Models for School Improvement

Ideas for Improvement - Ideas Page

Learning How to Gain Knowledge

Educators are constantly searching for new methods to enhance teaching and learning. Education is a field where reform moves slowly towards meaningful change. Currently, many city schools are focusing on the development of individual site-based management teams. Through site-based management schools have the ability to foster stronger learning communities. The community becomes a source for support and commitment to the education of its children. One of the goals of site-based management teams is to develop a sense of shared responsibility among administrators, teachers, parents, students, and other community members to ensure the success of a school and the achievement its students. This happens when all stakeholders are given the opportunity to play a role in the decision-making process and are expected to share responsibility and accountability.

Unfortunately, there are many obstacles and exterior forces preventing collaboration at the school site from occurring. While in Greece, I discovered aspects of Greek culture can show us how to build a learning environment based on the strength of community. If our goal as educators is to help teachers to help students to learn through the development of community, then looking at the Greek culture can enable us to meet this aim.

There are several aspects of Greek culture that have significance to urban education. The Greeks have a long history of successful communities. It would be useful to extract pieces of their culture that furnish examples of ways communities work together. They provide models to teach us how site-based management teams might work together more effectively and democratically.

A closer look at the long history of Greece reveals many fascinating things: throughout time the Greeks have lived and worked together in communities; they have designated areas used as public spaces, spaces in which more meaningful discourse takes place, discourse that involves the sharing of ideas, values, and beliefs.

To help you reason through this domain, it would be worthwhile to reflect upon the answers to these questions about your school site: What kinds of problems to you see at the school site? Are many members of the school's immediate community working together? How is your school governed? Who takes responsibility for the decision-making? Who are the active participants in functions of your school and for what reasons are they involved? Are those with the authority to do so willing to incorporate elements of other cultures into the existing management system? Do members of your school community have positive attitudes about taking risks? If a school site is considered public domain, how can it be used to serve the public?

This practice domain attempts to look at ways in which teachers and students are engaged in school-wide activities and tries to image ways in which parents and other community members might also become engaged.

Finally, it reflects upon the meaning of community. You can too- Have conversations with others and find out what their beliefs on community are. Target weaknesses at the school site: administrators can search out ways to make the school site more open to the community; teachers can search out ways to make the classroom more open to external influences; and parents or community members can search out ways to open their attitudes towards education and ways to become more involved.

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