Effectiveness of interventions adopting a whole school approach to enhancing social and emotional development: a meta-analysis

This article presents findings from a meta-analysis which sought to determine the effectiveness of interventions adopting a whole school approach to enhancing children and young people’s social and emotional development. Whole school interventions were included if they involved a coordinated set of activities across curriculum teaching, school ethos and environment, and family and community partnerships. A total of 45 studies (30 interventions) involving 496,299 participants were included in the analysis. Post-intervention outcomes demonstrated significant but small improvements in participants’ social and emotional adjustment (d = 0.220), behavioural adjustment (d = 0.134), and internalising symptoms (d = 0.109). Interventions were not shown to impact on academic achievement. Origin of study and the inclusion of a community component as part of a whole school approach were found to be significant moderators for social and emotional outcomes. Further research is required to determine the active ingredients of whole school interventions that we can better understand the components necessary to achieve successful outcomes.

     

School-community partnership models: implications for leadership

School–community partnerships have shown promise as an educational reform effort. In these partnerships, schools expand their traditional educational mission to include health and social services for children and families and to involve the broader community. Such partnerships have been found to enhance student learning, strengthen schools and support struggling neighbourhoods. Little is known, however, about the implications for school and community leadership in different types of partnerships. A previous review of the literature indicated four basic types of partnership, each with a different scope and purpose and different implications for leadership. Informed by interagency, leadership and social capital theories, this article describes the leadership practices that support each model and the dilemmas these partnership leaders face. The overall goal of the article is to deepen understanding of leadership in these models in order to strengthen the conditions for school–community partnership success.     

Project friends: A multi-age learning community

Project Friends is a learning community based on our confidence in the multi-age classroom as a valuable and viable vehicle for teaching young children. Our three multi-age classrooms of kinder-garten, first- and second-grade children were the served as the setting for Project Friends. In this article, we share our beginnings, significant features and outcomes of the learning community, and our reflections on a year ended in Project Friends. Our experiences and the experiences of the children in the multi-age classrooms continue to provide rich contexts for teaching and learning in the elementary school. Supported by school/university collaboration.     

Re-envisioning the Role of Universities in Early Childhood Teacher Education: Community Partnerships for 21st-Century Learning

Despite contrasting views on the overlap of early childhood education and teacher education, opportunities abound for expanding the role of early childhood educators in broader teacher education discourse. University-based early childhood education and kindergarten-through-grade-12 teacher education share purposes, philosophies, and resources that should be explored to more effectively address the needs of diverse young children and their families. Community partnerships and a shift toward community-based teacher preparation present a context and opportunity for exploring the overlap of these two historically separate fields. In this article, we present a framework for collaborative, field-based early childhood teacher preparation, situating birth-though-grade-12 teacher education in diverse community contexts and involving school and community personnel to achieve universal 21^st-century goals for the teaching and learning of young children.     

Embedded yet separate: tensions in voluntary sector working to support mental health in state‐run schools

The policy agenda of the UK government has repositioned the voluntary sector as a key player in the delivery of locally responsive, ‘bottom up’ services to address the complex problems of social exclusion, reaching out to sectors of the community which are beyond the grasp of traditional state or market providers. This has drawn many voluntary sector organizations into new forms of partnership with statutory bodies. This article draws from a Scottish study to explore the role of voluntary sector organizations working in schools to support the mental well‐being of children and young people. A framework to interrogate the data from case studies is provided by the Scottish Executive, who rehearse four main advantages of such partnerships between state and the voluntary sector. The article concludes that whilst voluntary sector organizations can and do deliver support to children and young people in innovative ways on the margins of school life, the power differential within the school structure makes their position too vulnerable to bring about quick or substantial change.     

