Transforming the schoolhouse: Roadmap to Community Engagement

7/28/2019 Transforming the schoolhouse: Roadmap to Community Engagement

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T R A N S F O R M I N G T H E S C H O O L H O U S E :

knowledge capture program

A P U B L I C A T I O N O F :


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Transforming the Schoolhouse: Roadmap to Community Engagement

ISBN: 978-1-939531-03-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013941087


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Partners 6

7

9

13

17

19

Stakeholder Consensus 23

Timeline 26

29

30

31

Appendices

- How This Report Was Created 33

34


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iv

A ROADMAP TO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

wevetried everything already

we are underfundedwe lack technologywe have no control

and more.

The

series with


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v

In the case of Linden, localleaders sought to galvanizethe community around a singlequestion ... how to revitalize thecommunity as a whole.


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PARTNERS OF THE LINDEN COMMUNITY

TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

AmeriCorps

Apex Builders

Budget Rent-A-Car

Columbus College of Art and Design

Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority

Heritage Apartments

Higher Peaks Child Care

SAVESNetSouth Linden Area Commission

STEM Columbus

HELPFUL INFO


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7

INTRODUCTION

set of related issues that were both immediate and long-term

...were moving to that agewhere a high school diplomawill no longer get you whereyou think you want to go...and[we understand] that collegeisnt for everybody...what kind offocus do you have? And so thatswhere the college and careerreadiness really came in.

QUOTE [508-109]

We need to do problem based learning when we do these thingsin communities. And say, here is the issue, how do we solve this

issue? And how do we know that weve done a good job? Isnt thatwhat youre teaching [the] kids? And you have rubrics and problems,

and here is the process, and how do we solve it, and how well didwe do it? So, use your own, I mean have a process that includes

stakeholders at the onset, instead of waiting for people to say, wellI wasnt involved I didnt know anything about it. Im not sending my

kid here. Im afraid, or I dont know, Im anxious.

QUOTE [509-98]


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Five pointsessential to

communityengagement in

schooltransformation

AcademicGoals

Define the academic goals Identify stakeholders priorities

1Stakeholder

Goals 2

CollaborativePartnerships

Build partnerships and broad-basedcommitment for a collaborativecommunity planning process

3

E X I T O N L Y

StakeholderConsensus

Implement a consensus-basedprocess to evaluate schooltransformation to STEM education

5

StakeholderAction

Facilitate stakeholder action forschool and community

revitalization

4


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9

DEFINE ACADEMIC GOALS

Build program resources that assure career and college readiness

The community has got to

pass the levy. Weve got tosupport the levy. Because werenot going to have a school.The numbers made sense tome. You had twenty percent orbetter decline in enrollment Itwas an economic decision.

QUOTE [501-62A]


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In 2008 and 2009, over 100 Linden students attended the Summer Engineering Experiencefor Kidsa program of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)where middle-school

students learned basic engineering skills to create hands-on projects. The 3-week camp wasdesigned to help prepare Linden students for STEM education and careers. The project wassponsored by partner organizations of the Linden Area Education Task Force, the BattelleMemorial Institute, and NSBE, and was held at the St. Stephens Community House in Linden.

Photo courtesy of The PAST Foundation


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[Parents] equated STEM with the idea that STEM wouldgive more opportunities to their kids, and that STEM was anadvanced thing that should be brought into their community

and so it was good for them. And so they did communitymeetings about it, they did surveys about it, theyve got

graphs and charts and newsletters about STEM showing upin their community, they even had the radio stations talking

about STEM and so on.

QUOTE [502-26A]


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12


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IDENTIFY STAKEHOLDER PRIORITIES

improve school safety and security

The school belongs to thecommunity...There is a trust

relationshipthe districtrepresentation needs to trust thatthe community knows what theywant for their children, and thecommunity needs to trust thatthe district representation hasthe capacity to implement that.

QUOTE [504-22]


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The fact that things for youngpeople to do were no longertherelike, we used to have theteen center, right on ClevelandAvenue, and the teen center hadclosed and so there were moreconcerns abouttheres nothing

for our young people to dooutside of school. So, there weresort of a lot of different thingsthat were going on that mademe more interested in what washappening with our schools andteens.

