To give them an incentive to engage in such monitoring, students would be responsible for certain duties, such as picking up litter, removing graffiti, and straightening the lunchroom when students violated school rules. A violation of the rules of the school would be a violation of the hard work of the other students and give students who were specifically responsible for these tasks a reason to make sure that other students did not litter, deface, or act disruptively. At the beginning of the year, students would be assigned age-appropriate tasks to mentor and orienting the youngest students during their first weeks at the school to create a sense of attachment to the future of the school and to the welfare of other students. The positive social controls put in place through the educational system must also extend beyond the school year, and encourage parental involvement and community involvement throughout the year. According to the National Center for Policy Analysis "Children From Poor Backgrounds Lose Reading Skills in Summer" (http://www.ncpa.org/pi/edu/pd081700b.html) children from poorer background often have greater losses in basic skills over the summer. Instating a voluntary summer learning program, where students could experience academic enrichment would foster and extend the social controls and bonds of school from the school year into the summer. It would also both give parents a needed break from overseeing their children's behavior during the summer, make parents grateful for the school's aid, and perhaps provide an opportunity for parental summer involvement, if parents would like to become coaches or even teachers during these enrichment sessions.

Finally, there is evidence that urban or community sprawl leads to declines in educational gains....

The study suggested that, as these results were true even of more affluent urban districts, that larger, more impersonal, and less community-based forms of schooling may lead to a decline of school performance in at-risk students. (http://www.ncpa.org/pi/edu/pd111699b.html) Urban parents are often less connected to the school environment geographically and bound to the school by community programs and institutions. Creating after-school programs that continually involve parents would bring parents into the school's social environment and maintain a connection between parent, student, and school is critical. During the school year, all parents could be asked to give presentations about topics that were meaningful them to them, such as subjects that related to their jobs or hobbies, as they related to the curriculum. A sign-up sheet for parents could be given out at the beginning of the year. Also, fundraising and all extracurricular activities should strive to involve parents as well as teachers and students.
Regular parent-teacher conferences that keep parents informed of the school's curriculum, followed by sessions that bring the collective parental body together for discussion is another way to ensure that a sense of a greater, but close-knit community exists between the school's parents, children, and teachers. If parents believe that the school cares about their children's development, they are more apt to make personal sacrifices of their time for the school community, and encourage their children by their example to obey the school's dictates.