Objectives

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to understand the importance of:

Introduction

This module is organized by the types of community organizations that may collaborate with the schools to benefit children and their families, the processes to establish collaborations and the benefits of collaborations. First let me identify some community professionals that could be included in a school’s plan when developing a relationship with the community. Civic organizations examples are organizations such as Rotary, Lion’s Club, Kiwanis. Business organizations may be any businesses such as manufacturing firms, stores such as Target, Walmart, or any other stores. Community service organizations might include the public library, senior citizens, daycares, churches, Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs, and the local YMCA. Agencies within the community include the health services such as doctors, nurses and dentist and other agencies such as police, juvenile justice, social services and child welfare. These are all some examples of community professionals that may help identify and find solutions for problems that may affect educational issues such as student achievement.

Organizational Thought

High student achievement can only be realized through the involvement of parents and a variety of community members. Involvement by the community members can take many forms. It is not just a yearly meeting to establish the school's vision nor is it a fund raising campaign. Neither is it a meeting of community agencies where the school provides a detailed report of its accomplishments. Our discussion for this module is designed around those activities between school professionals and other professionals within the community where ongoing collaborations and lasting relationships can be developed that will better serve the youth of a community.

The focus for school partnerships must remain that of educating children. However, schools can not do this alone in a world of diversity where some children in a school live in poverty, or have health needs that can only be met by joining forces among various professionals within the community.

Educational leaders, especially principals, need to initiate programs for educating children. Different agencies can offer several forms of support that could be valuable to children and education as a whole. By coordinating educational services with the services provided by other agencies, school principals can improve the efficiency of the delivery of these services by avoiding the duplication of services that might exist.

Through this coordination the principal can also build long lasting relationships that can lead to a better understanding and appreciation for what each professional can do for children. Other benefits of school-community partnering, as reported by Priscilla Pardini (2001) included that in schools in northern Manhattan and Harlem student attendance and academic achievement increased and suspension rates decreased after these community schools partnered with the Children's Aid Society "to remove barriers that kept students from learning" and provide the additional cultural enrichment activities not often found within schools of poverty.

Establishing Relationships with Other Professionals

Objective 1: Identifying those actions of the principal which will encourage community involvement in their school.

The principal has been identified as the instructional leader within any school. For this reason, the principal must be the person who initiates efforts to involve other professionals in the school. As the instructional leader of the school, the principal should first work with his/her faculty and staff to develop a culture in the school that will be open to the involvement of other outside professionals in the school while at the same time involving both students and school personnel in projects outside the school building with external agencies and organizations.

Developing Your Leadership Potential

1) Research to locate successful programs inside or outside of schools where other professionals have been involved.

2) Identify barriers in your school that would prevent implementation of a program utilizing other professionals.

3) Work with faculty and staff to identify the advantages to improve student achievement through the involvement of other outside professionals.

4) Develop a plan to assure buy-in by a majority of the faculty, staff and students to work with other professionals to enhance a variety of programs.

Objective 2: Identifying different forms of collaboration between civic, business, community agencies and the schools.

The educational leaders need to start the process for educating children. The different agencies offer several different forms of support that all should be examined for its value to the children and education. But it can also help so services are not duplicated across agencies.

Creation of joint board committees between schools and others should set a climate for honest and open communication. People need to feel safe in order to speak candidly about the issues and how it affects their organization. Two way communication is the key to the collaboration between several agencies.

Developing Your Leadership Potential

1) Develop a survey that can used to connect with community members and other professionals within the community.

2) Organize focus groups which can identify different forms of collaboration that could take place between the school and various community agencies, business, and civic organizations.

3) Perform in-depth interviews with key community leaders to help identify potential collaborative activities.

Objective 3: Identifying a process for building collaborations between the school and community organizations.

So how does an educational leader start the process of developing relationships with all the community agencies that work with children and their families?

Perhaps the first step is to identify all the community agencies within the school district. The educational leader may elicit help in this identification process by talking to other community agency directors or parents. After a list has been compiled, then an invitation may be sent for a joint planning session.

Developing Your Leadership Potential

1) Review how some communities have used either large or small collaborative efforts to develop a process of inquiry and initiatives to resolve issues related to children and education.

2) Design a process for building collaborations between the school and community organizations.

Objective 4: Identifying key community and business organizations within your community where relationships can be developed to interact with other professionals within the community.

So how does an educational leader start the process of developing relationships with all the community agencies that work with children and their families? The first step is to identify all the community agencies and other professionals within the school district that work with children. The principal might elicit help in this identification process by talking to other community agencies and professional organizations directors and members. Once these agencies and organizations have been identified, the principal can call a joint meeting of the leaders or a representative from each agency and organization.

Developing Your Leadership Potential

1) Evaluate in order to determine agencies, organizations and businesses which include other professionals that are currently working with your school.

2) Survey community leaders and ask them to recommend agencies, organizations and businesses that could assist your school in a program to enhance your curriculum.

