"Partnerships in Action explores, at multiple levels, a university-school-community partnership in action. The chapters provide rich and dynamic accounts of the activities that make up this partnership, within a context of extreme social inequality. The contributors share an enduring commitment to whole-school improvement. They describe how, through interdisciplinary collaboration, they negotiate the multiple political, social and structural complexities which arise in the coming together of the partners. The book's uniqueness lies in its combination of practical implementation and sound theoretical scholarship from a range of disciplines. Not only does the partnership strengthen the university's commitment to community-engagement, but it offers new insights to all students, stakeholders, academic staff, and social researchers - in universities, education departments and NGOs - with an interest in improving schooling, and building social justice."--Back cover.

This book provides new knowledge, insights and experience about school-university partnerships. Drawing upon evidence from international research of the world’s most improved systems, and learning from a UK research council funded ‘knowledge exchange’ project, it reveals that when the profound differences between the practice worlds of schools and the theoretical worlds of university academics are embraced and cherished, rather than eschewed, school-university partnerships become exciting avenues of learning which connect, challenge and transform the thinking and practice of all those involved. Over its eight chapters, the book explores uncertainties, challenges and possibilities faced by those who seek to create, develop and sustain school-university partnerships that aspire to improve the practice and understanding of the leadership of teaching and learning in schools. It explicates and elucidates precepts, principles and practices for achieving such successful partnerships between higher education and school leaders, and contextualises these in terms of policy wide developments internationally. This book will appeal to school leaders internationally, leadership training organisations, and academics who lead postgraduate leadership and management programmes.

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

Action Research in Practice presents a collection of stories from action research projects in schools and a university. Topics include discussing action research, social research and partnerships in research.

Participatory Partnerships for Social Action and Research

Dr. Karen Mapp, Ilene Carver, and Jessica Lander have written an invaluable and flexible guide to communicating and building trust with every family teachers serve. Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher's Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success describes real experiences of family-school partnerships and digs deeply into what makes these relationships most effective. The Powerful Partnerships Family Engagement Action Guide is designed to be just as flexible. It provides thought-provoking questions and structured planning to help you bring the ideas and strategies outlined in Powerful Partnerships to life in your classroom.

Health Action Zones (HAZ) were one of the earliest and most prominent area-based initiatives launched by the New Labour government in England soon after it came to power in 1997. Written by members of the team undertaking the national evaluation of HAZ, this book examines the initiative’s development and impact from a variety of perspectives. It outlines important features of the social, policy and evaluative environment within which HAZ were established and discusses enduring themes such as building and developing capacity with diverse and unequal partners within complex policy systems. Multidisciplinary in nature, the book provides in-depth analysis of a key policy initiative, offering guidance on how best to design, implement and evaluate future initiatives intended to deal with fundamental social problems.