Public schools by their very natures are diverse places. Diversity can be in socioeconomics or cultural. Problems with diversity can lead to prejudices and discrimination within the school. Educational leaders must seek to create environments that embrace and encourage diversity and allow for diverse views and within the school. The nurturing relationship within the schools allows for the community to express its true identity and develop and coordinate programs that promote the true self of the school. Creating educational partnerships allows for the child to be surrounded by not only the family, school, and the district, but also the community and many organizations in the community.
In order to develop programs that make a difference in the school, family and community administrators can look to the necessity of developing six major types involvement. The six types are parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with community.
Bringing the community into our schools is so important. Creating a learning community of teachers, parents and a community that cares about the education and achievement of its children is what schools really need to be focused on. In the high stakes world of testing I think our educational system will only see real improvement when we start focusing on how our children fit into society as people rather than as test results.
Creating a community that is focused on our kids allows for greater accountability among all parties involved in the educational process. Many educators will say that parents don’t help their kids to learn so when the go home the learning stops. The child then comes back to school not having done their homework or completed the assignment right. I think we need to really look at helping parents teach their kids, by giving them the tools to assist their children. I heard some grandparents on NPR in Detroit talk about how they can’t help their grandchildren in math, but they know math is important. We need to look at educating our society not just our kids. Many of those kids who fell through the cracks of our educational system now have children or grandchildren in our educational system. I think we need to look at trying to bring them back to help them and their children. Creating a community of lifelong learners shows our students we value education as a society more than say, sports or entertainment. If our communities make learning an important part of their lives then the test results will follow.
Typically, those kids who test better come from families who take education seriously and hold their children accountable for their education. Many of them are lifelong learners themselves or have attained higher educational degrees and understand the importance of education. Still others don’t have the higher education that one would expect, but they place a value on education in their homes. There is an accountability at home for that child. I think this is where our educational change must really start, at home. By building community relations we can hope to develop lifelong learners in our community who have the same goals and desires about education that we do as educators.
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