Volume 9, Number 5 The Coalition of Essential Schools

You can't start

too early involvingthe community inEssential School

change, experienceshows. Only byjoining the dialogueabout toughproblems will allparties begin totake part in theirsolution.

In' KATI 111{EN CUSl IMAN

May 1993

Essential Collaborators:

Parents, School, and CommunityTHE CONYERS, GEORGIA BOARD

of education was in a state of siege,

The districts new Salem High Schoolhad opened in a cloud of glory, itscommitment to Essential School

ideas endorsed with all the enthusi-

asm befitting a brand-new venturewith high hopes and expectations.But barely a few months later, asmall and vociferous parent groupwas turning up the political heat-

demanding a return to the good olddays of tracked courses for "gifted"students,and calling for the boardto cancel all connections with the

Coalition of Essential Schools.

"Things got pretty hot," drawls

Salem's Assistant Principal ToniEubank. "These parents wereconvinced we were trying to turntheir kids into little Northerners

and Communists."

Alarmed, the high school facultymet to consider what to do. In the

excitement of innovation, had theyforgotten to keep including theschool board and community in tlieschool's conversations about new

ways? How challenging were theircourses, when rhetoric turned into

reality? How could they ensuresiiccess for every child and alsomaintain the high standards every-body wanted? As they struggledwith these issues in the soul-search-

ing months that followed, SalemHigh School's staff backtracked,sometimes painfully, to repair

community relations that had gonesour with neglect. A year later, thisEssential school's philosophy has

solid board and parental support,and the faculty is united, Eubankssays, as it has never been before.

Involving the community in theprocess of change may be the singlemost important element in EssentialSchool success. Certainly it is themost commonly overlooked, in anera when conventional hands-off

attitudes toward education are givingway to consumer advocacy andschool choice. Schools that have

long defended against "outsiders"trespassing on educational turf nowface a climate of accountability thatcan turn hostile in the flash of a

political eye. Where once a school'spurview was bounded by geography,no longer can its constituency-oreven its role in that community-be so easily defined. Finally, this

country's growing diversity raisesthe additional challenge of bringingpoor and minority children frombroadly diverse family situationsinto the educational mainstream.

Research into the effects of

parental involvement shows clearlyits benefits for students at every

level. Long-term studies published bythe National Committee for Citizens

in Education (based in Columbia,

Maryland) indicate that schools withall different types of parent programshave realized immediate and positiveresults, including higher achievementlevels, decreased operating costs,increased attendance, and reduced

levels of at-risk behavior. At the

secondary level, parents prove harderto draw in-partly because they lack

the time and confidence to do so,

researchers specujate, and partiybecause high schools (and theiradolexent students!) are not inclinedtc, welcc,me them. Yet without

their solid support along withthat of the larger community, anythoroughgoing changes in curricu-lum, pedagogy, and asiessment havea poor chance (if taking hold.

Where schools have met this

challenge head (in-bringing parents,students, citizins groups, andeducators together to share ideasin new ways and old-experienceihows that change goes farther,faster,and deeper. Consider theseexamples from three widely different|·>,sivitial schools:

• Five "focus groups"of towns-people met this hpring with trained

market-research professionals in themiddle-class Hudson Valley schoold istrict of Croton-Harmon, NewYork. The focus group researchmethod, in whjch small groupsanswer carefully worded questionsdesigned to pinpoint public opinion,is widely used in business andpolitics to target and refine newproducts from laundry detergentto deficit reduction plans. But soapwasn't the subject here; these

c<insumer-citizens were grapplingwith what they wanted their school'sgraduates to know and be able to do,and juht how they might judge that.

• On a wintry weekday morningstudents from all over New YorkCity Wrearned into University1 Ieights j figh Schcx,1, an alternativeschool occupying a big concretebuilding at Bronx Community

Some Suggestions for Bringing the Community to School

• Sponsor evening study groups where parents can explore the same educa-tional issues teachers and administrators are learning about- integratedcurriculum, advisories, heterogeneous grouping, exhibitions.