Linguistic Differences with Bilingual Parents Who are Immigrants: Words for Dialoguing About Young Children

While partnerships including meaningful, two-way, parent–teacher dialogue about young children during early childhood program and school meetings are critical, linguistic differences between bilingual parents who are immigrants and early educators can impede communication and lead to inequitable services. In this article, we focus on one aspect of linguistic differences for educators and bilingual parents: English-language adjectives used by teachers to describe young children. We highlight aspects of adjectives, their uses, and cultural contexts to illustrate potential misunderstandings that may lead to not only miscommunication but also challenges to partnerships and equitable early childhood service provision. Subsequently, we present recommendations to foster meaningful dialogue and greater understanding between educators and bilingual parents who are immigrants when dialoguing about young children.     

Young people and high school in Mexico: subjectivisation,others and reflexivity

This article is based on the finding that for many students, high school is a place for young people's life and living together, a place for subjectivisation. The process of subjectivisation is approached through a discussion that questions conceptions of students as strategists of their school trajectory, as well as conceptions of youth life as the excitement of vibrating together. The claim is made that young people's life at school is a process of finding meaningful Others: other styles, other friends, and the other gender. Faced with options and risks, students also develop reflexivity. These topics are examined in three different scenarios: a general high school that is part of the university system in Mexico City, a technical high school in the metropolitan area, and community intercultural high schools in an indigenous rural zone.     

Rural underpinnings for resiliency and linkages (rural): A safe schools/healthy students project

Rural Underpinnings for Resiliency and Linkages (RURAL) is an example of a Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) project. RURAL provides services to children and families in a rural Kansas county. The county's rates of juvenile alcohol and illicit drug use are higher than state averages. The RURAL project was designed to enhance existing partnerships among three school districts, the local community mental health center, law enforcement, the regional prevention center, and Fort Hays State University. A significant number of evidence‐based strategies were implemented in the schools and community in a short period of time. Using a public health approach to increase school safety and promote healthy behaviors, RURAL introduced strategies designed to provide universal prevention for the school population, early intervention for at‐risk children and families, and intensive services for those with the greatest needs. Services were provided to students (preschool–young adults) and their families. School psychologists held key roles in the development, implementation, and management of the project. Preliminary evaluation findings are presented, and the importance of local process and outcome evaluation is discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 531–547, 2003.     

A University–School Partnership to Examine the Adoption and Implementation of the Ohio Community Collaboration Model in One Urban School District: A Mixed-Method Case Study

School improvement models are expanding to incorporate priorities around positive youth development, safe and supportive school climates, school mental health, and school–family community partnerships. A partnership was formed between researchers and district/school leaders to examine the 3-year adoption and implementation of 1 such exemplary model, the Ohio Community Collaboration Model for School Improvement, in a Midwest urban district serving a large number of students at-risk. Researchers and district/school leaders examined what types of system-level capacities developed, and explored student- and school-level outcomes that occurred over the course of implementation. Multiple innovations resulted, such as strengthened policies, improved partnerships and collaborations, and enhanced funding streams. Students' perceptions of academic press, school climate, and academic motivation improved over the 3 years. Academic report cards show progress toward districtwide improvement. Implications are drawn for researchers and school leaders, especially in relation to the design, implementation, and evaluation of collaborative models of school improvement.     

Principals as Literacy Leaders with Indigenous Communities (PALLIC) building relationships: one school’s quest to raise Indigenous learners’ literacy

In 2011 to 2012, 48 schools in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland participated in the Principals as Literacy Leaders with Indigenous Communities (PALLIC) project. Central to this project was the establishment of positive working relationships between school principals and Indigenous community leaders in order to improve Indigenous literacy rates. Professional development in leadership skills and effective literacy instruction was provided through five professional learning modules. Participants worked together to create an action plan to support the literacy achievement of Indigenous students in their schools and communities. This article presents a case study of one participating school in Northern Queensland that successfully utilised the PALLIC framework to facilitate leadership actions and activities between Indigenous community and school leaders in order to form productive partnerships for the teaching of reading. In particular, the case study highlights the way that school leaders and Indigenous leaders established shared leadership and shared ways of learning in the school for reading outcomes of Indigenous students.     

