The Study
Teachers and administrators cannot address children’s wide and diverse educational, social and psychological needs by themselves. Patricia A. Edwards, professor of teacher education, and Lauren S. Jones Young , associate professor of teacher education and educational administration, in the College of Education at Michigan State University, explored how schools can work with parents, interested citizens, community organizations and agencies to devise strategies to meet a fuller range of children’s needs. Based on the positive outcomes observed in an elementary school in which most children came from low-income African American families, and where 40% of the parents were illiterate or semi-literate, the researchers examined factors that contributed to home, school and community connectedness.

The Findings
Social, emotional, physical and academic growth and development are inextricably linked. Schools must do more than merely refer students to social services and the health department; they must become multiple-service brokers for children. School people need to develop new strategies and rethink their ideas about involving citizens, community organizations and public services that might assist children and their parents. Because children no longer grow up in stable, close-knit neighborhoods where neighbors, teachers and parents speak in a common voice—as they once did —educators must be pro-active and develop a network of multiple partners who can and will share the responsibility for providing an integrated accessible system of support to assure the well-being of children in the fullest sense.

What It Means to You
Boundaries separating the responsibilities of home, school and community are blurring. If you believe that schools have an obligation to assist students with aspects of their social and personal lives that interfere with their cognitive and social development, then you may need to rethink the purposes, structures and practices you use to build partnerships with parents and the community. Alliances involving an array of community organizations and agencies are needed to develop a coordinated network of multiple resources available to children and their parents. To create this shared network of involvement and in the process free your teachers to better focus on learning, you might want to implement initiatives that:

1. Build home/school strategies based on family strengths.
2. Organize efforts around preventive strategies.
3. Explore multiple outreach models to connect with families and agencies.
4. Strengthen prompt response capability with community service providers.

More Information
Consult Edwards, P. A. and Jones Young, L. S. (September, 1992). “Beyond Parents: Family, Community and School Involvement,” Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 71, No. 1, pp.

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