Research Alert
Community Schools: The Rural Solution
A recent report points to the potential of the community school movement to concentrate resources in impoverished rural schools and build effective partnerships between the community and school. According to The Rural Solution: How Community Schools Can Reinvigorate Rural Education, community schools might be the most economically feasible way to prepare students to learn, extend learning opportunities beyond the school day, and strengthen families.
Doris Terry, author of the report, notes that the language around community schools sometimes distorts the concept:
"Neighborhood schools," "community schools," and "good schools close to home" can all become codes for the resegregation of schools, most often on the basis of race but also on the basis of socioeconomics. There must be a broader and more justice-oriented understanding of the concept of "community" in order for the concept of community schools to be useful in high-needs, racially and ethnically heterogeneous settings.
The report highlights three effective rural community schools that reflect this broader understanding. Each school responds to its students' academic needs as well as to adults' needs as they affect student achievement. The schools offer such services as family resource centers; health services; day care, preschool, and kindergarten; and parent and community outreach. But the report is quick to point out that just supplying services does not automatically turn a traditional school into a community school. A community school "implies a uniqueness about place and the people who live there." Community schools can only be truly effective when they take into account the specific needs and wants of the people they serve.
Released by the Center for American Progress and the Rural Trust, The Rural Solution: How Community Schools Can Reinvigorate Rural Education is available at www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/09/rural_solution.html.
Only Online
Improve After-School Learning
Do you want to offer kids after-school enrichment that ties learning in with their community—but can't envision what it would look like? Watch quality after-school programs in action as part of the Afterschool Training Toolkit on the Southeast Educational Development Laboratory's website (www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits). Thirty-two videos and slide shows present academically rich learning experiences, many of which connect school learning to students' homes and neighborhoods.
Organized into the curricular areas of literacy, math, science, the arts, technology, and homework, the videos show hands-on projects, such as
- <LINK URL="www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/science/pr_exploring.html">A student group in Georgia</LINK> that raises rainbow trout and releases them, with the help of local biologists, into the Chattahoochie River.
- <LINK URL="http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/technology/pr_finding_solving.html">Middle schoolers learning to use global positioning systems</LINK> to find their latitude and longitude.
- <LINK URL="http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/literacy/pr_family_literacy.html">A family literacy evening</LINK> at a New York City school that showcases book reports, dioramas, and song lyrics that elementary students produced in after-school workshops.
The website provides planning guides, lesson plans, tutoring materials, and suggestions for tying projects into both the school day and students' out-of-school lives.
Numbers of Note
Double Take - table
| 16 The percentage of U.S. students who, in 2007, chose to attend a public school other than their assigned public school. | 54 The percentage of parents with children attending U.S. K–12 public schools who reported receiving notes or e-mails from the school specifically about their child in the 2006–07 school year. |
| 27 The percentage of U.S. parents who, in 2007, reported they had moved to their current neighborhood so their children could attend a school in that neighborhood. | 66 The percentage of parents with children attending U.S. K–12 private schools who reported receiving notes or e-mails from the school specifically about their child in the 2006–07 school year. |
| Source: National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). Fast facts: What percentage of students are enrolled in school choice programs? Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=6 | Source: Herrold, K., & O'Donnell, K. (2008). Parent and family involvement in education, 2006–07 school year: National Household Education Surveys Program 2007 (NCES 2008-050). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. |
Relevant Reads
Better Together: A Model University-Community Partnership for Urban Youth by Barbara C. Jentleson (Teachers College Press, 2011).
"We rejoice now together over each graduation, each good report card, and the health and growth of our children. Durham's children are the ultimate answer to each and every question and obstacle. We had to make this university-community partnership work because it matters." (p. 2)
A thriving institution of higher education located in a struggling inner-city neighborhood has two choices: to remain an isolated enclave or become actively involved in its community. This book tells how Duke University chose the second option and created the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partner ship. It analyzes the risks and benefits of university-community partnerships and describes activities that other educators and community organizers can use to improve their work with low-income, minority youth.
World Spin
Positive Parenting
In Jamaica, the ministry of education is reworking its home and family life curriculum to give students a better understanding of parenting. The island's education system wants to reach people before they become parents. Said one education official, "Parenting is a tough job; no one teaches you how to be a parent, yet it's one of the most important jobs you'll ever do." Research concurs, showing that positive parenting leads to improved grades, better school attendance, lower rates of suspension, and higher self-esteem in children.
Page Turner
"It should be a red flag when parents find themselves popping vocabulary flash cards at the dinner table, saying 'we are applying' to a college, or peppering college admissions officers with questions while their child stands sullenly by as though facing incarceration."—Richard Weissbourd, p. 22
