Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Donald C. Lueder
Committee Member
Anne Joslin
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
action teams, Appalachian, building action teams, community involvement, community perceptions, data analysis, elementary schools, family involvement, family-school-community partnerships, parent participation, parent-teacher cooperation, partnership development, partnerships in education, public perceptions, rural schools, school-community relationships, school improvement, school involvement, self-renewing partnership model, staff development, staff retreats, surveys, training programs
Abstract
This applied dissertation describes the efforts of a rural, Appalachian elementary school to improve the level of collaboration for family and community involvement through the application of a systemic and systematic planning process for partnership development. An analysis of available data and survey reports indicated that the school had a history of poor family involvement and negative perception in the community.
The author implemented a plan based on Lueder’s (1998) Self-Renewing Partnership Model over the 2001-2002 school year. The implementation provided for staff, family, and community training jointly and individually. It established a building action team for improvement composed of members of the building staff, administration, school families, and school community. The intervention included a multiplicity of strategies designed to meet needs identified through surveys and analysis of the staff and families.
The writer developed and implemented a staff retreat designed to improve their knowledge and skills related to the development of school/family/community partnerships. A program of activities was developed and implemented that was designed to breach barriers perceived by the public prior to the implementation.
An analysis of the data gathered during the implementation indicated that the staff received a positive response from the parents and school community when efforts were made to make the needed connections. Positive progress was documented in both the number of partnerships developed and the level of interactions that took place.