• Have public exhibitions of student work, formally presenting the bestprojects before the community. Make sure student work actually addressesimportant questions in rigorous ways; weak presentations trivialize EssentialSchool ideas. Invite community members to serve as a panel of judges,especially when their expertise makes that particularly relevant.

• Redistribute money to pay parents modest hourly fees to help as classroomaides. They can work individually with students to keep them up to speedwhere necessary in difficult readings or projects.

• Take parents, students, and school board members along to symposia andcon ferences on important change topics. Supply good readings on schoolreform to everyone who shows interest in running for the school board.

• Don't explain-xperience! Get parents and community members into theclassroom to actually try out the same kinds of assigliments their kids arebeing asked to do. Some schools have "family math nights"; others getadults exploring essential questions in collaborative groups.

• Some "choice" schools require parents to attend teacher-parent conferencesif the student is to remain enrolled. Many also insjst students be present atconferences, as the key players in their own education.

• Advisory groups spur parental ilivolvement, because concerned parents cancontact one person who knows their child well, not several who don't.Many schools have regular "advisory breakfasts" where parents come in forTiffir and conversation about (and with) their kids.

• Invite small groups of half a dozen people influential in the community tomeet with the principal to share their perceptio,s of skident learning.Church leaders, higher (or lower) education people, businesspeople, andcivic leaders appreciate the attention to their concerns.

HORACE 2

College. But a dozen or so parentsshowed up as well, to trade insightsabout themselves and their kids

over bacon and eggs in an advisorygroup breakfast. A mixed group ofUniversity Heights parents, students,mentors, and teachers routinelyhash out issues like course offeringsor service apprenticeships arounda conference table on schooldayaftemoons. "I don't like my mommarunning into me in the halls thisway," one girl wisecracked at oneof these meetings, and everybodylaughed.

• in a city with enough magnetschools that almost any studentcould go elsewhere by choice,Baltimore's Walbrook High Schoolhas put down sturdy roots bymaking school traditions part of theneighborhood way of life. At theend of every summer Walbrookthrows a picnic to send off its newgraduates, and every Christmasrecent graduates gather at schoolfor a "Roundtree" where they sharethe experiences of their first post-secondary fall. When students seekout remedial help through a regularSOS (School on Saturdays) program,younger siblings are invited along-to throw a ball around, swim in the

pool, work in the computer center,and start a connection with Walbrook

that may continue through a lifetime.

Schools like these are fastaban-

doning the tradition that parents andcommunity members are a factorto "deal with" in special situations,and starting to treat them instead asessential collaborators in the move

toward change. Those who oncebelieved teachers needed more time

to understand and buy into EssentialSchool ideas before they broachedthem publicly now say they regretthe wait. Trouble brews, veterans

observe, when schools springsurprises on their communities;when all major stakeholders growused to working together, in contrast,even dissenters feel their voices are

heard. As one superintendent putit,"We need to bring the communityinto the limp-VaudY.

May 1993

Pay Now or Pay Later

Too often, school change veteransobserve, the community btwmesd rawn into Essential schcx,1 change

only when organized oppositionarises. Typically, the challenge commfrom any of several directions:

• Parents of btudents who have

succi,eded by runventional measures,

who often oppose heterogermnsgr{,uping and alternative assessment

for fear standards will grow lax.

• Community members whc)perceive, in the Coalition's focuson depth over breadth of coverage,threats to special interests likeathleticsor the arts.

• Parents c,f special educationstudents, who fear performance

outcome standards may label theirchildrrn as failures.

• 7'ax-limitation citizens groups,prc,testing expenditures im education.

• 7'he religi(>us right, (,bjecting toan inquiry-based curriculum.

Whether or not those fears have

any basis, Essential School propo-nent,4 can virtually count on these

inter'st groups to raise critical voices,chc)(,1 peciple hay. Some of them-the religicms right is an example-

may preKent such unyielding (,pposi-tic)n tc) prcigressive educational ideasthat outright struggle for politicalcontrolisinevilable. in other cases,

though, what schools do to draw

dissenters into a tw()-way conversa-lion about change may mean thedifference between progress and

deep frustration on both sides.'The choice is between develop-

inga communications strategy upfront orgoing back toretrofitcmclater," says Marjorie Ledell, a schoolb<}ard member in Littleton, Colorado

who has worked on communityiiivolvement issues with the joizitRe:learning initiative of the Coalitionof sselitial Seliciols and the Ed uca-

lit n Commi.4sion of lie St.itch.

