School-Community Collaboration: Insights from Two Decades of Partnership Development

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years, there has been increasing interest in school-community partnerships as a promising way of supporting students academically, socially and emotionally in both Canada and the United States. This chapter outlines a partnership process that developers have found useful over past decades in creating their school-community relationships. While understanding the partnership process is helpful, relationships are fostered in complex social contexts that can either facilitate or frustrate efforts to collaborate. A willingness to accommodate collaborators’ needs and goals, and opportunities to modify collaborative activities over time to better meet needs encourages partnership development and sustainability. Two-way communication and a shared purpose assist students, educators, families and community members to create mutually beneficial relationships founded upon a philosophy that all constituents have valuable resources to share. Hindrances to collaboration include territorialism, and agendas determined by the educators, school and district leaders without community input. Educators’ perceptions of student, family and community needs can be problematic in culturally and economically diverse communities where residents’ life experiences do not match theirs. The chapter includes recommendations for creating more seamless interactions among schools, districts and communities.