Archived:Appendix B: The Community Commitment

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

A Compact for Learning - December 1997

Appendix B: The Community Commitment

The community partnership is a natural expansion of the family-school partnership. You can get concerned community members, elected officials, business representatives, religious leaders, and many others involved in ways that support student learning. If you would like to develop a formal partnership that identifies the specific responsibilities of the community, the framework below includes examples of commitments that a community can make.

Shared responsibility for learning

Setting high standards and high expectations

Keep informed about the academic standards and the performance of your local schools.

Providing and supporting sound instruction

Organize and participate in tutoring and mentoring programs to provide reading partners with whom children can read for 30 minutes a day.

Making schools safe and drug free

Open other community facilities and churches as neighborhood-based safe havens and meeting sites for parent-teacher conferences and other school-related gatherings.

Sponsor, plan, and participate in alcohol- and drug-free activities (e.g., dances, proms, graduation parties).

Sponsor bands, athletics, arts programs, clubs, and other wholesome activities for students.

Applying modern technology

Help teachers, students, and their families learn to use computers and the Internet.

Support, organize, and participate in Net Day and other activities to wire schools.

Donate the technology and support necessary for school projects, whether it be computers, computer training, or telephones for teachers or for a homework hotline.

Shared responsibility for communication

Share expertise to help prepare students to go to college and to find good jobs (for example, financial planning for college).

Build a community network of concerned adults, including community leaders, law enforcement officers, journalists, and others, to talk about and publicize issues of concern to the schools and to the community (for example, school safety, school modernization).

Shared responsibility for building capacity through training and volunteering

Encourage employers to adopt flexible employee leave policies that accommodate parent-teacher conferences and volunteering opportunities in the schools.

Use businesses and community organizations to help students with special projects.

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[Appendix A: Example 5]

[Appendix C: Key Resources]