Published: October 31, 2008 11:07 am      

Community education: Keeping the lights on in our schools

The conversation on public education in America has been punctuated by the dismal showing of U.S. teens in math and science competency when compared with their peers in other industrialized countries.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which administers the international test, reported in 2007 that U.S. teens fell in the middle of the pack in science, and did somewhat worse in math, of the 30 industrialized countries.

Finland’s 15-year-olds did the best on the science test, followed by students in Hong Kong and Canada.

Students in Finland, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong were the top performers in math.

From these results, one could conclude that our teens will not be well prepared for future challenges; nor to analyze, reason and communicate effectively; nor to have the capacity to continue learning throughout life.

For the past decade, from the corner coffee shop to the kitchen table, Americans have not given high grades to public education nationwide. Why, they ask, are so many students failing to achieve at grade level in reading and math.

Could America be losing an entire generation of kids who will not have the skills to compete in the global economy?

With school taxes going up and standardized test scores going down, taxpayers are beginning to recognize that increased educational spending may not contribute significantly to student outcomes. Perhaps the answer might lie outside the walls of education.

School districts have long recognized the need for public support and participation.

More than ever, successful schools have come to recognize the interdependency on strong community support to meet mandated state and national performance standards, develop innovative programs, and secure financial resources.

To build lasting community support for schools to facilitate student achievement, school officials need to engage the community, for example, in developing after-school remediation programs staffed by volunteers who could be retired teachers or paraprofessionals.

The process of building such partnerships, called public engagement, is an ongoing, two-way communication process between a school and the community it serves, according to Michael Resnick, associate executive director of the National School Boards Association.

In this model, according to Resnick, the schools and communities develop well-integrated, purposeful partnerships to create life-learning experiences.

Education is viewed as a birth-to-death process, and everyone in the community – individuals, businesses and public and private agencies – shares in the responsibility of educating all members of the community and providing lifelong learning opportunities for learners of all ages, backgrounds and needs.

One of the most successful ways to achieve such a relationship is to develop a community education program.

The educational philosophy that underlies community schools advocates the creation of opportunities for community participants, namely individuals, businesses and both public and private organizations, to become partners in addressing community needs.

A community education program is established outside the traditional school day for the purpose of providing academic, recreation, health, social service and work-preparation programs for people of all ages.

Community education offers local residents, community agencies and institutions the opportunity to become active partners in providing educational opportunities in addressing community concerns such as parenting classes; school-to-work, also called school-to-career or work preparation programs; alternative schools for those whose needs are not met in the regular school; mentoring programs; teen pregnancy prevention; substance abuse and violence prevention activities; school-age child care; extended learning programs; community service and service learning activities; enrichment programs for all community members; literacy and English-as-a-second-language programs; and adult basic education and graduate equivalency diploma programs.

Investing in our communities through educational outreach and intergenerational learning should be our priorities. Community education can be that gateway to improve student achievement when the “whole village comes together to help children learn.”

Our community members can work with our schools to identify and link community needs and resources in a manner that helps all people to help themselves and to raise the quality of life in their community.

Let’s keep the lights on in our schools to facilitate the learning and participation of adults and children so they can improve their lives and their communities.



David A. Knepper of Adams Township has held several professional positions: Cambria County community and economic development specialist, school superintendent, principal and college teacher. He holds a doctorate in educational administration from Penn State. Presently, he is executive director of the Forest Hills Regional Alliance.