"Ytili pay now Or you pay later.And everyixicly ktic,ws it's nicireexpensive Ic, retrofil something thanto design it right from thestart."

Irdell, who frequently consub

HORACE

Some Suggestions for Bringing School into the Community

• Apprenticeships, internships. and .senice learning" programs involvecommunity members by their very nature. Get key people together andbrainstorm for ideas and opportunities.

• Use your city as a classroom. Build academic partnerships or sponsorstudent projects along with universities, agencies, and nonprofit groups.

• Sponsoropen community forums where prominent educators, businessleaders, and management experts talk about what they need schools to beteaching and why. Send written invitations to non-parent groups like thechamber of commerce, the Rotary Club, senior citizens' groups, pre-schools, etc. Televise meetings on local cable, so those who can't attendcan watch. Leave plenty of time for questions.

• Publish a newsletter as often as possible-weekly is best-addressing realeducational questions as well as upcoming events. It can be a forum forstudent ideas and parent input, too. Send it to anyone with any expressedinterest in the schools, parent or not.

• Meet regularly with town or city officials to explore ways school andmunicipality can work together to better meet the needs of students. Beready to help with facilities and share maintenance for public projects likerecreation and the arts. Or look for ways to offer joint outreach services toyoung children, seniors, and students.

• Once students have substantial experience with Essential School chal-lenges (like exhibitions and heterogeneous classes), get them to speak atcommunity forums about the changes. But don't do this too early-substance convinces, not mere theory.

• Ask the local newspaper to publish a regular column about educational,issues. Get someone who writes well to introduce Essential School ideas

there, one by one. Use plenty of examples.

with school districts embroiled in

controversy over school change,argues that opponents of EssentialSchool ideas are often better orga-nized, use simpler Janguage, andappeal more directly to people'sconcerns for their children than do

nic,st reformers.

"Schools feel handicapped inthe face of all this," she says. "But a 11of us have access to the democratic

process--and educators have com-

munications skills they sometimesforget to use. We just need to stopusing jargon. We need to startmaking clear and specific linksbetwipn school reform and the thingall parents want-that their childrendemonstrate success at meaningfulchallenges."

The first step in that process,experience shows, is to recognize justhow legitimate parents' cr,ncerns

3

really are, and in fact how schoolsthemselves have shaped themthrough past practice. "In the pastwe've given parents a standard

of excellence that relies on abilitygrouping and college admissions,"says CES Director for Schools Bob

McCarthy. "We shouldn't pullthat out from under them without

honering the perceptions of parents."That central question of standardsgalvanizes parents, McCarthy says,

giving schools a unique opportunityto invite them into an intellectual

discourse that welcomes dissentingviews as a sign of real interest.

"They have a rightful concernthat their kids not suffer in compari-son with others," McCarthy says.

"Nobody wants their kids to beguinea pigs." A key solution, heargues, is to enlist college anduniversity personnel in the change

May 1993

effort, making them familiar withEssential School principles andasking them to take special interest instudents whose records may reBectchanges ranging from integratedcurriculum to exhibitions. CES has

already formally begun this process;under the leadership of SharonI.loyd Clark, its Admissions Project(modeled after a similar effort in the

193(}s, the Progressive EducationAssociati<in's Eight Year Study) ha%won support from several dozenselectjve c(,11('ges, starting with

' Amherst, Brown. and Columbia

and progressing through a highlycompetitive lexicon. The NationalAssixiation of Co}lege Admission((,unse,lors has endorsed the

Coalition's efforts and urged itsmembers to familiarize college«,with changes in lheir sch(Kils. Andregional Coalition crinfurences nowmake it a point to include admissions

staff from public and private

colleges in the area.

