In recent years, research on urban school-community relations has emerged with renewed vigor and a myriad of suggestions for how to best approach the topic. While most of these suggestions are ...anchored in positivist and interpretive epistemologies, a growing number of scholars are applying more critical approaches to school-community relations that center issues of equity and unequal power relations. However, these approaches are often perceived as being too impractical for educational leaders to implement. This article thus situates approaches to school-community relations across three epistemologies: positivism, interpretivism, and critical theory to make these ideas more accessible for educational leaders. With a focus on developing educational leaders to work equitably across school and community contexts, this article provides an operating framework for each approach that delineates assumptions, goals, views of families, strategies, and types of leadership. Finally, this article provides an epistemological grounding to propose that educational leaders develop what I call community equity literacy, and concludes with implications for future research.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND
Involving communities in school health has been purported as a practice integral to supporting a Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) approach. Although community ...collaboration is often included in school‐based health initiatives, there is little research considering methods for increasing community engagement. The purpose of this study was to identify effective school‐based health interventions documenting changes in community engagement.
METHODS
Academic experts and school stakeholders guided procedures for a systematic review of studies published from 1987–2017 and gray literature (ie, best practice documents; policy documents, etc.) on comprehensive school health interventions including community engagement as a targeted outcome.
RESULTS
The search identified 9 studies addressing community as an outcome of school‐based health interventions; types of partnership mechanisms and partners' roles were classified.
CONCLUSIONS
Although involving communities is a WSCC component and commonly recommended as a strategy fundamental to school health, there is little empirical research examining effective strategies for engaging communities and engagement is often not measured as part of intervention studies. Further measurement and research in engaging communities in school health is warranted.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND
The benefits of youth engagement are well documented. In this paper, we examine youth engagement in America's Promise Alliance's Every School Healthy initiative, a part of the ...Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Together for Healthy and Successful Schools Initiative (THSS).
METHODS
Six community acceleration sites were selected through a competitive grant‐making process. Sites were required to describe youth engagement strategies. A case study design was employed to examine how sites conceptualize youth engagement as well as youth engagement strategies employed across 6 sites. Data sources included observations, team member debriefs, and document review.
RESULTS
There was variation in how youth engagement and youth voice are conceptualized in educational settings, and readiness for youth engagement. Sites actively solicited and implemented youth engagement resources and strategies.
CONCLUSIONS
By failing to engage young people, well‐intentioned adults miss important opportunities. Youth engagement presents an exciting opportunity for school leaders, policymakers, and program planners to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that influence individual and community health and wellbeing and, in turn, helps them to develop responsive policies and programs.
The vast majority of youth experiencing symptoms of a mental health (MH) disorder never access services. Barriers to access include unawareness of symptoms or where to get help, stigma, or lack of ...transportation or finances. Many school, family, and community collaboration models have begun to enhance access to MH supports. The present study reports the impact of one such program called the Family Access Center of Excellence (FACE). FACE employs the Family Check-Up to conduct a child-focused, family systems assessment of family strengths and problem areas and create a treatment plan and linkages to services, with intensive case management to directly address access barriers. In this study, 417 youth were referred from schools to FACE in one academic year. We compared the 224 youth who engaged in FACE to 193 youth who were referred but chose not to access FACE services. Fixed effects regression models indicated that youth who engaged with FACE demonstrated improved social-emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes compared to youth who did not engage. Implications are discussed along with next steps for developing responsive school-community linked models of care.
This book takes a comprehensive look at community engagement strategies in education to demonstrate the diverse nature of school-community relations and their value to promote their effective ...development. The author brings twenty years of experience in various educational settings in Ontario and California to examining community involvement policies and their interpretation, as well as school-community collaboration in practice. Chapters include recent research on school-community collaboration from the perspective of teachers, school district leaders, administrators, and support staff within two school districts in a low-income and culturally diverse urban community. The book also includes perspectives from community members involved in organizations across the city with a mandate to work with youth. In a time where students' academic, social, and emotional support needs are on the rise, this book offers a valuable resource for strengthening school-community relations and demonstrating the power of collaboration.
BACKGROUND: This article reviews challenges to collaboration in school mental health (SMH) and presents practical strategies for overcoming them.
