Case study of school reform and student achievement outcomes

¶ … improving long-term school-community relations on behalf of Bay Meadows High: Interest-based negotiation, community service programs, and student on-loan positions. Two strategies for improving short-term school-community relations will also be presented: Monthly summit meetings, and job shadowing.

Interest-based negotiation. The first approach is an overarching strategy that will facilitate the development and implementation of the other strategies. Interest-based negotiation is an approach to mediating the disparate interests of, typically, disputing parties. However, like most negotiation strategies, interest-based negotiation has application beyond the courtroom, the mediation center, the corporate meeting room, or the property line fence of two backyards. Interest-based negotiation begins with the premise that the parties participating in a disagreement -- whether formal or informal -- bring to the table interests that are particular to their perspective. Unlike conventional negotiation strategies -- where the goals of each side are not disclosed in order to reduce vulnerability to strategic negotiation by the opposing side -- interest-based negotiation functions best when both parties know and understand the goals of the other party.

Application of interest-based negotiation to this case resides in the concerns that schools often have regarding community support and, particularly, community support of bond campaigns, property taxation, business involvement and support -- plus, perhaps less directly, legislative policy and budget allocations. Often, educational policy mandates are underfunded, leaving schools and districts hard pressed to meet their statutory obligations. Community support, which may be fiscal or take the form of volunteers for programs, say, can make all the difference to program success and the motivation of teachers, students, and administrators. As the school board considers how to attain its primary long-term and short-term goals for the year, it would do well to consider how each may be impacted by an action plan based on interest-based negotiation strategy. For instance, the long-term goal of creating a safe learning environment for students translates easily into an interest of community members -- creating safe neighborhoods, entertainment venues, and business districts. The school environment is essentially a component of the community -- a community made safer for its inhabitants is likely to be associated with schools that are made safer for students. A wide range of mutually satisfying activities can be built on this mutual symbiotic relationship. The Safe Schools / Safe Streets campaign is an existing model of just such an interest-based platform.

Community Service Programs. The idea of students providing service to their communities as a required component of the curriculum is not new, however, some schools and districts implement such programs better than others. It is easiest to operate a community service program in college, and perhaps next easiest to implement such a program in elementary schools. In community service programs that operate out of elementary programs, parents participate in the programs right along with their children or the community service program is conducted as an activity of a youth membership organization, such as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, and the like. This results in a less costly program as in most cases parents or the youth membership organizations assume supervision and transportation costs. That said, perhaps the group that can benefit the most from community service programs are secondary students. Identify formation is a fundamental goal of secondary education, and community service provides an excellent platform for vocational horizons to be expanded and opportunities for stewardship to be comprehensively explored.

Major national community service organizations provide one avenue for program implementation where partnerships with schools and districts are a clear option. The community service goals of a school or district can be accomplished through this sort of partnership with limited organizational effort, which is assumed primarily by the national organization. Support by secondary students to a murder mystery theatre fundraising effort of Deep Fork Community Action of Okmulgee, Oklahoma provides an example. The youth from Eufaula Community Center and student groups such as The Future Farmers of America earn community service house by acting as waiters and waitresses for the theater.

When students do well in community service projects, they reflect well on the school and the district, which can go a long way toward creating the kind of good will that results in increased opportunities for students. For instance, the community would be hard-pressed not to agree that students should be well prepared for the real world before they graduate from high school. Through their community service projects, student can increase their emerging vocational networks and create banks of support for job shadowing opportunities, internships, and first jobs.