Communities Set Standards

At least as important as marshalling[hat support, however, is the actionschools take to get commtinities toarticulate their own standards for

excellence. This issue has leaped tothe forefront of the national agendafor school improvement, as state afterstate mandates new "performanceultaime" standards and assessment

Inethikly by which to mca.surethem. Up for grabsiswhether suchstandards are to begeneral guide-lines, with schools and districts

havingauthi,rity ki meet ;ind assessthem by whatever methods theysee fit, or whether some national

curriculum and central testinginstrument will come into standard-

ized use. Arguing strongly forlocal control is CES chairman

l'hir)dore,Sizer-«ind in his view,

each iummunity must play a unique,md individual role in decidingwhat its high Mchoot gr,iduairt4),itild know ,ind be able to do,

litst that impulse mcived NewYork's Crolon-1 1,2·mon school

di;trict illis Spring, When the SCJRK,1

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board and Superintendent SherryKing decided to turn to sophisticatedmarketing techniques to explore thequestion of graduation standards incommunity focus groups. Theirtiming could not have been moreapt. New York's Commissioner ofEducation, Tom Sobol, had justproposed to make schools account-able br meeting statecurricujumguidelines in their own ways, givingeach locality subs,tantial latitudewhile monitc,ring them via a

British-style bystem of aud ningand inspection.

in her previous job as principalof Croton-Harmon's high school,Kjng had already worked to drawparents into the Essential Schooleffort there-notably, by regularlyh(ild ing evening workshops whereparents explored the same ideasteachers were studying in profes-sional devefopment. Her charge assuperintendent was to expand thisoutreach to the larger community;but just how to do this, she admits,was not immediately clear.

1 started by meeting with theschool board for an all-day worksession (,n what its role would be

in a restructured system," she says.As schools move to shared decision-

making and management, Kingobserves, school boards face thesame uncomfortabJe confusionsother

stakeholders do: "They don't wantto presume, but they don't want tobe jeft out, either." Next the board

called a major community meetingspecifically inviting a wide range ofcitizens groups and other businessand civic leaders as well as parents"to talk about new goals for ourschools," King says, and to hearspeakers from the state and theCoalition. At that meeting, the boardannounced its plan for focus groupsto continue the conversation about

local goats and standards. its chiefquestions for the community."What do you want our high schoolgraduates to know and be able to

do? And what will you accept asevidence of their achievement?"

"We found someone in town

who was trained in conducting

4

focus groups," King says. "'We hada series of prompts to foilow upthequestions with. I went toeachsession, but only as a note-taker; inthe last ten minutes, they could askmequestions if they liked. And itwas extraordinary--so many of thecommunity concerns dovetailedprecisely with the ideas we wereaJready exploring." (For the exactquestions asked, see sidebar, page 7.)

The community loved the focusgroups. King says: "They keep

asking for more!" And as the resultsare analyzed, they spark an impor-tant sequence of checks and balancesin which the community plays a veryexplicit role. "ln the future." Kingventures, "our board will be in a

position to serve as panel of judgesfor performance tasks developed atthe school. They can support ourparent-faculty decision-makingcouncil by keeping a check onstudents' progress. They will havea basis for agreeing how to judgework thoughtfully. And they candemonstrate our belief that we are all

accountable for these agreed-uponassessments. We have got to be ableto go back to our community andsay, 'We have seen these assessmentsand they do demonstrate what wesay we want for kids.

L E

HORACE:

HORACE is publishedfive times yearly at BrownUniversity by the Coalitionof Essential Schools, Box1969, Brown University,Providence, RI 02912.

Beginning with Volume 10,individual subscriptionsare $20 a year; back copiesare available.

Editor:

Kath!een Cushman

Managing Editor:Susan Fisher

May 1993

Issues that Raise Hackles

The Croton-Harmon community wasno model of harmonious vjews when

this whole process began, says schoolboard president Mary jo Dean, whoserved on the seven-member cc,m-mittee both before and after Essential

School ideas took hold. "Peopledidn't feel that everything was fine,she says. "They read the New York

Times and they were erin izant ofthe declining state of education inthi, ci,untry. 7'hey wanted higher4andards M-·t for Dur kids."

