This policy brief examines new ways that US public school districts are organizing and managing instruction, ways that family and community organizations can engage those efforts, and ways that states can support them in doing so. In a complex education reform landscape, understanding the different ways districts are reforming instructional…

This case study focuses on the way a neighborhood association connects schools to broad change in an urban neighborhood of a large Midwestern city. The first section provides a review of the literature on community involvement in school and neighborhood reform. It reviews the historical origins of the current school-community relationship, the…

The descriptive study reported here sought to discover how Extension and agricultural education programs develop and use community partnerships to enhance educational programming. The population was a census of all New Mexico Extension agents and agricultural education teachers. Agents partnered with 57 different agencies/organization and teachers…

This study examines the relationship between school violence and involvement of community organizations in school safety planning. The study is a secondary analysis of data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety 2003-2004 (U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 2006). This survey collects data on crime and safety from…

In this article we explore recent history to uncover the role that public engagement has played in the effort to reform America's urban schools. In the place of narratives that focus on elite actors (foundations, unions, corporations, etc.), we focus on the role of local stakeholders. Specifically, we look to how the changing political context…

In Boston, court ordered school desegregation lacked support from both city officials and the Boston School Committee. In order to facilitate integration, community groups banded together to form daily debriefing sessions. The purpose was to identify and assess critical incidents and provide necessary information to the various districts having…

In this article, the author reports some 3,800 near-simultaneous "house parties" organized throughout Pennsylvania to call on their federal lawmakers to put more money into education. The parties, in which three-quarters of them were organized by teachers such as Jane Dugdale, are the main election-season event of a new coalition of…

This report reviews the activities, strategies, successes, and problems of diverse school reform efforts across a 14-state sample of community organizations. In 1999 and 2000, interviewers visited over 40 organizations and conducted telephone interviews with dozens of other organizations involved in education reform. They met with directors,…

This report explores the perspectives, issues, and capacity building needs of 51 community organizations that are fighting for better public schools nationwide. It analyzes a series of interviews conducted between July 2000 and March 2002. The interviews involved organizers, senior staff, and parent leaders. Overall, respondents described a range…

In this document various aspects of community response to school desegregation are considered. General themes presented are the role of the community in the integration process as well as some ways in which the process can be facilitated by purposeful organization. A Checklist for Assessing School Desegregation Plans serves as an instrument…

This report of a conference on "Desegration without Turmoil" describes the community organization and public information efforts that preceded the implementation of government ordered school integration in cities where this transition was accomplished peacefully. It is the position of the participants in the conference that peaceful desegration in…

This report examines the work of 66 community groups organizing to improve public education in low-performing schools and districts. These largely local, community-based organizations focus on engaging public school parents, low-income families, and students in school improvement efforts. Their goals are to build political power and to challenge…

The purpose of this manual is to facilitate community organization and education in order to bring about successful school desegregation. In it the process of organization for the desegregation process is outlined. The role of both neutral and pro-desegregation coalitions is examined, and suggestions are offered for forming the latter within a…

DEMANDS FOR GREATER COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN AND LOCAL CONTROL OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY INSISTENT. IN SEVERAL OF NEW YORK CITY'S SCHOOL DISTRICTS LOCAL BOARDS HAVE TAKEN THE INITIATIVE TO HEIGHTEN THEIR EFFECTIVENESS AND POWERS, BUT THEY AND OTHERS DISAGREE ABOUT DEFINITION OF DECENTRALIZATION AND WAYS TO IMPLEMENT IT. AN…

This report describes the involvement of the Community Relations Service (CRS), Department of Justice, in the desegregation of public schools, as called upon by the Administration to provide assistance toward helping school districts and communities resolve problems that would arise during the period of transition from dual to unitary systems. The…