This study analyzes the method used in the selection of six community schools to participate in a three-year exploratory program for improving health education in Texas.

"Chapter I presents the setting, background, purposes and procedures for this paper. Certain facts concerning the nature of the school-community population in the Chaires area are regarded as pertinent for understanding the problem. The philosophy underlying the development of this paper has been the 'community-school.' A survey was made to see what improvements or changes need to be made at Chaires in order that it may become a more functional community-school"--Introduction. / "August, 1953." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: W. Edwards, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 38).

Children and youth with emotional and behavioural disorders [EBD] have complex needs that span an array of service providers (Stroul & Friedman, 1994; VanDenBerg, 2008) and given the paucity of supports for this population they may not receive the support that they require (Burns et al., 1995; Farmer et al., 2003). There is a considerable amount of research that supports the integration of services for children and youth with EBD through the wraparound approach (VanDenBerg, Osher, & Lourie, 2009). There also is research that supports the notion that community schools may provide the most effective host environment for the integration and provision of support for this population (Dryfoos & Maguire, 2002; Grossman & Vang, 2009). However, there is limited Canadian research about the efficacy of the wraparound approach in the context of a community school. In order to explore this issue a qualitative, multi-case study was conducted of three community schools in the province of Manitoba to determine the extent to which community schools foster interdisciplinary collaboration and may support the implementation of the wraparound approach (Bruns, Suter, Force, & Burchard, 2005; Bruns, Walker, & The National Wraparound Initiative Advisory Group, 2008; Goldman, 1999). The findings from this study suggest that at the practice level, the community schools that were studied fostered collaboration and the integration of support. In addition, the community schools that were studied possessed many of the requisite conditions that support the implementation of the wraparound approach as a process to guide individualized planning for children and youth with complex needs. Barriers to the full-scale implementation of the wraparound approach in the context of the community schools were identified and primarily included system level constraints on collaborative practices. Future research may involve piloting the implementation of the wraparound approach as outlined in the “Wraparound Protocol for Children and Youth with Severe to Profound Emotional and Behavioural Disorders,” (Healthy Child Manitoba, 2013) in designated community schools within the province of Manitoba in order to build upon the strengths of community schools as effective host environments for the implementation of the wraparound approach and also to identify the means by which the system level constraints to collaborative practices might be overcome. / February 2016

The topic of educating today’s youth has become an increasing multi-faceted task with rigorous accountability metrics handed down from all of the different branches of government. Schools are faced with providing more than just instructing the three R’s; they are taxed with educating the whole child. This qualitative study explored the community schools model in an urban elementary school. Specifically, the study attempted to understand the perceived impact this model has on community members, parents, and administrators at one particular elementary school. Data were collected through a series of open-ended interviews and coded for inductive analysis. There were four emerging themes: impact of leader, hub of the community, safe environment, and education of the whole child, which surfaced from the data analysis of the open-ended interviews. A document review also provided additional information that was included in the findings. The need for additional quantitative and qualitative research was also suggested.

A growing body of research demonstrates the links between parental involvement and students' outcomes. Some benefits of this involvement include improved academic achievement, higher grades, increased attendance, and better social skills (Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Sui-Chu & Willms, 1996; Dryfoos & Knauer, 2004; Coalition for Community Schools, 2003). Despite these benefits, many educators report challenges in engaging parents and community members within the school. The purpose of the research was to explore the processes two school staffs used to facilitate community engagement by utilizing community education practices and, within each individual site, compare to any increase in community engagement at the school. <p>Over the 2006-2007 school year, the researcher spent time connecting with staff members and parents at two schools a suburban elementary school, and an inner-city community school. Through observation, interviews with administrators, focus groups with parents, and focus groups with staff members, the researcher obtained information regarding staff members growth in community engagement, development of community education practices, and the impact of those practices on community engagement in the school. Through analysis of the data, the researcher identified themes, conditions for community engagement, and promising community education practices. <p>Data from observation, focus groups, and interviews demonstrated the importance of leadership, developing relationships with parents, creating a welcoming school environment, focusing staff development on community education, and creating opportunities for staff members and community members to come together, for community engagement to be successful. The research captured the importance of making beliefs and assumptions explicit, and identified how these beliefs can be helpful or harmful in engaging youth, families, and community members. The research study demonstrated that as staff members at Eagle Point School and Sunrise Community School increased their level of understanding of community education and created community education practices, they experienced greater community engagement in their respective schools.