A healthy start: promoting mental health and well-being in the early primary school years

Mental health problems in children represent a significant international health concern, with up to one in five children using mental health services during the course of any given year. Identifying the processes of what prevents social, emotional and behaviour difficulties (SEBD) and promotes healthy development from an early age can make a significant contribution to the promotion of positive mental health in children. This article describes a longitudinal study which sought to identify the risk and promotive factors as young children move from the early to junior years in primary school. Multilevel analysis was used to identify the individual, classroom, school, home and community factors that predict change in SEBD and in prosocial behaviour in the early school years. It also calculated the cumulative effect of the various risk and promotive factors on the pupils’ well-being and mental health. The article presents the windows of vulnerability and opportunity for young children’s healthy development, proposing a trajectory for healthy development in early and middle childhood.     

Opportunities and Challenges in Collaborative Reform Practice: School–Community Partnerships through Art in Korean Schools

The Korean government’s policy toward art in schools and educational autonomy has recently undergone major directional changes, with the Ministry of Education (MOE) encouraging individual schools to find their own ways to become more self‐regenerating, especially by developing community partnerships through art. This recently published policy direction has the potential to challenge traditional school practice as it demands an initiative role of schools and the active involvement of teachers in building partnerships with local communities. Concerned about the impact of the new school art policy on practice, this article attempts to clarify the opportunities and challenges involved in the expected collaborative reform practice by examining the outcomes reported by pilot schools based on their first year of implementing the new school art policy. To this end, this article first identifies the distinctive aspects of the new policy from previous studies on school–community partnerships developed in Korea over the past decade. This is followed by an identification of practical issues and needs by reviewing the outcomes of recent survey results on the perceptions of teachers who participated in conventional school–community partnership programmes. These results will be compared to the problems found in the outcomes reported by pilot schools. Findings will be discussed to assess implications and provide suggestions. This contextual analysis of practitioners’ responses to new art‐based collaborative reform practices developing in Korea may contribute to an expansion of international discussions about educational reform through art.     

Black Families and Schooling in Rural South Carolina: Families' and Educators' Disjunctive Interpretations of Parental Involvement

The positive impact on children's educational trajectories when effective home-school partnerships are established has been extensively documented. This article shares findings from a 13-month research study in a rural, southern community in South Carolina that sought to investigate the nature of the “partnerships” formed between educators and families, while challenging stereotypes and misperceptions that prevent such partnerships from unfolding. In doing so, the researcher makes visible the experiences of Black families, students, and schools in communities rarely studied—poor, rural Black communities in the southern United States. The researcher uses the actual words of the teachers and parents to make visible the disjunctive interpretations about one of the major themes from the study, parental involvement as relationships. Finally, the researcher offers implications for educators and parents as they do the work necessary to form relationships that really benefit students.     

Education and inequalities in rural Vietnam in the 1990s

This article examines the determinants of children's schooling during the 1990s in rural areas of Vietnam. It focuses on the impact of family attributes on the likelihood of children remaining in school or leaving during the primary and secondary school years. Using data from the Vietnam Living Standard Survey (VLSS) of 1992–93 and 1997–98, the authors apply the survival analysis technique to follow a group of 3301 children aged between 6 and 13 over a 5-year period. In addition to the characteristics of the children and their families, they consider community attributes as larger contextual variables that also affect children's school leaving. Overall, they found very significant socioeconomic differentiations between families with respect to schooling, which puts economically disadvantaged children at risk for having their schooling interrupted at a young age. The results also indicate that for girls, compared with boys, the likelihood of staying in school is more responsive to household and community characteristics.     

