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

by A. Dodd, J. Konzal

Overview

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 everyone not just students, teachers and parents plays a part in shaping our children and, consequently, our future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312238919
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	05/02/2003
Edition description:	2003
Pages:	347
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.03(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

ANNE WESCOTT DODD is the Chair of the Education Department at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. For fifiteen years she taught English, Social Studies, and Conversational French at two junior high schools in California and English at four senior high schools in Maine. She is the co-editor of the Journal of Maine Education, which has won several national awards for excellence.

JEAN L. KONZAL is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at the College of New Jersey in Ewing, New Jersey. She has worked as a teacher, a reading specialist, and a state consultant on issues of educational reform in both urban and rural settings.

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

Editorial Reviews

'...solidly developed, and workable strategies are offered. Highly recommended.' - W. L. McKinney, Choice

From the Publisher

Dodd and Konzal, both education professors whose previous book, Making Our High Schools Better, dealt with improving interactions between educators and parents, expand on that sphere of influence by emphasizing the importance of community involvement in the public education partnership. They don't advocate any particular reform measures because they contend that each community must decide for itself what will help its children learn. Instead, they advise teachers, administrators, parents, and tax-paying citizens to seek common ground or work in different ways toward a common purpose. The ten chapters effectively discuss the benefits of a connected involvement, offer suggestions for building a foundation of trust and respect, and detail actual cases in which communities have dealt with educational challenges with varying degrees of success. Several of the case studies resulted in significant academic improvement. Dozens of sidebars feature practical tips and testimonials. Recommended for academic and public libraries.-Will Hepfer, SUNY at Buffalo Libs. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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