August each year. All PTAs that earn the designation will be automatically considered for National PTA’s highest honor–the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Family-School Partnership Award.


Celebrate PTA Designees


In August, National PTA announced the PTAs that earned the 2023-2025 National PTA School of Excellence designation, as well as the top three Schools of Excellence that earned top rank and achieved the 2024 Phoebe Apperson Hearst Awards. 

  • Beacon Park PTA (California) – Phoebe Apperson Hearst Outstanding Family-School Partnership Award 
  • Alice Carlson PTA (Texas) – Phoebe Apperson Hearst Family-School Partnership Award of Merit 
  • Highland Middle PTSA 2.3.120 (Washington) – Phoebe Apperson Hearst Family-School Partnership Award of Merit  

It's Better to Celebrate Together


Be sure to congratulate your the National PTA School of Excellence designees and share their stories on your social media outlets. You are encouraged to reach out to your state's designees to join and support their celebration events. 

Customize this template Press Release to share the news with media outlets in your community and check out these announcements state, district and council PTAs made for new ways you can celebrate the local PTA designees in your community:

Share the Designation!


Customize the sample messages for upcoming PTA promotions, newsletters and meetings to recognize the 2023-2025 designees. Include #PTAExcellence on your PTA social media to share your celebration with National PTA!

  

SOE Insta_24_Congrats



More ways to celebrate!


Purchase and distribute School of Excellence celebration materials. Find lanyards, lapel pins & more from ShopPTA.com. Most items can be ordered & shipped within 1 week. There are also three package deals that will allow you to bulk order and save!

Use the designation to show PTA value and grow membership. Connect with the designees in your state to learn about their work in the program. Share their stories of hard work and commitment to excellence with your state network and PTA community to attract new action-oriented PTA members who are interested in transformative family engagement! Encourage your designees to use the YOU Belong in PTA — Grow Your PTA with Programs templates to show the value of the  School of Excellence program and to always ask their school community to continue to invest and support PTA with their PTA membership.

Develop and support new PTA leaders. The Excellence Teams that earned the designation are full of eager and hardworking volunteers who have already demonstrated a commitment to transformative family engagement. Connect with those volunteers to provide development and training opportunities to help them grow as volunteers and PTA leaders. Check out Thrive PTA's new online learning community that brings PTA leadership development to you. 

Extend the impact of the National Standards. Your local PTA designees worked hard to transform family engagement through PTA’s National Standards for Family-School Partnerships, which guided their efforts in the program. Help amplify and extend their efforts and support the other schools arounds you by partnering with your district and/or state school board and advocate for them to adopt the National Standards as their policy on family engagement. Want to make it even easier? Send your school board our pre-crafted model policy (also en español)! 



Promote Program Enrollment


Enrollment is open from May 1 to October 15 and National PTA provides sample language and graphics that you can incorporate into your PTA newsletters and social media schedule. As you're promoting the program, to take note of these quick reminders:

  • The program is designed for individual and local PTA units to make a direct impact at their schools. Therefore, the designation should not be sought by multiple schools under one PTA.

  • Review this sample Enrollment Form (en español) to see what information is required so you can help local PTAs that reach out with questions.

  • Use the hyperlink PTA.org/Excellence to promote enrollment, rather than the direct link. This shorter link will make it easier to share on social media with #PTAExcellence.

  • Encourage local PTAs to enroll early so they have more time to learn more about the program and understanding requirements.

  • Suggest local PTAs include contact information of up to two additional leaders so the PTA doesn't miss program information throughout the year. 

Download and Customize 

Customize these materials to encourage local units to enroll or provide support through the program steps.

Postcards, Logos and Templates

Download and Inform

Use these resources at your state conventions or in newsletters to help PTAs learn about the program steps, requirements and benefits.

Program Overviews

Download and Share

Share these graphics to encourage local PTAs to enroll and begin their journey to Excellence! Don't forget to share with National PTA using #PTAExcellence.

Program Overviews





Additional Excellence Information and Resources

Still want to learn more? Check out these additional School of Excellence highlights to learn more about the the impact the School of Excellence program and get inspired to support the units in your PTA community.

Highlight Program Impact and Benefits

Use the School of Excellence data reports and quotes from past participants, including principals that have gone through the program, the impact and membership benefits of the program. 

The School of Excellence Database outlines all past designees or you can use the dropdown menu for a further breakdown. Find PTA units in your state that have achieved the designation to understand the reach and impact of this program in your state. 

Past Schools of Excellence

Explore past School of Excellence Designee rosters from 

School of Excellence Reports

Use these reports to get connected with past and present School of Excellence participants and designees. 

Comparative Reports Overtime 
Combined Past Excellence Reports*

*Includes the PTAs that submitted required program forms throughout the program.
**2019-2020 program postponed due to COVID-19. Questions? Email Excellence@PTA.org 

Program Data Reports

Use the School of Excellence data reports to help share and inform about the impact of the School of Excellence program Learn information like number of students served and percent of Title I schools served, and find testimonials and program impact quotes. 

 
Program Quotes

Hear first-hand from past participants how the School of Excellence program benefited their community, helped Principals connect with their school and supports PTAs in increasing membership.  


Excellence in the News

Check out some of the news coverage part and current School of Excellence designees receive!

  • Keller Jr. High PTA 2021 Phoebe Apperson Hearst Outstanding Family-School Partnership Awardee
Excellence Program Blogs

The School of Excellence experience is different for every PTA. Check out some of the experiences designees and participants have had in their journeys to Excellence! 

 
National PTA is Here to Support You

All National PTA programming is ready-to-go and comes with a team of support, allowing you to focus on what matters most – your families. We stand beside you along the way, so lean on us, because together we make the biggest difference.

Questions?

For questions, detailed reports and/or state-specific information, contact Excellence@PTA.org.