Where policy meets the pavement: Stages of public involvement in the prevention of school violence

Based on qualitative research on school and city violence, this article examines three forms of partnerships between community organizations and schools, including youth interventions by social services; community activism; and school liaisons with the police. The article examines how violence-prevention strategies are conceived within a context that includes the formation of policy directed at communities, youths, and schools; social science theories of delinquency; public rhetoric about youth and families; and efforts on the part of community residents, city departments, and social services. The underlying theory-base behind the research can be associated with cultural studies, since it combines cultural and structural interpretations of the topic and analyzes policies according to their processes, in light of their constructions, and in connection with the theories that guide them. It becomes obvious by the end of the article that community-based violence-prevention organizations collaborating with schools are sometimes blocked from doing good work by poor funding, power struggles, and a deficit model of youth. While the partnerships can, at times, help to initiate positive involvement of disenfranchised people, they can also become instruments of city power structures. For their positive and productive work to come out, the interagency and school collaborations must solve the problems that are discussed in the article.     

Legitimizing Community Engagement with K-12 Schools

This article examines the issue of internal legitimization and its importance in securing high-quality community engagement in K-12 schools. Drawing on the literature from the fields of community engagement, school reform, school–university partnerships, and school–community partnerships, this article describes some of the prevailing challenges and barriers external partners face when conducting reform oriented partnership work in K-12 schools. The discussion focuses on four factors that contribute to enhancing external partners’ internal legitimization within K-12 settings. The article offers a set of strategies for working through each of the four components.     

Teacher perspectives on partnerships on families of children with autism

The success of students with disabilities in school and community largely relies on productive family professional partnerships (FPPs). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) recognises the importance of family collaboration to student success by mandating that parents be involved in the Individualised Education Plan (IEP) process as full team members. While several previous studies examined the perspectives of parents of children with disabilities on partnerships with educators, less research exists on teacher perspectives on family professional collaborations. Additionally, there are even fewer studies that focus on teacher perspectives on partnerships with parents of children with autism, a disability category which continues to increase in prevalence. The present study contributes to the literature by examining teacher perspectives on factors that build and hinder positive partnerships with families of children with autism. Researchers surveyed 25 Special Education teachers and conducted additional individual interviews and open-ended questionnaires to examine teachers' first-hand experiences. Findings identified four common themes that educators felt helped and hindered collaborative relationships with families. Study results may lead to the development of specific family professional collaboration strategies that can be implemented and discussed in school districts, teacher trainings, pre-service teacher education programs and family workshops.     

Cultivating community: detailing school and community engagement under complex conditions

This article reveals the nature of actions, discussions and relationships which helped forge school-community partnerships for engaged student learning and wider community participation for students and families living under difficult socio-economic circumstances. Specifically, the article draws upon interviews with key personnel and staff involved in the establishment and enactment of a ‘Community Partnerships’ programme to help improve the opportunities for students attending a primary school serving a low socio-economic urban community in south-east Queensland, Australia. Drawing upon the notion of educational practice as a product of ongoing interactions between particular actions (doings), discussions (sayings) and relationships (relatings), which both constitute and are responsive to particular conditions or ‘architectures’ for practice, the article reveals how the conceptualisation, establishment and consolidation of the community partnerships programme was dependent upon specific ‘relatings’ between key district and school personnel, the actions/‘doings’ of these personnel and ongoing ‘sayings’/dialogue about their work. Collectively, these ‘doings’, ‘sayings’ and ‘relatings’ all helped to stimulate new conditions – ‘practice architectures’ – for improved opportunities for students and their families. Teacher education informed by such theorising of community partnerships as the product of specific actions, dialogue and relationship-building is vital for developing improved understandings of such interactions and partnerships over time.     

Cultural Beliefs about Disability in Practice: Experiences at a Special School in Tanzania

This article examines cultural beliefs and values about disability in one Tanzanian community and the influence of those beliefs on a school for children with disabilities. The larger ethnographic study examined the role of beliefs in the community and the development of the school curriculum. This study used the models of disability as a framework for classifying and understanding the different belief systems present. The study was conducted in a rural community in Tanzania at a school for children with developmental disabilities. In this community, multiple models of disability were present, but the socio-cultural and pluralistic models were most prevalent. Beliefs centred about the causes of disability, God’s plan or role in the community, and a mixture of Christian, Muslim, and traditional beliefs. Participants saw the school staff as integral to influencing beliefs about disability in the community through their presence and outreach efforts.