Resources on Collaboration and Community Engagement

Additional Resources

Involving Communities
From NSBA's Center for Public Education, this site has stories about communities that are involved in making their public schools safe and academically rich places where students can soar.

Alaska ICE (Initiative for Community Engagement)
The Alaska Initiative for Community Engagement (Alaska ICE) strives to give Alaskans at the local level the information, tools, and assistance to work together and engage in the shared responsibility of preparing Alaska's children and youth for the future.

Arkansas Study Circles Project
Created by the Arkansas School Boards Association in 1998, the Arkansas Study Circles Project helps citizens engage in conversation and problem solving in many educational issue areas. Study circles help school leaders identify community priorities and build awareness and support for local schools. They also lay the groundwork for action at many levels.

"What Counts?" Program in Maryland
The "What Counts?" collaborative effort of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education fosters small group discussions among local community members about what they value in their public education system and how they can measure its quality.

Stakeholder Strategy
As part of long-range planning, school boards need to consider the important role of outside groups and organizations. This article from the January 2009 American School Board Journal discusses the different types of external stakeholders that need to be addressed.

Achievement Matters Most; A Parents Guide
A Parent's Guide to Maryland's Plan for Pre-K - 12 Education, published by the Maryland State Department of Education

Working with the Media to Get Positive Coverage
Playing the media game is harder in this era of education-bashing. School districts can get smarter about how they ptich stories, craft press releases, package news, and grab media attention.

Generating Better Media Coverage
How to take a proactive approach in working with the media to tell your school district's success stories .

Learning First Alliance
The Learning First Alliance is a partnership of 18 leading education associations with more than 10 million members. The partner organizations are committed to learning from and responding to the people who provide public education on a daily basis. Through common efforts they aim to enrich the national conversation on education, improve education policy, and ensure academic success for all students.

Making the Difference: Research and Practice in Community Schools
This Coalition of Community Schools report looks at 20 different school models that mobilze community resources to improve student learning.