Chapter 7: School—Community Partnerships: Educating Young Children

The essentiality of school–community partnerships in maximizing educational opportunities for students is evident from the vast directives embedded within federal mandates, professional standards for teachers and administrators, parent and community organizations, and advocacy groups. Despite the evidence supporting the impact of school–community partnerships on educational outcomes for students and school facilities, school districts often manifest policies and practices that inhibit the collaboration with significant professional and informal community resources that provide valuable services to the increasing percentages of families (and their children) from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. Given the importance of partnerships and student outcomes, the fundamental concepts addressed in this chapter are, community organizations, school–community partnerships, and school–community partnerships. Additionally, we propose the incorporation of Ford’s (2004) Three Phase Model for Preparing Educators for School Partnerships with Significant Multicultural Community Resources (SMCR) to assist schoolpersonnel to effectively connect with significant multicultural community organizations/agencies. The elements of intention, collaboration, communication, and trust are embedded throughout the process of establishing productive relations between school and multicultural community organizations.