Community & Family Engagement: Principals Share What Works — Amy C. Berg, Atelia Melaville and Martin J. Blank

Principals are increasingly turning to the community to help them engage families, share resources and meet standards. Informed by the work of principals, this paper finds six keys to community engagement that help school leaders engage families, staff, partners and the larger community in the life of the school.

Job Descriptions of Community School Coordinators — Coalition for Community Schools

Provides examples of job descriptions from various community school initiatives across the country. Examples are for those employed by either the school district or community based organizations.

Organizational Facilitators — UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools

Stresses that substantive systemic changes require guidance and support from professionals with mastery level competence for creating a climate for change, facilitating change processes, and establishing an institutional culture where key stakeholders continue to learn and evolve. Highlights a change model for establishing, sustaining, and scaling-up school and community reforms and the role of an Organization Facilitator to aid with major restructuring.

Addresses the advantages and issues to consider when choosing among three advisory group models: small, two-layered, and large. Advisory Committee Introduction: An overview of Advisory Committees: their role, composition and importance. Advisory Group Development Information: Defines Advisory Committees, describes their possible roles, and suggests ways to create a strong Committee. Advisory Group Development Worksheets: These worksheets assist with defining the Committee's purpose, recruiting Committee members, and maintaining and nurturing the Committee.

Provides examples of its organizational structure by highlighting the roles and responsibilities of its Community Leadership Council and Site Teams. It also explains the relationship between both teams.

Resource Oriented Teams: Key Infrastructure Mechanisms for Enhancing Education Supports — UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools

Pulls together the Center's work on resource-oriented mechanisms designed to ensure schools pay systematic attention to how they use resources for addressing barriers to learning and promoting healthy development.

A How-to Guide for School-Business Partnerships — The Council for Corporate & School Partnerships

This is a guide designed for school officials and business leaders who are interested in engaging in school-business partnerships. It is the result of extensive research and personal interviews with individuals who have experience creating, implementing, and evaluating successful partnerships.

Engaging the Community with Strategies that Work — Martin J. Blank, Jeanne Jehl & Meghan Neary for Threshold, Summer 2005

This article reports on a new study that identifies leadership strategies for engaging community stakeholders to create effective community schools.

Partnership: A Powerful Tool for Improving the Well-Being of Families and Neighborhoods — Center for the Advancement of Collaborative Strategies in Health

This report is a Cluster Evaluation of lessons learned from the Community-University Partnerships Initiative, which brought together residents, agencies, local organizations, and higher education institutions at 10 sites.

School-Business Partnerships — Schools Uniting Neighborhoods

The Business Perspective For prospective business partners, offers a list of potential benefits and considerations.
The School Perspective Potential benefits and considerations for schools engaging in business partnerships.
Key Factors Outlines some of the most important factors in developing and maintaining successful collaborations.
Resource List Recommended resources to assist SUN staff, schools, and business partners in strengthening partnerships.
School Worksheet Designed to facilitate school development of strategic business partnerships.
Partnership Worksheet Space for partner contact information; strengths, interests, & issues to consider; and project planning.
Project Worksheet Geared toward developing and implementing specific school/business partnered projects.

Partnerships by Design: Cultivating Effective and Meaningful School-Family-Community Partnerships — Debbie Ellis and Kendra Hughes

A tool for schools hoping to build more effective and meaningful school-family-community partnerships. Helps schools assess their approaches and implement more effective activities. Includes forms to help schools and organizations write their own plans. P. 56.

Collaboration Module — California Center for Community School Partnerships — Healthy Start Office

Designed for both new and veteran community school partners seeking to create and maintain sustainable partner relationships. The module is a comprehensive tool kit with a guidebook, charts, and a CD-ROM. Copies available for $50 at 530-752-1277or go to http://ccc-sp.ucdavis.edu.

Education and Community Building: Connecting Two Worlds — Institute for Educational Leadership

Breaks new ground by helping educators and community leaders understand and respect the assets and talents that each brings to the goal of improving student learning. It presents several "sticking points" and identifies "rules of engagement" to facilitate better communication between school and community.

Strengthening Partnerships: Community School Assessment Checklist — Coalition for Community Schools

This tool contains a series of checklists to assist schools and community leaders in creating and/or strengthening community school partnerships.

Partnership Self-Assessment Tool — Center for the Advancement of Collaborative Strategies in Health

This easy-to-use, reliable, web-based Tool gives partnerships an exciting new way to assess how well their collaborative process is working and to identify specific areas they can focus on to make the process work better.

A Policy Approach to Create and Sustain Community Schools — Coalition for Community Schools

This document is addressed to local, state and national leaders who are developing policy options for strengthening community schools and are in a position to influence policy decisions. It is intended to serve as a template for individuals considering policy related to community schools and related aspects of the relationship between schools and communities.