3) Develop a plan to assure that a representative of the school will be an active member of each civic organization which is located in your community.

Objective 5: Identifying other professionals in the community whose involvement in the school will have a positive impact in the school.

The principal working with the faculty, staff and students should identify specific professionals who would fit well into various curriculum activities. Through their involvement in civic organizations and professional organizations both the principal and teachers can develop relationships with other professionals so that the school people can identify those other professionals who would have the interest and personality to work with students at the school or within the other professional's agency or business.

The principal should also not overlook the insights of students when it comes to identifying other professionals to be associated with the school. First, students' parents are often some of those other professionals you are seeking. Parents of students who are professionals have a natural motivation to work in the schools or host students at their agency or business. Second, most students have already interacted with a variety of other professionals within their own personal lives. Through these experiences the students have realistic experiences which they can use as a basis to recommend professionals to work in the school.

Developing Your Leadership Potential

1) Direct faculty, staff and students in a process to identify individual professionals

2) Organize faculty, staff and building level administration to determine which individuals will be involved with each civic or professional organization

3) Determine who will best interact with each community agency

Objective 6: Identifying activities in which other professionals can be continuously involved within internal activities of the school.

As discussed earlier, it is important that the principal works with faculty, staff and students to identify the right individual professionals to work with the school. This same concept of involvement by building stakeholders must continue with the addition of these selected professionals when it comes to selecting the activities in which they will be involved.

When selecting activities for the involvement of other professionals it is important to remember some of the findings from a study by The Council for Corporate and School Partnerships that says,

"The Guiding Principles for Business and School Partnerships are designed to help educators and business leaders fact these challenges by developing relationships that support mutual goals, and offer long-term, sustainable benefits for students and schools."

Developing Your Leadership Potential

1) Organize groups of teachers, staff, students and other professionals who will identify activities in the school that can best utilize outside professionals and in which outside professionals feel comfortable being involved

2) Create a list of approved other professionals and the type of involvement that they have agreed to perform in order to enhance the curriculum

Objective 7: Identifying activities in which school personnel and student can be continuously involved within the external professional organizations and businesses in the community.

Partnerships with other professionals must be a two-way street. Just as it is important that the school benefit from the partnership, it is also most beneficial for assuring a long-lasting, positive relationship if the other professionals involved in the program also receive some for of benefit.

This concept is confirmed in the Guiding Principles for Business and School Partnership:

It is important that the principal review and approve all off-campus experiences that students might have in businesses, organizations, or agencies. Also, the principal needs to be careful to make certain that all required criminal checks and supervision are made of adults who will be working directly with students at the off-campus sites.

Developing Your Leadership Potential

1) Organize meetings with other professionals to identify areas where students can assist in the operation of the agency, organization or business from which the professional comes.

2) Create a catalogue listing of off-campus student assistant programs to agencies, organizations and businesses from which volunteer professionals come.

Establishing Relationships with Other Professionals

Working with the Material

Think about the following activities and apply your skills you have mastered regarding the relationships with and involvement of other professional in your community.

Resources

Bagin, D., Gallagher, D.R. & Kindred, L.W. (1994). The School and Community Relations 5th Edition. Allyn and Bacon, Neeham Heights: MA.

Busby, M.K. & Coker, J. Business partnerships, schools and technology. Retrieved April7, 2005 from http://www2.msstate.edu.

Carroll, S.R. & Carroll, D. (2001, August). Outside-inside marketing: Addressing public perceptions using surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. The School Administrator Web Edition. Retrieved October 2, 2006, from http://www.aasa.org

Chadwick, K.G. (2004). Improving Schools through Community Engagement: A Practical Guide for Educators. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks: CA.

The Council for Corporate and School Partnerships. Guiding Principles for Business and School Partnerships.

Hawkins, M. (2004, January 8). Partnerships with business help school ease tight budgets. Retrieved April 7, 2005, from http://www.dmregister.com

Hoffman, F.J. (2006, January). Starting, but then maintaining, a worthwhile collaboration. The School Administrator Web Edition. Retrieved October 2, 2006, from http://www.aasa.org

Iowa School Board Association. School boards and community engagement. Retrieved October 31, 2006 from http://www.ia-sb.org

Kimpton, J.S. & Considine, J.W. (1999, September). The tough sledding of district-led engagement. The School Administrator Web Edition. Retrieved October 2, 2006, from http://www.aasa.org

Leighninger, M. (2005, November). Marrying citizens and educators in decisions. The School Administrator Web Edition. Retrieved October 2, 2006, from http://www.aasa.org

Pardini, P. (2001, August). School-Community partnering. The School Administrator Web Administrator. Retrieved October 2, 2006, from http://www.aasa.org

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This work is licensed by Ralph Marshall and Pauline Sampson under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.

Last edited by National Council of Professors of Educational Administration on Apr 12, 2007 12:30 pm GMT-5.