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Schools strive to serve children and families through enhanced community engagement efforts. Susan Gentz reported in the April issue of ASBJ that an analysis by Burbio of K-12 district strategic plans found that the term “community engagement” appears 7% more often in 2023 than it did in 2018. Prioritizing community engagement is a wise stance for school districts facing the need to prioritize spending and resources in the face of financial constraints. Synergy between schools and communities can create opportunities for cost saving and the sharing of facilities. In addition, knowing and building on the strengths and resources present in a community is a core component of improving and sustaining educational equity.

Effective community engagement

Community engagement is an important component of educational equity, which prioritizes improving how to meet the needs of all community members. Some examples include:

As reported by the New York State School Boards Association, in 2022 the state used federal grant money to create funding opportunities for schools to help students recover from the pandemic through summer programs enacted with community-based organizations. School districts across the state proposed partnerships to meet students’ needs through connections to arts organizations, health care providers, libraries, and other community groups.

The school board of Virginia’s Arlington Public Schools has adopted an instructional strategy called Family and Community Engagement, in which schools are committed to creating meaningful partnerships with families to support student academic success, develop community services, and expand civic participation.

In 2023-24, Seattle Public Schools completed its Community Engagement Plan, which included a series of in-person and online community engagement meetings open to all families and community members as well as focus groups with families and students of diverse backgrounds.

There is no one-size-fits-all method of community engagement. Successful engagement practices are necessarily influenced by the local community context and developed by educators who know their community’s strengths as well as their areas for growth and opportunity.

Intentional community engagement

Sitting at the intersection between the school and the community, the school board is especially well-positioned to gather the information needed and to establish funding priorities that support intentional community engagement strategies. The school-community relationship is not a singular construct with a particular status of success or failure; rather, it is a compilation of individual school-community connections.

Families, caregivers, and teachers interact with each other nearly every day, especially in the elementary grades. However, community members without children also connect with their local schools in many ways, such as through sporting and cultural events or by contributing to school fundraisers. Across these various interactions, community engagement is occurring; however, it is not always happening with intention.

Steps to get started

First, school board members can begin by examining their own position in the community. For example, did you attend school in the district where you serve? Do you work in the community? Do you frequent local restaurants or businesses? Additionally, to what degree do you share the perspective of your fellow community members? For example, do you share a religion or culture or language background with the families whose children attend your district’s schools? It is important to recognize that there are several smaller, sometimes overlapping communities.

Second, school board members can reflect on what they already know about their community, and where they might have blind spots. For example, how do you define your community? What drives the local economy? Is there a dominate industry or an array of businesses employing local families? Are families able to find stable and affordable housing in the community? What local amenities and services support vibrant community well-being? A school’s community engagement efforts can build upon existing resources when the school board is aware of what is already present.

Third, school boards can inventory how, and what, their district communicates with caregivers, families, and other stakeholders. How do you describe the achievements in your schools? What does success look like from your perspective? In what ways are students developing academic, social, and physical skills? Are families aware of how local educators are prioritizing students’ learning, socializing, and athletic training?

Strategies for increasing community engagement

“Community” evokes feelings of belonging and familiarity for many people, and it can be attached to a particular place or an identity. However, one of the benefits of public schools is that they serve numerous communities in one place, together.

Gathering information from your schools’ community may seem daunting. If you’d like to learn more about strategies to do this work, register for our Sept. 10 webinar. Recordings of the webinar will be available if you’re not able to attend the live event.