Building and Sustaining Community-Based Partnerships

• In Event: The Future of Child Development Laboratory Programs: A Multisite Applied Developmental Science Research Consortium?

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper will be to: a) identify and address key issues that should be explored in forming university lab school-community partnerships, and b) discuss how SDSU’s experiences can inform research and practice following an applied developmental science (ADS) approach.
Perspective: University lab schools serve as models for the application of child developmental theories, psychological principles, and educational practice. They facilitate and support students’ integration of theory and research and demonstration, testing, and evaluation of new ideas and learned concepts. As sites for the generation of new knowledge, lab schools must be consistent with the strategic initiatives and visions of the universities in which they are located. One strategic initiative at SDSU is strengthening university –community collaboration.
The Fishback Center for Early Childhood Education, which houses the SDSU Preschool and Kindergarten Laboratories, is using an ADS approach to build new partnerships with the Brookings School District, Boys and Girls Club, and United Living Community (which fosters intergenerational relationships between elders and young children in a co-located intergenerational environment). These partnerships can have mutual benefit to the university and educating community. First the development of a K-3 lab school in the Brookings School District will enable early childhood teacher candidates to co-teach with mentor teachers and better integrate theory and practice to help foster student learning and achievement. Second, opportunities to inform the development of a new child development center at the Brookings Boys and Girls Club will enable new placements for our students in early childhood education and foster professional development links between our lab staff and club staff in terms of implementing a common program philosophy and curriculum, while helping students to see different ways of implementing ideas and concepts that are often thought of being unrealistic and non-transferable to other settings. Third, SDSU has an opportunity to oversee the implementation of the Child Development Center at the United Living Community, affording opportunities to synthesize theory and research and apply educational principles and developmental concepts espoused in the Fishback Center in a community-based child care setting with intergenerational programming. Finally, these partnerships will provide extended settings for students to observe children’s development in community settings as part of their course work; engage with faculty and teachers in systematic inquiry (teacher research) into problems of practice; and, provide rich opportunities for collaborative research focused on issues and problems unique to these community settings and related to children’s learning and development, teacher preparation, curriculum implementation, and classroom processes.
Significance: Strong communities are marked by a collective accountability for taking on the fundamental tasks of educating and caring for its children. The SDSU Laboratory School offers an example of how lab school-community partnerships can enable communities to provide high quality care and education for children, while supporting research that can illuminate both educational practice and an understanding of children’s development in various contexts.

Author

• Andrew J. Stremmel, South Dakota State University