Reviewing the resources on community partnerships caused me to reflect on personal experiences within the school system when my children were young and more recently as a member of the community without a child enrolled.
One portion of the reading that gave me a reason to reflect was the following quote, "While it is relatively simple to make informal school community linkages, establishing major long-term partnerships is complicated." (UCLA, 1999) I have been involved in several successful long term programs and would concur that there are a variety of challenges in maintaining that successful relationship.
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) supports education in communities where chapters are located. The Trans-Allegheny Chapter in Weston, WV (Lewis Co.) conducts an essay contest for grades five thru eight. The chapter chairperson often struggles with getting more than a handful of submissions. The winning entries receive a free meal and a savings bond. The greatest challenge for this partnership is getting students to submit entries. This is an annual contest and one teacher uses this as an assignment, but the other history teacher does not. For more information on the contest visit http://www.dar.org/natsociety/essays.cfm.
Lions Club International has a Flag Day program that is affiliated with Kindergarten students. My club visited every Kindergarten in the county and read a story about the flag and gave every student an American Flag. This is a low collaborative effort as the club chairperson arranges with each school individually for the visit. There is minimal work involved, except for the dedication of the chairperson.
On the ScratchEd website David Hay wrote an article about the success of a school wide Scratch Day that involved major collaboration within the educational community and the community. Scratch is a graphics based programming language for all ages. He reflected not only upon the success of the day but the amount of collaboration that went into the venture. This was a first time effort and there appears to be an interest in continuing on with the project and the collaboration that it involves.
It was interesting to review the WV recipients of the 21st Century Community Grants. While there were awards in different parts of the state there was a very strong pattern in the south western part of the state. The compilation of the information for this grant was undoubtly daunting, but a variety of institutions learned to maximize the result in multiple years.
There are a variety of service oriented organizations in EVERY community that are looking for ways to be involved in Education. Often times these organizations make the contact with the school, as in the two scenerios above, to create a partnership. A teacher leader should strive to be involved in the community and to tap into these resources. Such groups as Kiwanis, Rotary, Quota, Community Educational Outreach Services (CEOS), Lions, and Women's Clubs. Do not discount locale museums, historical sites, and health service providers. The services and donations of time from these organizations can often be used as in-kind contributions for matching funds when writing grants. Working with service organizations in the community is good for the school, good for the community, and GREAT for the students.
UCLA. (n.d.). School-community partnerships from the school's perspective. (1999). Addressing Barriers to Learning, 4(1), 1-2, 5-8. Retrieved from
Teacher leaders should be involved in tapping into community service organizations. I know some projects are planned at our school, but what I don't see is the ongoing, sustainable relationship. It's usually just a "one-time" project. So, maybe this is something to research, how to maintain effective relationships between schools and service organizations. Great post!
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