Community-School-University Partnerships: Exploring Universities as Catalysts for Comprehensive School Reform

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Because school reform literature is preoccupied with building-based approaches to “fixing low-performing schools,” it neglects studying partnerships between schools, communities, and stakeholders who voluntarily enter into partnership arrangements. This session highlights a growing body of literature dedicated to studying how one partner — higher education — has the capacity to improve public schools. Session participants will engage with four presenters who have catalyzed, sustained, and grown community-school-university partnerships that embed school reform in the context of democratic, place-based, and collaborative approaches. A guiding question is: How are universities sharing their human capital with schools and communities? Participants will understand the necessity of creating new partnership models where universities play an important role in jointly improving public schools and distressed neighborhoods.

Sub Unit

• SIG-School/University Collaborative Research

Chair

• Gavin Luter, University at Buffalo - SUNY

Discussants

• Jessica Nina Lester, Indiana University

• Robert F. Kronick, The University of Tennessee

Papers

• Neighborhoods Matter: The Role of Universities in the School Reform Neighborhood Development Movement - Henry L Taylor, SUNY - Buffalo; Gavin Luter, University at Buffalo - SUNY; Linda McGlynn, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Third-Generation Partnerships for P-16 Pipelines and Cradle-Through-Career Education Systems - Hal A. Lawson, University at Albany - SUNY

• School-University Partnerships: Reflections and Opportunities - Mary Walsh, Boston College

• The Promise of University-Assisted Community Schools to Transform American Schooling: A Report From the Field, 1985-2012 - Ira Harkavy, University of Pennsylvania; Joann M. Weeks, University of Pennsylvania; Matthew Hartley, University of Pennsylvania; Rita Axelroth Hodges, University of Pennsylvania