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High School Community Engagement
Family and community members are important partners in ensuring that high schools succeed in providing learning opportunities for all students. In order to meaningfully engage community members, it is critical that they remain informed and invested in issues relating to high school reform. Research shows that school improvement initiatives are more likely to succeed if supported by parents.1
However, it can be difficult to engage and motivate community stakeholders to become active participants. Further, it can be challenging to sustain active engagement. The National High School Center aims to provide practitioner-oriented resources on successful strategies that tap into this often underused resource key to creating and sustaining excellent high schools.
Resources on High School Community Engagement
A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement
This report from the Southwest Educational Development Lab examines identified characteristics of high-performing schools that focus on parent and community involvement and their role in impacting student achievement. The report is provided as a useful tool for educators, researchers, policymakers, community leaders, and others interested in the impact of school, family, and community connections on students’ learning.
Making the Difference: Research and Practice in Community Schools
The Coalition for Community Schools released a report which synthesizes research on 20 different community school initiatives to demonstrate how student learning and achievement connect with other fields, such as health, community building and engagement, mental health, and youth development.
Parent Involvement Strategies in Urban Middle and High Schools in the Northeast and Islands Region
This webinar from REL-Northeast and Islands presents examples of parent involvement policies, programs, and practices utilized in nine urban school districts in the Northeast and Islands Region, and discusses the challenges to evaluating the effectiveness of these strategies. It also answers questions from webinar attendees.
The Progress of Education Reform: Service Learning
This fact sheet, produced by the Education Commission of the States, provides a brief overview of four research studies on the impact of service learning programs on students’ academic performance and community engagement. It defines service learning and discusses potential benefits and quality practices, then summarizes the results of the four studies.
School Connectedness: Strategies for Increasing Protective Factors Among Youth
This piece, produced by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), discusses efforts to improve child and adolescent health and educational outcomes by enhancing protective factors in their lives, reducing risk factors, and promoting social and emotional competence. One of the most promising protective factors, school connectedness, is examined in depth.
Strengthening Parents’ Ability to Provide the Guidance and Support that Matter most in High School
This brief from ECS offers examples of how states are increasing parental expectations and involvement in high schools.
1 Butler, Kelly. "Implementing Effective Communications Plans." New American Schools Academy on Parent, Educator and Community Engagement. Parents for Public Schools. Arlington, Virginia. 12 October 2001.
