How Communities Build Stronger Schools Stories, Strategies, and Promising Practices for Educating Every Child

by Dodd, Anne Wescott; Konzal, Jean L.

• ISBN13: 9780312238919
• ISBN10: 0312238916
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-10-18
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

If it takes a village to raise a child, Anne Wescott Dodd and Jean L. Konzal feel that it takes a community to make a school. Not content with the idea of a school being contained within four walls and existing only for a few hours every day, Dodd and Konzal know that a school which looks after the complete child exists far beyond its four walls and for the whole 24 hours in each day. They present a radical democratic vision of the public school where everyonenot just students, teachers and parentsplays a part in shaping our children and, consequently, our future.

Author Biography

Anne Wescott Dodd is the Chair of the Education Department at Bates College. Jean L. Konzal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at The College of New Jersey. They are the authors of Making Our High Schools Better.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One: Parent and Community Involvement Today: Challenges and Problems

Why Parents, Educators, and Community Members Must Work Together

Relationship: Tensions and Limitations

From Confrontation to Conversation: The Story of the South Wellington Parents' Special-Education Group

Conflict about School Change: The Story of Springfield Regional High School

Part Two: Beyond Parent Involvement: Connecting Home, School, and Community

Changing the Paradigm: The Home-School-Community Relationship as Synergistic

Getting Started: Building a Foundation of Trust and Respect

Part Three: Moving Closer to the New Paradigm: Profiles and Practices

A Place Where Everybody Knows Your Name: A Profile of Greenbrook Elementary School

Creating a Community of Difference: A Profile of Crossroads Middle School

Linking Home, School, and Community: A Sampling of Strategies and Practices

Rethinking What it Takes to Educate All Children