| Citation: | Abrams, L., & Gibbs, J. T. (2000). Planning for change: School-community collaboration in a full-service elementary school. Urban Education, 35(1), 79-103. EJ602753. |
Annotation:
The purpose of this study is to explore the barriers and opportunities involved in building a school-community collaboration. It took place in an ethnically diverse urban elementary school where school staff, parents, and community members work together to implement a full-service school in which all students excel academically. The study had three important findings. First, the school staff and community members (including parents) held very different views about the reasons for poor student performance. Second, the school staff and community members disagreed about how parents should be involved in school, and third, their perceptions and impressions diverged significantly on leadership and exercise of the principal's power. The study found that by working out a mutual understanding of roles, clarifying the limits of power sharing, acknowledging the school itself as an institutional barrier to high student achievement, and setting specific goals for improvement, there was potential for improvement. The data were collected during the first year of a longitudinal evaluation of one elementary school in northern California. The researchers used direct observation of participants in a school-community collaboration building process, as well as archival data analysis, surveys, and semi-structural qualitative interviews with 21 school staff and 14 community members. The authors suggest several strategies school staff and community members can use to understand different perspectives and reduce tensions in order to pave the way for impacting student achievement. It is important to note that these results and strategies are based only on the first year evaluation of a process that will hopefully lead to increased student achievement.
The Connection Collection: ©SEDL 2024