Parents in this largely upper-middle-class community were aisodriven, the board realized, by thedesire ki bee their ch ildren acceptedby competitive collegei. "We aretrying to educate parents about howthe SATs and other standardized

tests have crippled the curriculumand pushed the level of learning bits loweft," Dean says. "1'm a scienceeducation cr,nsultant, and I've seenwhat it's done to the science curricu-lum." I fer,ichoot board devotes

every other meeting exclusively toeducational issue,;at those' meetingsmemberh have 41(,wn parents typicalquestions on standardized tests, andderribed how they would like toreplace those questions. "The typicalmultiple-choice question might ask,'What is the basic particle of matter?'ancl ycm chixise from the atom, themcilecule, theelenient, and the icin,"says Dean. "Dc, you want your kidstoanhwer that? Or doyou wantthorn to be able to explain theparticulate nature of matter?"

To help do that, Croton-1 larmonmustersall available resources-

bringing in Coalition consultants,plying key opinion-makers withliterature on educational issues,

taking parents and board membersalong to conferences. "What caIsesproblems is lear ind Nick ot control,Iliwn argues. "You have tostarl withtlk· linnildest arena: Whwl do w: want

for.ill children? Wr got teachers andstudents at the high schi*,1 sayingwhat tlit·y w.int to Am,w,ind dii

when they get out; then we got

HORACE

parents to come and do the samething. When you see unanimity onthose flip charts, that's where youstart-and where there are potentialconflicts you bring everyone back into work sessions, take a look at what

we can observe and what experts say,and ask where do we go from here?"

Build Structures Early

A good relationship with thecommunity takes. time to build up,but it proves its worth when aschool hits the inevitable roughspots over volatile change issues."Croton-}larmon had a historyof parental involvement," observesBob McCarthy. "If you don't havea built-up set of structures in place,

5

it' s difficult to deal with troublewhen it arises."

New schools face this problemin spades, and 50 their efforts makeparticularly good examples of therisks and benefits communityinvolvement entails In Amherst,

New Hampshire, principal BobMackjn and his hand-picked staffspent a full year planning before theyopened the doors of Souhegan HighSchool. At several communitymeetings and through four district-wide mailings, they introduced andexplored Essential School ideas. Butcertain cherished principles whichthey held to be unshakeable-mixedachievement-level grouping, forexample, and Souhegan's integratedcurriculum-came under almost

Attitudes that Foster Involvement

• Start talking with middle school parents about shaping high school goals,so everybody has time to think through and become comfortable withEssential School ideas, The class entering 6th grade in 1993-94 willgraduate from high school in 2000-a realistic target year.

• Use plain language, not fuzzy or misleading slogans, to describe thechanges you have in mind. Your opponents can gain more ground with"no new taxes" than you can with "authentic assessment." Instead talk inconcrete terms--about coaching all students to communicate, to workwith others, to fulfill their potential, to demonstrate what they know.

• Use teacher conferences as conversations with parents, not one-wayreports. First finding out what's on their minds establishes an emotionalconnection, which makes the intellectual connection come more easily.

• Don't feel you need a united front among teachers before broaching ideasfor change to the community. You may make more headway if you areopen about your vulnerabilities and about the difficulties of change.

• Make plans for involving the community even in the earliest planningstages. New schools do this as a matter of course, and so should estab-lished schools considering change.

• Don't denigrate or dismiss parents' legitimate concerns about therelationship between high school work and college admissions. Schoolsmade that connection in the first place, after all.

• Listen to students' voices-they are your emissaries in the home and, community. Ask students for feedback into the process of change.

' • Start any shared governance move by training all involved together in 'setting agendas, consensus building, and decisionmaking. Don't forget tosupply continued training as new people come in.

• Keep in touch with graduates and follow up on their post-secondarystudies. Visit their colleges, meet their advisers, look at their work,observe the level of their involvement with their education. Keeprecordg-this is good documentation.

