Community Engagement as Capacity Building Inside and Out: A 13-Year Journey

• In Event: Community Engagement in an Accountability Era: North American Cases

Abstract

Despite the current emphasis on accountability as primary levers for school improvement, experts have long understood the importance of parent and community engagement to student learning (Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, & Easton, 2010; Picucci, Brownson, Kahlert, & Sobel, 2002). Studies of school-community partnerships – where research is strongest - often focus on one set of relationships or one point in time, frequently during start up or following early successes (Epstein & Sanders, 2006). Similarly, studies of parental involvement focus on specific program evaluations in diverse communities (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Desimone, Finn-Stevenson, & Henrich, 2000; Mattingley, Prislin, McKenzie, Rodriquez, & Kayzar, 2002). What is lacking is an understanding of the development of parent and community engagement, and how various forms of engagement can be layered (Day, Jacobson, & Johansson, 2011) over time as an enriching and essential part of the school’s entire fabric: physically, organizationally and pedagogically.

This paper presents a case study of one principal over 13 years, using his cultural and social capital lenses (Bourdieu, 1986; Fullan, 2011; Lin, 2002) to unpack his work. His aim, and long-standing motto, has been to make the extraordinary be ordinary. In his view, urban schools should offer the same (or better) rich learning culture, resources, extra-curricular opportunities and connections as do well-off suburban communities. Throughout his tenure, he set out to create this environment. Along the way, he discovered how expanding the school’s social capital enriched the community as well, while changing teachers’ expectations for their students, parents and themselves and expanding the relationships between and among them and these opportunities.

This paper draws on 10 years of interviews, observations, periodic teacher and parent surveys, and school performance data collected for related studies on turnaround leadership and the use of cross-grade curriculum teams for school improvement (authors xxxx, xxxx, xxxx), as well as annual assessments of school performance and progress (www.nydoe.gov). Follow up interviews were also conducted with the principal, his leadership team and core community partners about the history and benefits of the partnerships and how these have transformed the school as a learning community and influence in its larger community. The results were analyzed qualitatively to construct this portrait and enable this theme analysis (Stake, 1995).

As a case study, the paper presents the before and after picture of the school (its initial state, as one of the lowest performing schools in NYC, and its current state as a vibrant, high performing school). In between, the paper outlines the initial forms of community engagement and how others were layered on over time, focusing on facilities (playgrounds, murals and equipment), extra-curricular programs (music and art), parent programs, and teacher professional development (grant funded collaborations with higher education institutions). Guiding this evolution was a principal’s entrepreneurial efforts, an overarching enriched school vision, and an ability to sustain external relationships.

The paper concludes with a refined definition of community-engaging leadership and a framework for leader actions, grounded in cultural and social capital development theories as applied to the staff, school and community.

Authors

• Margaret Terry Orr, Bank Street College of Education

• Monica Byrne-Jimenez, Hofstra University