QUOTE [503-14C]


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16


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BUILD PARTNERSHIPS AND BROAD-BASED

COMMITMENT TO SUPPORT A COLLABORATIVE

COMMUNITY PLANNING PROCESS

inform others in the community on progress with the planning process

And so I said lets move forward,lets look at it, what does itdo? Lets ask the community.We then did the communityconversations, which weknew we all said that in orderto do any of this, it was going

to take parents, teachers andeverybody.

QUOTE [501-20]


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Its been an ongoing community process, that the ownership of it has

been rough, rough edges with it, that the community didnt abandon theproject and the district didnt abandon the project. And, that says a lot for

both. I mean, you know itsthey stuck with it, and continued to stick with it.

QUOTE [504-148]

In 2008 and 2009, Linden area high school students participated in STEM in the LindenArea (STEM LA), organized by the Greater Linden Development Corporation. STEMLA offered students paid summer internships to work at local businesses. The project wassponsored by partner organizations of the Linden Area Education Task Force.

Photo courtesy of The PAST Foundation


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FACILITATE STAKEHOLDER ACTION FOR

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION

The Engagement Committee[of the Linden Area EducationTask Force] was a combination,

again, of district personnel andcommunity folks. The focus wason re-establishing the school asthe center of the community, andre-establishing the pride thatwas in Linden-McKinley [highschool].

QUOTE [501-20]


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A strategy to grow more broad-based interest in the

plan and gain support from parents to enroll their

I think the biggest outcomeof this whole thing, that I haveseen, is it has opened the doorbetween school and communityin a way that it had not before.And again, I think thats been achange on both sides, not justone side.

QUOTE [503-46A]


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great, it sounds like it could really help our community, you know,could help move our young people into the jobs of the future.

Everything they presented soundedto use old-fashioned wordsneat or cool. You know, I was excited about it.

QUOTE [503-26]

(left) Community members with diverse interests and concerns joined together in a process toidentify collaborative actions to support Linden community revitalization strategies. Their

vision for Linden was integral to the plan for assuring that the quality of education in thepublic schools would benefit the community as a whole.

(right) Dialogues were held in Linden to give parents, students and other stakeholders theopportunity to consider the potential benefits of STEM education for the K-12 Lindenschools. The community gatherings were essential to gaining input from the community andbuild support for the decision to transition to STEM education as the best path forward forLinden students.

Photos courtesy of Greater Linden Development Corp


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IMPLEMENT A CONSENSUS-BASED PROCESS

TO EVALUATE SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION TO

STEM EDUCATION


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So I would have to say the[school] board was supportiveof the process. And supportiveof the STEM program being

in the Linden community.They were supportive of thedecisions the community madeand the superintendentsrecommendations.

QUOTE [509-36]

I was always struck with howinterested and excited peoplewere to do things, so I nevergot the sense that this wassomething that [the community]didnt want to do. You know,I got this sense that it wassort of a Linden pride kind ofthing they were going to do,in a uniquely Linden style, withLinden people.

QUOTE [502-38]


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The design process was really a combination of communityfolks working alongside district staff, and really putting the

ownership of this process in everyones hands.

QUOTE [506-22A]

At the end of the day we got the committees together andcame back with a recommendation, presented it to theboard, the school board. The community conversations, I

think, were phenomenal.

QUOTE [501-24]

(left) The Girls Empowerment Mural (GEM) project, supported by The Womens Fund ofCentral Ohio, provided important opportunities for students to demonstrate critical thinking

as well as skills and talents gained through education as they consider STEM solutions tocommunity issues.

(right) GEM takes the power of murals out into the elementary schools, as part of a processof revitalizing the community as a whole, restoring the pride of community, and a spirit of

working together.

Photos courtesy of The PAST Foundatio


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TIMELINE TO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT


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JANUARY 2007AUGUST 2009


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CONTINUING THE REVITALIZATION PROCESSTHROUGH STEM EDUCATION

The community has seen new investment in the community as a result


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The process shows the community has faith in its youth

gain familiarity with local partners and resources that can connect

CONCLUSIONS

st


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REFERENCES

1D.

oh.us.

p. 3B.


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Leaders Lend Support for New Linden-

12:2.

September.


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APPENDICES

HOW THIS REPORT WAS CREATED

the

The Knowledge Capture Teamat The PAST Foundation

- Monica S. Hunter, Ph.D. (right)- Maria Green Cohen (middle)- Meghen Matta (left)


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Documents

Transforming the schoolhouse: Roadmap to Community Engagement