Ten Ways to Build Strong School and Community Partnerships

Schools are operating with fewer personnel and fewer resources as budgets are decreased. Still though, children come to school deserving of a high-quality educational experience that will equip them to fulfill their potential and achieve their dreams. We cannot fail to meet their needs just because we no longer have the budgets we once enjoyed.

In a world of shrinking resources and growing needs, the power and promise of partnerships cannot be ignored. 

The Collaborative for Building After-School Systems released a five-and-a-half minute video entitled, "Ten Ways to Build School-Community Partnerships."

The video is focused on after-school programs, but the 10 ideas they shared would certainly translate to any educational setting:

1. Give young people a voice
2. Plan for effective collaboration
3. Develop a shared vision
4. Establish clear roles and responsibilities for each partner
5. Engage in joint professional development
6. Blend school and community staff in a specific way
7. Share accountability for a specific outcome
8. Engage the right leaders
9. Get help identifying diverse funding sources
10. Use the toolkit (linked here) for expanding learning

Within the video, practitioners are interviewed to introduce and expand upon each strategy. Hearing from those who are doing this work adds authencity to the message. The ideas presented in this video are worth bringing into school leadership discussions on engaging the community, increasing the number of community partnerships and improving the quality of the community partnerships we enjoy.

There is no shame in saying that we need the help of others in this important work that we are engaged in. The shame would be in failing to seek strong partnerships to benefit our students.