Using Community Input to Inform School Improvement – Broader BOLDER Approach to Education

Community engagement for school reform

Don Long — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 18:58:25 +0000

This commentary by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform speaks to the critical ingredient of community engagement for meaningful and sustainable school reform.

BBA blog: Deserving of Celebration: Public Education Done Right

Don Long — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:13:10 +0000

Deserving of Celebration: Public Education Done Right spotlights the benefits to diverse communities across the country from marrying evidence of what works to mitigate poverty’s impacts with input from those closest to the classroom.

Investing in What Works: Community-Driven Strategies for Strong Public Schools in Georgia

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 20:08:42 +0000

In response to the state’s plan, modeled on portfolio and privatization models, to improve its most struggling schools by removing them from local control, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform collaborated with the Southern Education Foundation to offer a Investing in What Works: Community-Driven Strategies for Strong Public Schools in Georgia.

Asserting broad community input into urban reform agendas

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 20:07:30 +0000

In several larger districts, teachers, parents, community organizers, faith leaders and others have responded to reform agendas developed largely without their input with community-based visions that emphasize a broad range of student developmental needs and draw on the communities’ various assets to meet them.

In New York City, the A+ NYC Coalition produced Whole Child, Whole School, Whole City: An Education Roadmap for the Next Mayor, key precepts of which guide Mayor Bill de Blasio’s equitable education improvement efforts.
In Philadelphia, community organizers and teacher leaders came together as the Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS) to produce the Philadelphia Community Education Plan: Excellent Schools for All Children.
In Newark, long-time Central High School teacher and City Council member Ras Baraka led to effort to produce XXXX in response to former Chancellor Cami Anderson’s top-down One Newark plan to reform the city’s schools. This work was instrumental in his election as the next mayor of Newark.

BBA case studies on community visions of better schools

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 20:05:31 +0000

Across the country, communities have come together to put forth comprehensive visions for public education that are grounded in evidence of what works and informed by local voices regarding both their needs and assets. These plans and the progress made by schools and communities are documented in the BBA case studies.

Coalition for Community Schools blog on importance of community engagement in improving schools

Don Long — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:43:28 +0000

This blog by the Coalition for Community Schools, Community Schools and Equity: Changing Systems, highlights the importance of community engagement and school-community dialogue in addressing the intersection of race, poverty, income, class, family circumstance, and culture in educational inequities.