Beyond the School Walls: A Case Study of Principal Leadership for School-Community Collaboration

Abstract

This case study describes how one urban elementary school in a high-reform district and state has been able to develop strong connections with community businesses and organizations as part of its program of school, family, and community partnerships. The case study identifies four factors that allowed the school to build successful bridges to its community. These factors are (1) the school's commitment to learning; (2) the principal's support and vision for community involvement; (3) the school's receptivity and openness to community involvement; and (4) the school's willingness to engage in two-way communication with potential community partners about their level and kind of involvement. The concluding section of the paper discusses the implications of the study's findings for school, district, and state educational leaders.

Revisiting the Importance of the Direct Effects of School Leadership on Student Achievement: The Implications for School Improvement Policy

“…Examples of this type of study includes those focused on school mission (Bossert, 1988), school culture (Deal & Peterson, 1999), organizational variables such as school size (Lee & Loeb, 2000;Lee & Smith, 1995), or the placement of highly qualified teachers in school classrooms (Ingersoll, 1996). A second type of study investigates the principal's role in shaping the educational environment but does not use student achievement as a dependent variable, (e.g., Sanders & Harvey, 2002). The lack of consensus regarding the components of leadership has led to the proliferation of these types of incomplete methodologies that fail to answer some of the most relevant questions regarding the impact of school leadership.…”

The Impact of School Leadership on Parental Engagement: A Study of Inclusion and Cohesion

“…More than ten years ago the new holistic role of schools was argued (Martin, Linfoot, & Stephenson, 1999). However with the pressure of an increasingly diverse society and a growing number of high-risk communities on the one hand, and the necessity to mobilize the human and material resources needed for academic success on the other (Sanders & Harvey, 2002), schools have been forced to look for new ways to successfully realize the new targets.…”

Bullying y Género. Prevención desde la Organización Escolar

“…Las investigaciones internacionales muestran la vinculación entre el liderazgo educativo y la mejora de la educación (Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris & Hopkins, 2006;Witziers, Bosker & Krüger, 2003), tanto en los que respecta a los resultados académicos como en la convivencia (Robinson, Lloyd & Rowe, 2008). Así mismo, esta mejora de la educación puede ir más allá del centro educativo e incidir en la mejora de la comunidad educativa en general (Houston, Blankstein & Cole, 2010;Sanders & Harvey, 2002). Algunos autores (Teixido & Capell, 2006;Teixido & Castillo, 2010) subrayan la importancia de la implicación de los directores y directoras en la creación de un clima de convivencia más y concretamente ante la violencia escolar, democratizando el centro educativo y promoviendo un equipo directivo sólido y cohesionado.…”