During the past three days, we have described a variety of ways that school-community partnerships can enhance your overall prevention plan. Many additional resources are available as you continue the process of creating and sustaining effective planning teams and enduring collaborative relationships. This section will highlight some of the federal legislation and national organizations dedicated to supporting school-community partnerships. You can look to these initiatives for information, materials, tools, and potential funding to help you build, strengthen, and sustain partnerships across various sectors of your community.

Federal Legislation

The following federal legislation has called for schools to support family and community partnerships:

• The Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994 describes several National Education Goals that call for school-family-community partnerships. Among these, you are probably most familiar with Goal 7: Safe, Disciplined, and Alcohol- and Drug-Free Schools. This goal states that "parents, businesses, and governmental and community organizations will work together to ensure the rights of students to study in a safe and secure environment that is free of drugs and crime, and that schools provide a healthy environment and are a safe haven for all children," and "community-based teams should be organized to provide students and teachers with needed support."

  Click here to read about other National Education Goals related to school-community partnerships.

  Title IV of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act provides funding for Parent Information and Resource Centers. Grants were awarded to "nonprofit organizations who will collaborate with schools, institutions of higher education, social service agencies, and other nonprofit organizations to:

  • increase parents' knowledge of and confidence in child-rearing activities
  • strengthen partnerships between parents and professionals in meeting the educational needs of pre-school-aged children (beginning at birth) and school-aged children
  • enhance the developmental progress of the children assisted under the program."

• Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (EASA) "makes family involvement a priority by supporting partnerships between families and schools while encouraging community efforts to improve schools and reinforce the importance of learning." This legislation includes key provisions to strengthen parental involvement:

  • A written parent involvement policy, jointly developed by school districts, schools, and parents, that documents how parents will participate in the planning and improvement of Title I-supported activities and in the process of school review and improvement

  • School-parent compacts (agreements) to help children achieve to high standards through shared responsibility for learning and ongoing communication

  • Training and assistance to build capacity for involvement, including materials and education for school staff and parents to strengthen school/family partnerships

  Part B of Title I legislation, called Even Start, is designed to improve the "educational opportunities of the nation's low-income families by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified family literacy program." The program, which is intended to promote achievement of the National Education Goals, is to be implemented through cooperative projects that build on existing community resources to create a new range of services.

• The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 had many purposes, among them being the promotion of "local partnerships that are dedicated to linking the worlds of school and work among secondary schools (including middle schools) and post-secondary educational institutions, private and public employers, labor organizations, government, community-based organizations, parents, students, state education agencies, local education agencies, and training and human service agencies."

National Organizations

Many agencies and organizations are committed to the promotion of school-community partnerships. Their services range from the provision of information, research, and materials to the delivery of training and technical assistance.

• The Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships, located at Johns Hopkins University, is dedicated to increasing the public's understanding of partnership practices that help all children succeed in elementary, middle, and high schools in rural, suburban, and urban areas. Current projects include the development of and research on the Center's National Network of Partnership Schools, which guides school, district, and state leaders, and teams of educators, parents, and others to improve school, family, and community partnerships. Studies are being conducted on the structures and processes used to "scale up" partnership programs to include all schools in a district or state, and the results of these programs.

• The Coalition for Community Schools brings together local, state, and national organizations engaged in creating and sustaining community schools. By partnering with a range of community systems, community schools can provide supports and opportunities to children, youth, and families before, during, and after school hours. Based in Washington, D.C., the Coalition has developed a variety of articles, reports, and planning and evaluation tools designed to help community school advocates understand how to work more effectively with school and community leaders.

• Communities in Schools, Inc. (CIS), is an independent network of local and state offices dedicated to coordinating public, private, and nonprofit resources so youth can get the support they need to stay in school. CIS-sponsored teams rally community support for children and broker services in the schools. Each CIS operation surrounds young people with a community of tutors, mentors, health care providers, and career counselors. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, CIS currently serves 1,500 school sites in 292 communities.

• The National Association of Partners in Education connects children and classroom teachers with corporate, education, volunteer, government, and civic leaders across the United States. These community partners play significant roles in changing the content and delivery of education services to children and their families. The Association, also based in Alexandria, focuses on increasing the number, quality, and scope of effective partnerships; resources to support effective partnerships; and awareness about the importance of partnerships for promoting youth success.

• The National Coalition for Parental Involvement in Education fosters relationships among young people's homes, schools, and communities and advocates for the involvement of parents and families in their children's education. Based in Norfolk, Virginia, the Coalition advocates for strong parental and family involvement initiatives, conducts activities to increase family involvement, and provides resources and legislative information that can help promote parent/family involvement.

• The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) is 1 of the 10 regional laboratories funded by USED's Office of Educational Research and Improvement to provide research-based resources and assistance to educators, policymakers, and communities members. Their website's Pathways to School Improvement section, intended for use by school improvement planning teams, addresses multiple issues related to school-family-community partnerships.

• The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, established by staff at the U.S. Department of Education in 1994, provides a "network of support for companies and organizations working to make education a community affair." The Partnership offers resources, funding, and conferences relevant to family involvement in education.

Additional Resources

As you learn more about the many resources dedicated to supporting school-community partnerships, make sure you don't overlook those available at the local and state levels. For example, your state may be planning to use tobacco settlement funds to build partnerships to reduce smoking and other drug use among youth. Or an area college might house researchers or funds dedicated to community development and prevention programming. While it is important to tap into the knowledge and resources provided by national organizations dedicated to this work, local resources have the potential for providing both support and actual partners!

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