Just Like a Good Neighbor: Capacity Building and Civic Responsibility of University-School Partnerships

• In Event: University-School Partnerships: Building on What We Know in the Service of Students and Families

Abstract

Commenters for this presentation include professors, researchers, and practitioners affiliated with a public northeastern university. Their commentary will address the complexities of instituting university-school partnerships in continually changing climates in urban schools. It will focus on the ways in which institutional perspectives, research objectives, and community expectations cohere and can be advanced.

University-school partnerships are conceived as ways to mutually benefit local schools through capacity-building and to promote the outreach and research agendas of universities. Capturing what actually happens in these partnerships depends on nuanced understanding of competing and complementary objectives. Collaborations and partnerships between universities and schools and the communities in which they reside have tremendous potential for improving university neighborhood schools by serving as an incubator for promoting new programs, policies, and research. Through these collaborative strategic relationships, schools and districts leverage resources of the university to develop innovative programs that are hopefully effective and sustainable. In turn, the civic and research priorities of universities are advanced by making these institutions more knowledgeable and responsive to the 21st century needs of urban schools, classrooms, students, teachers and communities.

University-school partnerships are a crucial part of a broader education reform strategy aimed at improving urban school learning opportunities through capacity building based on shared interests. And yet, what we know about the effects and outcomes of these collaborations is limited. Although addressing the value-added proposition question of university-school partnerships is certainly an important one, the research challenges of such partnerships go beyond the individual school and university; it also extends to broader policy and cultural contexts--school districts and communities--which serve as critical sites for understanding how partnerships matter and their meaning for all stakeholders. The knowledge base which informs the process of how partnerships emerge and how they are sustained is critically important. However, what constitutes sound inquiry on university-school partnerships continues to evade university researchers, school-based practitioners and partnership advocates.

This commentary will address broad questions related to the degree to which and in what ways the structure of university-school partnerships matter, how involvement and power are determined and negotiated; and what the role is of school systems in supporting and reconciling these relationships. Drawing upon their learning from various university-school-community partnerships, the commenters will also focus on sharing elements critical to establishing and sustaining effective partnerships, such as extended time in schools; shared understandings of the benefits for schools; clarity about expectations and limitations; and ongoing communication among university researchers, administrators, teachers, and students. They will argue that although partnerships developed out of research interests have often been more challenging than those relationships formed to provide services, a combination of both efforts (i.e., research and service) are necessary to form a dedication partnership. The panel will also highlight lessons learned from engaging in partnerships by focusing on the challenges of sustaining effective relationships that are fraught with dynamics of power of resource differentials.

Authors

• James Earl Davis, Temple University

• Victoria Chou, University of Illinois at Chicago