May 1993

immediate fire from parents whohad been unhappy wjth similar ideasas they had played out at the localmiddle schcxil. "In hjndsight, weshould have done even more earlyon," Mackin says now.

By the time school opened lastfall, Souhegan's philosophy faced afull-scale political challenge; eventu-ally including a schcx,1 board conte,tand a citizens petition that specifi-cally asked the town to replace thenew ideas with a more traditional

approach. Debate raged in the localnewspaper and at candidatei coffeei„A month before the spring TownMeriting where school affairs comeup for district-wide vote, 5(mhegansponsored two forums whereeducational and business experthtestifled in favor of the Ess,entialSchix,1 and teachers and students

described their experiences. On thiTown Meeting floor the school'sC,ppx,nents traded arguments andevidence with Superintendent Rick1.alley (New i {ampshire's Superin-tendent of the Year); of the sixstudents who rose to offer opinions,only cme criticized his courses asbeing less than challenging. Thevote-cast by written ballot becausecif its incendiary p<,tential-amein for Souhegan, 284 to 48.

"I tell people they can depend midemocracy, even though iii the shortterm it may look like you're gettingbeat up," says Marjorie l.exiell, whohelped write ECS's new book How toDint with Criticism f o Sdioot C/initge(available through ASCD, 1250 N.Pitt St; Alexandria, VA 22314-1403)."[t'llcarl you through." Still, thecrux of winning these politicalstruggles is not mere public relations,Bob Mackin observes, but realsubstance. "Challenging our bright-est students is (iur toughest and mosttalked-about issue here," he says."We're mil sweeping it under therug." Good ptiblic relations onlyhuys time, he says, "l<, anfront thimore difficull and different experi-ences. Meanwhile, we invite parentsin frequently to witness exhibitionsand sludent work. And we continu-;illy work with trachers on new skills

HORACE

and strategies, so all students will bechallenged to their maximum ability."

From inside the school building,where teachers struggle to accommo-date new and difficult educational

ways, the temptation is great to delaypotentially d jsruptive communityinvolvement until the faculty isunified in its beliefs. But experienceshows that the earlier schools turn

outsiders into insiders., the better. Inthe comfortable Portland suburb ofCape Elizabeth, Maine, for example,lhe h igh school staff had beenexploring Essential School ideas forthree years in a bid to raise standardsforail students. In the flush of

developing new proposals forIcingcr-bltik schedules and otherchanges, they paid too little attentionto parents already frustrated by otherdistrict reforms they saw as goingpoorly. Even with a 35-7 positivefaculty vote and substantial schoolbijard support, when push cameto shove the board voted to table

Coalition membership until commu-nity consensus could be reached.

"When you're up to your neck inalligators," high school principalFrank Mileq comments wryly, "it'shard to think about anything butalligators: In retrospect, hesays,his faculty realizes theyshouldhave involved middle school parentsin discussions about high schoolchange. "By the time we were readyto act, their kids would be cominginto high school and the parentswould be on our wave length."

"You need to try initially to geta good solid conversation goingamong the teachers," says MarjorieLedell. "if they are feuding amongthemselves, a bad perception devel-opsin the community. But youcan't slow down the rest of process.Things leak out anyway, and youmight as well acknowledge whatyou're going through. Even ifyoudim't h,ive consensus, if people feellike you're open you've made a lotof headway."

Finally, Frank Miles warns,"Don't get too far out iii front of yourcommunity. If you want to move toa kinger schedule in the high school,

6

start talking with parents about that.If you want to focus on curriculumessentials, go after that kind ofquestion. U teachers are going tofocus on habits of mind instead of

mere content coverage, parents haregot to be willing to accept theachievement test results." Schools

shi,uld use whatever means theycan devise-a steering committee,potluck suppers, action groups-tobuild a constituency, Miles urges.Even if only a small percentage of thecommunity shows up, a supportivenetwork of information begins thatwill spread as people talk informallyat athletic events and elsewhere.