Community Schools in Saskatchewan offer tremendous potential for building and sustaining democratic communities. This potential is based on what is intended to be the participatory and inclusive nature of these schools. Notions of inclusion at the root of community school orientations to foster well-being emerged from a social-democratic tradition within education and have been explored to differing extents by educational, political, and social theorists. To date, few researchers have examined staff perceptions of inclusion, given the broad and nuanced definition of social inclusion I use here. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the perceptions of these individuals so critically positioned to impact the lives of children, youth and their families, and to frame them in a socio-political and critical theoretical context. In doing so, I focus on the relationship between community school policy and practice in Saskatchewan, examining inclusive processes in community schools, and applying a critical theoretical perspective that accounts for complex and dynamic trends within these schools. Using Habermass critical theory of society, I argue that both functional and communicative rationalization can be seen as converging in the body of community education literature, although functional rationalization is the more predominant, or colonizing, feature. This colonization subsequently leads to legitimation and motivation crises in Community Schooling in Saskatchewan, which can be seen in the low levels of participation of families and community members into school activities. Despite the challenges Community Schools are currently facing, I conclude there is room and opportunity for change at the school level, where stakeholders come together to reach common goals, and live out, at the local level, the ideals of community schooling.

Community Schools in Saskatchewan offer tremendous potential for building and sustaining democratic communities. This potential is based on what is intended to be the participatory and inclusive nature of these schools. Notions of inclusion at the root of community school orientations to foster well-being emerged from a social-democratic tradition within education and have been explored to differing extents by educational, political, and social theorists. To date, few researchers have examined staff perceptions of inclusion, given the broad and nuanced definition of social inclusion I use here. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the perceptions of these individuals so critically positioned to impact the lives of children, youth and their families, and to frame them in a socio-political and critical theoretical context. In doing so, I focus on the relationship between community school policy and practice in Saskatchewan, examining inclusive processes in community schools, and applying a critical theoretical perspective that accounts for complex and dynamic trends within these schools. Using Habermass critical theory of society, I argue that both functional and communicative rationalization can be seen as converging in the body of community education literature, although functional rationalization is the more predominant, or colonizing, feature. This colonization subsequently leads to legitimation and motivation crises in Community Schooling in Saskatchewan, which can be seen in the low levels of participation of families and community members into school activities. Despite the challenges Community Schools are currently facing, I conclude there is room and opportunity for change at the school level, where stakeholders come together to reach common goals, and live out, at the local level, the ideals of community schooling.

A growing body of research demonstrates the links between parental involvement and students' outcomes. Some benefits of this involvement include improved academic achievement, higher grades, increased attendance, and better social skills (Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Sui-Chu & Willms, 1996; Dryfoos & Knauer, 2004; Coalition for Community Schools, 2003). Despite these benefits, many educators report challenges in engaging parents and community members within the school. The purpose of the research was to explore the processes two school staffs used to facilitate community engagement by utilizing community education practices and, within each individual site, compare to any increase in community engagement at the school. <p>Over the 2006-2007 school year, the researcher spent time connecting with staff members and parents at two schools a suburban elementary school, and an inner-city community school. Through observation, interviews with administrators, focus groups with parents, and focus groups with staff members, the researcher obtained information regarding staff members growth in community engagement, development of community education practices, and the impact of those practices on community engagement in the school. Through analysis of the data, the researcher identified themes, conditions for community engagement, and promising community education practices. <p>Data from observation, focus groups, and interviews demonstrated the importance of leadership, developing relationships with parents, creating a welcoming school environment, focusing staff development on community education, and creating opportunities for staff members and community members to come together, for community engagement to be successful. The research captured the importance of making beliefs and assumptions explicit, and identified how these beliefs can be helpful or harmful in engaging youth, families, and community members. The research study demonstrated that as staff members at Eagle Point School and Sunrise Community School increased their level of understanding of community education and created community education practices, they experienced greater community engagement in their respective schools.

The investigator purposes to make a study of the McCaulley Independent School to determine how effectively it is functioning as a community school.

This is a study to determine to what extent the Tom Bean Public School of Grayson County, Texas, is a community school.