Outside In: Communities in Action for Education Reform

Abstract

Community organizing for school reform is a growing national phenomenon, as young people, parents, neighborhood residents, and faith-based institutions struggle to improve the quality and equity of public schooling, particularly in urban school districts. Now a decade old, community organizing projects are influencing local public schools in increasingly visible ways-bringing new resources, introducing equity-based policies, and transforming educator conceptions of who they teach and the skills necessary to teach diverse student populations effectively. This article looks at the emerging field of community organizing for school reform in the context of national trends in public education, reviews the characteristics and theoretical underpinnings of the organizing approach, and explores the linkages between research, the teaching profession, and organizing. It identifies three critical questions

Sustaining Community Partnership Across Transition in District Leadership

“…As superintendents confront complex, deeply entrenched causes for student outcomes, partnerships with other members of the community are one strategy for coordinating systems in response (Mediratta, 2007; Wells, Gifford, Bai, & Corra, 2015). The success of district improvement strategies is highly dependent on community support (Alsbury & Whitaker, 2007; Glass, Björk, & Brunner, 2000), particularly from school board members (Glass & Franceschini, 2007).…”

“…The CAP case underlines the importance of institutionalizing partnerships in ways that not only strengthen partner relationships but also normalize them. The literature is rife with examples of district and school partnerships that fail to deeply, authentically engage in bidirectional relationships with community members (Ishimaru, 2014b; LeChasseur, 2014; Mediratta, 2007). However, even authentic relationships might not be sustained over time if the key players change.…”

Promise Neighborhoods

“…Mediratta et al, 2008;Stone, Doherty, Jones, & Ross, 1999;Warren, 2005;Warren & Mapp, 2011). As Mediratta (2007) explained, "community organizing for school reform is about the intentional building of power among parents, young people, and community residents in low-income communities of color, to transform the accountability relationships between schools and the constituencies they serve" (p. 197). Indeed, community organizing as "a vehicle for building community capacity, which plays a critical role in school reform" (Gold, Simon, & Brown, 2005, p. 37) was noticeably missing from the LVPN Initiative's efforts-an area requiring greater attention moving forward.…”

Public-Private Partnerships, Civic Engagement, and School Reform

“…Scholars have long sought to comprehend conditions under which citizens seek to in•uence public policy; however, conducting research on this topic has been challenging due to dynamic, intricate, and dif!cult to validate circumstances surrounding it (Cooper, Bryer, & Meek, 2006). Even so, the literature validates stakeholder in•uence in a democracy is a fundamental right (e.g., Fishkin, 1991;Levin, 1999;Roberts, 1997;Skocpol, 1993) and provides consensus that direct citizen participation locally is advantageous to school reform politically and economically (e.g., Bauman, 1996;Christman, 2003;Duke, 2004Duke, , 2008Mediratta, 2007;Sanders, 2003;Warren, 2005).…”