"That kind of web makes changenot a foreign notion," Miles says."We need to convey that theCoalition is not a franchise-it

means evolving our own programconsistent with Essential School

principles. It took such an effort toget ourselves ready to change theworld inside the school that we

didn't focus on managing changein the rest of our community."

What Is a Community?

Magnet schools or other schoolsdrawing from a widely dispersedcommunity must often work espe-cially hard to draw parents in.New York City's Central Park EastSecondary School mails a weeklynewsletter to every parent andanyone else who has an interest inthe school; it not only reminds themof key dates and announcementsbut describes Essential School ideas

in a regular column by co-principalsDeborah Meier and Paul Schwartz,publishes student opinion andcommentary, and urges parents tovote for supportive candidates inschool board elections. "lt's interest-

ing that a lot of the most effectiveschools in terms of involving thecommunity are the ones led bypeople with grass-roots communityorga nizing experience," observesethnographer Donna Muncey, whowith Patrick McQuillan is completinga book based on a five-year studyof eight Essential schools.

May 1993

Students and their parents havechosen Central Park East throughthe city's Khool choice system, anda condition of enrollment is that

parents and students tfigether attendregular teacher con ferences. Anintimate advisory sy.item keripscloetrack of student progress andattendance, always watchful forunusual home ituationr, that might

affect them. And though the schoolhas no strictly geographical commu-n jty, jt creates a sense of communitywith a range of outside entities: jocalcolleges where *ime students take

classes; Columbia University'sNCRESI- project on assessment;community servjce organizationswhere students volunteer; and other

nearby Coalition member schools,Expanding conventional notions

of a school's community also entails

drawing in those who traditionallyhave been ignored or excluded bythe mainstream. The Coalition's

AT[AS Communities partnership withYale University's School Develop-meant Program, 1-larvard University'sProject Zero, and the EducationDevelopment Corporation draws

Community Focus Groups Ask:"What Do We Expect from Graduates?"

Focus groups of citizens in the Croton-Fiarm011, New York School District metwith trained market-research professionals to answer these questions, each ofwhich was explored further using the prompts that follow:

1, What would you expect a graduate of our public schools to know and beable to do?

2. What evidence would you accept that he or she has achieved those goals?

Prompts for Exploring #1 (Graduation Expectations)

1. The overall education requirements in terms of years of English, history,mathematics, science, etc. have not changed in any signi ficant way sincemost of us went to school. Our students will enter a work place thatdemands technology and where most of them will have approximatelyseven jobs in their lifetime. Do you think that the current requirementsadequately help prepare students for that work place?

2. For the past five years the Labor Department and business roundtablearound the country have listed interpersonal skills and the ability to work ina group as essential to success in the work place. Do you think that theschools should work on these areas of the curriculum?

3. In times of economic difficulty society tends to focus on basics. What is yourfeeling about the place of music and the arts in preparing our students totake their place in society?

4. Are there any particular skills (for example, the ability to write clearly),habits of mind (for example, perseverance over time), or content (forexample, facts about the Civil War) that you believe all graduates of ourschool should know or be able to demonstrate?

Prompts for Exploring #2 (Acceptable Evidence)

1. Doctoral students have to not only present their research but defend it orallybefore a committee. Do you think that high school students should have topublicly preseiit and defend their larger works, and would you accept such adefense as i demonstration of mastery?

2, if students engagein school-sponsored intemships or projects with child-care agencies, industry, or environmental organizations, would you acceptthe report of the Ntudenes supervisor as part of his or her academic record?

3. Many of us have the experience of barely passing a certain course in order toget a required credit for graduation. Some schools now give a grade of A. B,C, or Incomplete, requiring the students to take the time necessary to dobetter than just pass. What doyou think of this idea for our schools?

HORACE 7

inspiration from Yale professor JamesComer's work with elementaryschool Communities to bring poorand minority parents into theeducational mainstream. Comer

has sought to bridge the social andcultural gulf between home andschool, which he believes deeplyaffects students' psycho-social

development and jn turn theiracademic achievement.

