Learning Together: The Developing Field of School-Community Initiatives

• NCJ Number: 193821
• Author(s): Atelia Melaville
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 116 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
• Sale Source: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Based on the experiences of a sample of national, State, and local school-community initiatives, this collection of such efforts reflects the broad parameters of school-community initiatives and provides data through which variation and process patterns across key variables can be viewed.

Abstract

Part One, "Charting the Basic Terrain," addresses the extent to which the field of school-community initiatives is characterized by competition among significantly different approaches, purposes, and strategies. It concludes that the school-community terrain is characterized not so much by separate and distinct approaches as by an evolution toward blended and complementary purposes and strategies that together constitute an emerging field of knowledge and practice. Part Two describes 10 aspects of school-community initiatives: initiation, governance, site-level coordination and staffing, financing, range of activities, location and availability of activities, intended participants, actual participants, accountability, and technical assistance. Part Two concludes that the dichotomy between school-led and community-driven initiatives often used to describe major differences in school-community initiatives does not aptly characterize the field, and it argues that school-community initiatives are better depicted as school-based and community-involved. Part Three broadens the focus of the report from a descriptive analysis of school-community initiatives to a consideration of their impact on the quality of education and their long-term staying power and expansion. It argues that school-community initiatives incrementally develop the ability to strengthen school functioning by fostering positive relations with staff, developing parent participation and leadership, and ensuring access to the school's decision-making process. Stable leadership and permanent financing strategies are deemed essential factors in sustaining and expanding initiatives. A brief set of recommendations for funders, policymakers, and practitioners concludes the paper. 21 notes and 7 appendixes with supplementary information