METHODS: The importance of collaboration to the ...success of SMH programs is reviewed, with a particular focus on collaboration between school‐ and community‐employed professionals. Challenges to effective collaboration between school‐ and community‐employed professionals in SMH are considered. Strategies for overcoming challenges to effective collaboration are presented.
RESULTS: Marginalization of the SMH agenda, limited interdisciplinary teamwork, restricted coordination mechanisms, confidentiality concerns, and resource and funding issues are key challenges to collaboration. Strategies targeted toward each of these challenges may help improve the effectiveness of SMH programs and ultimately student outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: Collaboration between school‐ and community‐employed professionals is critical to the success of SMH programs. Despite its promise, the success of SMH programs can be jeopardized by ineffective collaboration between school‐ and community‐employed professionals. Strategies to overcome marginalization, promote authentic interdisciplinary teamwork, build effective coordination mechanisms, protect student and family confidentiality, and promote policy change and resource enhancements should be addressed in SMH improvement planning.
For decades, reform has been a persistent issue in urban schools. Research suggests that urban school reforms that are connected to equitable community development efforts are more sustainable, and ...that principals play a pivot role in leading such efforts. Yet, limited research has explored how urban school principals connect school reform with community improvement. This study examines principal leadership at a high school in the Southeastern United States where school reform was linked to improving community conditions. Using the case study method, this study draws on interviews and document data. Concepts from social capital theory are used to guide the analysis. Findings indicate that the principal’s actions to support urban school reform and community improvement included the following: positioned the school as a social broker in the community, linked school culture to community revitalization projects, and connected instruction to community realities. The study concludes with implications for practice and future research.
Policy makers have long seen parents and families as key levers for improving U.S. student outcomes and success, and new cross-sector collaborative policy and initiatives provide a promising context ...for innovations in efforts to engage nondominant families in educational equity reform. Drawing on a lens of equitable collaboration, this study examined the strategies in three organizational efforts to improve family engagement in education within a common cross-sector collaboration initiative in a Western region of the United States. Although conventional approaches persisted amid regular exchanges across organizations, we identified more reciprocal, collective, and relational strategies: (a) parent capacity-building, (b) relationship-building, and (c) systemic capacity-building efforts. Despite promising strategies, the dynamics of implementation in the cross-sector collaborative constrained change and mirrored limitations in family engagement practice and policy. The article concludes with next steps for research, practice, and policy in the journey toward more equitable collaboration.
Increased interest in climate change education and the growing recognition of the challenges inherent to addressing this issue create an opportunity to conduct a systematic review to understand what ...research can contribute to our ideas about effective climate change education. An academic database, EBSCOhost, was used to identify 959 unique citation records addressing climate change education. Of these, 49 sources met the criteria of focusing on assessment of climate change education interventions. Analysis of these sources examined the intervention purpose, assessment methodology, and identified strategies that might result in effective interventions. Two themes were identified that are common to most environmental education: (1) focusing on personally relevant and meaningful information and (2) using active and engaging teaching methods. Four themes specific to issues such as climate change were also generated: (1) engaging in deliberative discussions, (2) interacting with scientists, (3) addressing misconceptions, and (4) implementing school or community projects. Suggestions for addressing controversial topics like climate change are offered.
The benefits of school and community partnerships are well documented in government reports and the academic literature. A number of government initiatives have been introduced to actively involve ...parents and the community in school matters. In addition, various agencies have produced resource kits and guidelines to assist schools and communities to develop and foster partnerships, and partnership agreements. Much of this study has focused on working with Aboriginal peoples. The use of the term, 'Aboriginal' in this paper refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Initiatives such as 'What Works' have had some success in building strong Aboriginal community and school partnerships, however, the literature also reveals that despite such initiatives, the levels of success vary from school to school, with some partnerships unable to develop or be sustained. In responding to a gap in the current knowledge, the authors examine the value of school-community partnerships in a rural and remote school where the percentage of Aboriginal Australian students is high. A brief summary of the outcomes of some of the major initiatives with aims to build effective school and community partnerships is provided. This is followed by the findings from a small pilot research study on the implementation of initiatives to build strong school-community relationships in rural and remote Indigenous school settings in Western Australia. The challenges that may inhibit the establishment of successful school-community relationships/collaboration are discussed and suggestions provided on how these challenges can be addressed.
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