A student may encounter troubleat school, Comer argues, jf he hasno experience with negotiatingand compromise; yet at home hemay be punished if he doesn'tfight back. Parents then take theirchildren's failure as evidence of the

mainstream's animosity; defensiveor hostile, they avoid contact withschool staff, and the distrust becomes

mutual. Comer's School Develop-ment Program enlists these parentsonto school governance and manage-ment teams, where they work withschool people and mental healthprofessionals to shape academicpolicies, social programs, and schoolprocedures. Parent aides work forminimum wage in the classroom, tohelp staff integrate social skills withacademics and the arts, teachingchildren everything from how towrite checks to how to plan concerts.Comer urges communities andschools to regard students' socialdevelopment and academic abilityas equally important; the school'srole, he argues, is not only toproduce high test scores but toprepare students to assume adultresponsibilities.

Small Schools, No Surprises

The more schools work to know

their communities in non-adversarial

ways, it seems, the more trustingpeople will be. But few enoughparunts serve on shared managementteams that schools need plenty ofother strategies to get the communityon board. 'It's hard to create relation-

ships with the parents of 2,000 kids,"comments CES's Rick Lear, who

works on the Al·1.,15 project, "Back-to-school nights don't do it." Thebest

May 1993

results, he says, have come fromadvisory systems or very small"houses," where parental contact isfacil itat(xi by the fact that a studentmay work with the same teachersfor several years.

Some schools, like Thayer HighSchool in Winchester, New Hamp-shire, also bring parents monthlyinto the classrix,m to actually trythe work their children are doing.Others have sponsored "family mathnights," where parenb and studentstogether work on problems, usingnew approaches. "It's labor inten-hive," concedes Lear. "But parentsstart to understand some of the

complexity of what the sci·x,1 is,trying to get their kids to learn. Theremay be nci other way·"

"Administrators should spendas little time as possible explnliting

issential Schclo] ideah," agrees BobMcCarthy, "and as much time aspossible having parents experiencewhat iCs like to be in an Essential

school classroom." Fcir another keyto crmmunity involvement, BobMc<larthy Sugge!+th, Essential schoolsshould look to where parents havehistorically gathered jn support-to drama, band, sports, and otherschool performances. "Peoplelike to see their kids perform: he

YikZ I

HORACE' Coalition of Essential Schools

Box 1969, Brown UniversityProvidence, Rl 02912

observes. "Now we have to make

academic exhibitions into perfor-mances worth coming to look at."

That ties in directly, McCarthysays, to the volatile issues ofacademic challenge that so often turnparents into opponents of EssentialSchool reforms. 'They can comesee first-class, serious student work

bejng honored," he says. "But theschixil's clear policy should be tohonor that work after it is demon-stratedj, not bdore, which is whatdividing kids into honors classesd(je. Its no different from a collegedesignating someone cum tauder

Students who do meaningfujwork as apprentices with mentorsin the community also win allies forEsi,ential School ideas. And bringingin non-parents with special skills asjuries for student exhibitions spreadscc,mmunity awareness and raisesacademic standards to reftect thereal world's demands.

At the same time, experiencedprincipals have learned, they canbuild key supporters in the commu-nity by regularly inviting perhapshalf a dozen opinion-makers--clergy, or service organizationleaders, or business people-toinformally discuss their views aboutwhat students should learn, and

how. (The media likes that opportu-nity too, usually through individualinterviews.) "Quite often thesepeople have never been asked abouttheir perceptions," says MarjorieLedell.

"The point is not that everybodyis going to agree with you," RickLear says. "les that you have anestablished relationship with enoughpeople so that when you talk aboutnew ideas they don't come as asurprise." Introducing change topeople just as the decision has beenmade or is about to be made, heargues, overwhelms them withconfusion and misinformation.

"In lots of change efforts peoplehave to accept or support thingsthey aren't sure about," he says."But they don't like surprise."

"So much of the whole situation

was about trust," says Toni Eubankof Salem High School, where lastyear's parental uprising has quietedinto a steady dialogue aboutstandards and teaching practices."We have just as many difficultissues facing us now as we ever did-from our opposition to AP courseson down. The difference now is that

we're talking about them togetherwith the community. That onething has got them on our side." 61