February 22, 2005
Concordia University, Montreal
Recent Research
and Background
Reading
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Creating a Culture of Learning
A. Community Engagement
Parent and Community Partnerships: Schools and Communities
While having a less profound effect on the overall educational dynamic, partnerships between
schools and community organizations and businesses benefit schools through access to enhanced
resources. These partnerships can also have a powerful influence on individual students through
the provision of work-experience programs that supply opportunities to examine and experience
potential career choices, and by providing scholarships that may enable post-secondary education.
As might be expected, these relationships are more numerous in schools in urban environments
than those in isolated rural areas or settlements. Urban secondary schools, such as Merritt and
Southeast have developed significant partnerships in their communities. As a result, Merritt's
students have access to video production equipment and training, work experience programs,
and an impressive array of scholarships provided by local businesses. Southeast's partnerships
provide students with access to community cultural support organizations and university drama
classes. Service organizations such as the Rotary Club and Lions' Club are named in the partnerships
providing funding for special projects and equipment, as in Alert Bay, and access to subsidized
programs and training such as Lions Quest.
Less tangible, but no less important, is the goodwill that schools can build through partnerships in
their communities. It seems to be a feature of these successful schools that their reputations precede
them. That is, the schools and what they stand for are well known within the larger community. As
noted in parent interviews, parents new to the area had frequently heard good reports about the
school before enrolling their children and were predisposed to expect positive experiences. It is
likely that this community influence also touches and helps form students' expectations. The case
studies relate a beginning Kindergarten child's expectation that he would learn to read, and high
school students' comments about different behavioural expectations, "We just don't do that here!"
In summary, strong community partnerships include both tangible benefits such as special funding,
equipment, programs, and scholarships, but also benefits that elude measurement such as an
increased sense of community ownership of the school, pride in its accomplishments, and the
establishment of an expectation of learning that may profoundly influence both the school and
the community.
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