Community partnerships are essential for vitality in neighborhoods. A growing demand exists for training programs to attract and prepare a highly qualified workforce to serve young children and their families. Personnel across different stages of their career can help address our teacher shortages. Service learning is a useful strategy in…

School improvement plans (SIPs) have become a central feature of schooling. Educational leaders experience tension between balancing compliance with accountability demands and continuous improvement, and neither of these lenses is centered in the social justice necessary for closing opportunity gaps. We propose a new rubric for assessing the…

This study assesses the impact of five years of community level activities in the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan (PYFMP) on four school-related risk and protective factors including academic failure, low school commitment, school opportunities for prosocial involvement, and school rewards for prosocial involvement. The intervention and…

This article will explore a district's attempt to revise their suspension policy with the collaborative effort of community members and school-level educators. In this article, I will present my analysis of data from six forums where participants expressed their concerns and made recommendations on how to improve the policy. I will also use…

To increase capacity for public participation and improve problem-solving practices, some public school districts have launched stakeholder-training programs. This mixed methods study examined the impact of five school district parent training programs (four in Colorado and one in Illinois) designed to increase trust and engagement. Data were…

Despite efforts of educators across the nation, African American students in the United States underperform their peers and experience graduation rates lower than any other ethnicity. The purpose of this case study was to gain an understanding, through the lenses of social learning theory (SLT) and critical race theory (CRT), of how a partnership…

We used Q methodology, a form of factor analysis, to explore and establish correlations across the perceptions of key stakeholders (i.e., deans, faculty members, doctoral students) about how doctoral programs in educational leadership engage in work with diverse communities. Four distinct viewpoints emerged suggesting the ongoing need to: develop…

The work of contemporary school principals is intensifying in terms of complexity and volume. Many factors moderate and drive such work intensification. More than ever before, school principals are expected to build relationships with organizations and agencies connected to the student and school community. Using findings generated from a…

The full-service community school (FSCS) model is one of the most popular and growing types of community school models, which is widely implemented in under-resourced urban schools. FSCSs offer an alternative to traditional public schools in the U.S. and are designed to coordinate community assets within a school. Given increased attention to this…

This study builds on existing research on school-community partnerships in middle and secondary schools by examining the roles of the students and the impact of social influences on their school-community liaising practices. Documents, observations, and 20 interviews with students, school leaders, teachers, and support staff from one urban,…

Research has demonstrated persistent, disproportionally negative educational outcomes for students of color, causing national concern in this area. School personnel increasingly understand the need to engage with parents as educational partners, but parents of color may feel marginalized in these efforts. This paper presents findings from a series…

This study explored how graduate coursework can impact urban teachers' knowledge, skills, and dispositions regarding family and community involvement. (Note: California requires graduate work for teacher certification.) Specifically, the research investigated how teacher attitudes toward family and community involvement changed after taking a…

Involvement by the adult community in schools and students' lives is an effective way to increase student attendance, boost morale, and improve students' perceptions about their school experience. This study examined a two-year comprehensive community intervention initiative within a high-risk junior high school, measuring its impact on student…

Inner-city schools located in high poverty communities often operate with insufficient resources to meet the educational needs of students. Community residents serving as paraeducators offer the dual benefits of expanding instructional capacity and fostering family-school relationships, provided they are appropriately prepared and incorporated…

Since 1988, the Chicago Public Schools have instigated sweeping educational reforms, including decentralization and the establishment of school/community councils empowered to make important decisions, such as the hiring of principals. Although the councils' organizational model is imperfect, more parents and community members are becoming…