Growing School Community Partnerships — Some Case Studies
I previously mentioned the book Future Search in School District Change -– Connection, Community and Results.
One of the foci of the case studies in that book is School Community Partnerships including:
- In the North Platte, New England School District, the community agreed to focus on “schools as centres”. The participants mobilised the community, established the program, and received over $1.5 million in federal and foundation grants.
- In Deauville, Illinois, stakeholders built community collaborations to support quality education and succeeding in passing a school referendum that had previously failed.
- In both Sander Gabriel, California School District and Minneapolis, Minnesota School District with the community focused on health care with the belief that healthy students make good learners. Both districts built coalitions with the local government, health-care professionals and local hospitals to increase health services to students and their families.
We will feature each of these case studies in future posts, but if you want to find out more now, get the book.
The Importance of School Teachers
I’m probably speaking to the converted, but outside of parents, health professionals and emergency services, I don’t know of a more important job.
Maybe I’m a little biased because I have been involved in teaching and coaching young people, but I wanted to just get it out there in one of my earlier posts that my hat goes off to all dedicated school teachers.
Keep up the good work guys.
Future Search in School District Change — Connection, Community and Results
I mentioned in an earlier post Michael Fullan’s description of 16 case studies as being “exciting and inspiring”.
Well, these case studies are contained in the book Future Search in School District Change — Connection, Community and Results.
The case studies are focused on 12 school districts and 4 nondistrict educational contexts that related to school districts (ie North Montgomery County Technical Career Centre, Franklin Count Ohio, The University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education and Kansas State Department of Education).
Although focused mainly on school districts, exactly the same approach applies to schools — and in my opinion this book should be required reading for all school and school district leaders.
We will bring you more on these case studies in future posts, but for the moment it’s worth noting that they all resulted in cultural change and school district community-building.
P.S. A special consultant to the book was Professor Nancy Aronson, who is also a special consultant working with Great Schools Australia. More on Nancy and her work with GSA.
School Parent Partnerships
I remember in the late 1990s being the President of the Parents & Friends Association at St Anthony’s Marsfield (in Sydney) and hearing all the talk about School Parent Partnerships.
At the time, St Anthony’s had a wonderful school community and the school parents were heavily involved in fundraising, tuckshop, education support, and other activities.
But I always thought, There must be a greater role that the parents can have in the actual decision-making within the school. After all, the answers to the education and development of our children is something that lies not just with the school executive but also the staff, parents and, subject to their age, the children themselves.
At the time, I had not discovered the approach called Future Search, which enables this to happen through a large group meeting or conference of what is called the ‘whole system’, ie a cross section of both relevant stakeholder groups and demographics.
OK, I have to confess a possible bias here — the Future Search approach is the main product of GSA.
But I can honestly say that I don’t know of a better approach.
That’s why a Sydney-based secondary school district professional called it “excellent”, a Sydney-based school principal described it as “outstanding”; a University CEO called it ‘”fantastic”, and a US-based primary school principal called it “powerful”.
In referring to 16 case studies on the use of the approach in North America, global education expert, Professor Michael Fullan used the words “exciting and inspiring”.
Like all interventions, there needs to be some starting point or need within the school. This can include any systemic issue including
- school cultural reform
- school strategic planning
- implementing an existing strategic plan
- change in your school
- school teaching and learning
- creating a school vision
- creating a healthy school, and
- building school community
In the meantime, here’s how to find out more about this approach.
Integral Education
The emerging approach for how everything exists was uncovered by leading philosopher Ken Wilber. He coined the term ‘Integral Theory’ to refer to the theory which integrated all other theories and practices.
It is an approach which can be applied to any field of human endeavour including Integral Business, Integral Medicine, Integral Politics –- and, of course, Integral Education.
For a starting point to better understanding this theory, read A Theory of Everything by Ken Wilber.
Although we don’t call it that, the work of Great Schools Australia is largely based on Integral Theory.
School Meetings – 8 Principles for Creating a Great School – Pt 2
I covered the first 4 principles in the last post. Here’s the second 4 principles:
5. Full Attendance. Insist that people attend meetings for the full time or not at all.
6. Meet Under Healthy Conditions. This means natural light and healthy food.
7. Match the Meetings Length to the Desired Outcomes. Too many meeting leaders aim to achieve too much in not enough time. Don’t make this mistake.
8. Share Action Plans. Get commitment to action –- what, who and when –- before the end of the meeting.
For more detail on all 8 principles, sign up to receive our free guide, “8 Principles for Leading Great School Meetings and Creating a Great School.” Use the form at the left.
School Meetings – 8 Principles for Creating a Great School – Pt 1
In spite of the awesome benefits of modern technology, face-to-face meetings still represent the single most important way of changing any organisation or community including schools and school districts.
And yet, our experience is that (1) school and school district leaders don’t always receive the training they need to run effective meetings, and (2) attendees don’t always see meetings as being very productive.
Here are the first 4 principles:
- Get the ‘Whole System’ in the Room. Think about involving others who you wouldn’t normally involve.
- Explore the Whole. If you want to effect change, you need to understand the whole system before you can hope to change it
- Focus on the Future and Find Common Ground. Focusing on the future means focusing on the glass half full (future opportunities) rather than the glass half empty (present problems).
- Self-Responsibility. When leaders stop taking responsibility for everything, others begin taking responsibility.
For more detail on all 8 principles, sign up to receive our free guide, “8 Principles for Leading Great School Meetings and Creating a Great School.” Use the form at the left.
Welcome to the Great Schools Australia Blog
It is with great pleasure that I make this first post on what will become a valuable resource for school leaders, teachers and parents.
Consistent with our purpose, the aim of this blog is to:
“Enhance the quality of lives of the children and youth of Australia through creating great schools.”
On a personal note, what has driven me to create Great Schools Australia is my love of our children and our country. The main work of GSA is based on an approach called Future Search, and for those ready for it, I honestly don’t know of a better way to effect change in any organisation or community (including schools and school districts).
Over time we hope to bring you great tips, tools and strategies on school culture, school change, school communities, school strategic planning, school meetings and more.
If you would like to receive ongoing posts from this blog, subscribe to our feed.
-
School Parents
-
Case Studies
-
Testimonials
“I can now honestly say that I have never seen such an approach produce such positive outcomes, goodwill and energy.”
– Deidre Anderson, CEO, U@MQ, Macquarie University
“An exciting and inspiring approach to tackling deeper systems transformation.”
– Professor Michael Fullan
“The Future Search conference encouraged me to take risks. When I heard about TIMMS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study), I went back to my colleagues and said, “I think we can do something with this. We finished 1st in Science and 6th in Maths.”
– Pat Franzen, Science Teacher, Naperville Community School District
“These exemplary principles for facilitating group process have helped us create the space where individuals can take responsibility for their own learning and act upon the decisions they make.”
– Deborah B Reeve EdD, Deputy Executive Director, National Association of Elementary School Principals
"The average scores for youth apprenticeship students went up 200 points on the Statewide standardised tests and enrolments increased by 300%. Today there is a waiting list!"
– Mike Erwin, Principal, North Montgomery County Technical Career School
“I was very impressed with the Future Search approach and have used aspects of it in my own school.”
– Richard Morgan, Principal, The Pittwater House Schools