Creating Engagement between Schools and their Communities: Lessons from Educational Leaders [Hardcover]

Creating Engagement between Schools and their Communities: Lessons from Educational Leaders addresses how educational leaders have made efforts to reconnect their schools to their communities and the varied goals they achieved. The contributors of this book are educational leaders who have stayed committed to their neighborhoods and who have seen the moral imperative to provide equal opportunity to all students. This book shares their experiences, particularly looking at community-based schools in urban, impoverished, or immigrant communitiescommunities that often are disconnected from the political and economic centers of the country.

Ted Purinton is dean of the Graduate School of Education at the American University in Cairo (AUC).

Carlos Azcoitia is distinguished professor of practice at National Louis University in Chicago.

Often rural schools and communities are overlooked when considering the current circumstances and future prospects for students and families in our most remote places. The authors and contributors have done an outstanding job in focusing on this population and why leadership is so critical to the success and vitality of rural people and places. Robert Mahaffey, Rural School and Community Trust

[The book] makes a persuasive case for establishing community schools in every type of setting  urban, exurban, suburban and rural. . . . A community school is a hub for integrated services and support that cultivates opportunity and agency in students, families and neighborhoods. No specific, one-size-fits-all model is prescribed to a community school; collaborative people and partnerships define it. Most importantly, stakeholders in a community school are accountable to one another as they create and sustain a culture of equity and empowerment. . . . Community schools inspire hope for the future of public education. The complexity of helping all students overcome societal challenges and preparing them to thrive in globally lSk