Community School Model And Community Development Essay

Parent and Community involvement does not occur overnight. I feel that schools must make parent and community involvement a priority, valuing and accepting each other’s differences. Schools, families and communities must work together to support all students in a learning environment to ensure every student is a successful learner. Positive family and school involvement fosters a partnership among my school encouraging students to reach their highest potential academically and in life. Parent and community involvement does not mean stay-at-home mothers coming to school to help as needed, or a businessman stopping by to see events occurring on campus. The role of school, family and community involvement is a partnership incorporating goal-oriented activities for all grade levels linked to academic success and student growth.

Community schools are run and owned by the Local Authority, which may support the school through the local community and also by providing a support service. They will determine the admission policy, also, they will develop the use of school facilities by local groups for example.

Probably one of the most important issues when it comes to Family/Community Partnership is trying to get the families/community involved in what we are doing. By engaging parents, it will help us to see what we are lacking and what we need to do in order to have our families fully engaged. I feel that if our families/communities are not engaged in our program then we need to reevaluate in order to encourage their participation. By reevaluating our program we can further access what we need to work on. If parents/communities feel that they are not valued as part of our team, they won’t engage in our program. Both the parents and the community play a big role in the education of our children. Parents are their first teachers and the communities have valuable resources for the children.

“As the demographics of schools shift, the need for multistranded partnerships is underscored by issues of poverty, transience, an aging population, and cultural diversity ” (Cocker, 2009, p.333).

Westside Consolidated School District should have a more robust school community relations plan that targets specific stakeholder groups and tabulates the penetration of the results from the targeted groups. The need of the School District is financial based and the plan must raise the issues of not enough classroom space and the need for a new high school building. The plan should also target providing information to parents about the need for testing is to go give the district information to build lessons for the students in the

Georgetown is located on the coast between the cities of Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina in the Lowcountry. Georgetown has a total population of 60,235, where 51% of the population is female and 49% is male. The median income of all family households is $54,047, however the nonfamily households only bring in a median of $21,986 per year. Approximately 14% of families live below the poverty level, and 42% of single mother households live below the poverty level. Georgetown High School is a public school and is located at 2500 Anthuan Maybank Drive in Georgetown, South Carolina. Georgetown High School includes grades 9 through 12 and has a total of 1,062 students. The majority of students are African American (47.3%), followed by White (45.5%), Hispanic (6.1%), Asian (0.9%) and American Indian (0.2%).

W. Edwars Deming, American engineer and management consultant, wrote “a bad system will beat a good person every time.” This quote demonstrates the necessity for a school administrator to establish a school culture that is inviting and characterized by collaboration. In order to intentionally create a welcoming and collaborative school climate, clear, frequent, and inclusive communication is fundamental. Families, staff, and community members should be afforded the opportunity to become involved in enhancing student learning, the decision making processes of the school, and meaningful school-based activities. Opening the lines of communication about possible involvement at a school promotes a good system, in which good people can thrive.

Directions: Develop an educational series proposal for your community using one of the following four topics:

Although it is important for families to be involved with their child’s school, school personnel should also strive to create a positive interaction with families of students. Carl Dunst (2002) states that school and parent collaboration is necessary, and if schools take on a more family-centered approach, it will help create a supportive environment and help to strengthen a family’s capacity to enhance and promote a child’s development and learning.

Directions: Develop an educational series proposal for your community using one of the following four topics:

Full-service community schools are based on two principles, “that the purpose of schooling is to educate youth for democratic citizenship, and that schools and communities are inextricably intertwined and interdependent (Benson, Harkavy, Johanek, & Pucket, 2009, p. 22).” The idea of a full-service school is not new and has been around for more than 100 years. Inspiration for today’s version of a full-service school can be traced to 1889, when Jane Addams built the Hull House in Chicago, based on Victorian-era settlement houses. Addams’ program focused on art, recreational activities, kindergarten programs, visiting nurses, and college extension courses, for the mainly working-class, immigrant neighborhood. Addams believed that social problems were interconnected and could only be solved with a holistic approach (Benson, et. al., 2009).

School improvement is transformation. It is one of the most important actions of a school. It is a process that schools must use with fidelity to ensure that at all students are given the opportunity to perform and achieve at exemplary levels. School improvement is vital to schools and it is a process that cannot be done in isolation. It requires team work, collaboration, and constant analysis of data and setting of goals. School improvement goals focus on how to meet the needs of students. Addressing the educational needs, funding, and achievement gaps between subgroups is collaborative effort involves everyone that has a vested interest in the schools. These basic measures set the foundation for improvement. And so, if it is the

Linksfield Primary School is a public and a community based school where students’ most important needs are cared for so that they can in turn achieve excellence, originality, creativity and a knowledge of positive values. Linksfield Primary School holds approximately 700 boys and girls, spread over a Reception Year and Primary School. There are approximately 35 students per class whom are either male or female. The students of Linksfield Primary School come from different nationality and cultural backgrounds such as, Chinese, Greek, English, Zulu, Italian and many more. Its doors remain open to everyone, greeting and introducing widely diverse communities to share in its value-driven, universal education.

America is a blessed country in numerous ways, and its citizens reap the benefits. Free education is one major benefit that not many other countries provide for their citizens. While it is only a privilege to many, but in the States, people have the right to be educated. However, free education cannot be translated to success for all. For those motivated ones who cherish the privilege to be educated are those who climb up the success ladders later in life. For a certain majority of students in the States, our current educational system may not seem to serve its purpose. In this paper, I will explore two possible adjustments that could be made to improve our system to benefit our next generation. Academic improvement and class size

General collaboration with public schools will help individual students achieve these skills to facilitate the raising of standards to a better society. Attending public schools should have a positive impact for community growth and betterment but also the human development of the individuals attending. Education at home and expanding it at school are the foundation for developing respectable citizens. Parents need to stop thinking of school as a place to send their kids so they are in a safe place while they are at work. Teachers should stop seeing children as just a part of their job and get paid accordingly. Public schools can produce all types of young adults but it takes the support of the family and the efforts of all mature adults that come in contact with them to assist in the grooming and educating of well behaved, respectful and respected young adult citizens (Allaria 2011).