Changes
in curriculum planning and
instruction. For
community-based learning to be successful, it must be integrated
into the ongoing curriculum. This may require shifting some of your
current instructional methods and content to more interdisciplinary
and team-teaching approaches. At a minimum, it demands careful planning
to specify academic learning objectives, lesson plans, and criteria
for assessment. In describing a rural school tutoring program for
which students receive academic credit, for example, Miller and
Hahn observe that:
Clearly
defined guidelines and expectations for participants have contributed
to the program’s success.
A contract signed by the student, teacher, and principal specifies
credit requirements, student
responsibilities, attendance,
and consequences for
failing to live up to agreed-upon expectations. (p. 27)
Assuring
academic credit. Some
community-based
learning activities can be incorporated into existing courses with
relative ease. Others will require special arrangements. For the
tutoring program described above, for example, students substitute
tutoring activities for study hall three days each week; in return,
they receive a quarter-semester of credit. In another school, students
from several grade levels, under the supervision of the home economics
teacher, established and helped to operate a day-care center, again
using special credit arrangements. In some cases, schools have not
yet found ways
to incorporate community-based projects into the academic program,
and so operate them as extracurricular activities. However, this
approach, while better than nothing, has not
proved as strong in terms of
student motivation and learning.
Access
to campus and community. If
the community is going to be involved with the school, and vice-versa,
school policies and practices may need to be adapted to make it
possible for students to leave campus, and for community members
to visit the school, and to feel welcome when they do so. Some schools
may need to modify closed-campus policies.
With
security a growing concern on school campuses, many schools have
taken steps to limit outside access. While safety must be an overriding
consideration,
security policies in many cases also have served to intimidate parents
and community members, discouraging
them from visiting the school. Certainly you don’t want to
compromise security in any way. But, with planning, it’s possible
to maintain a safe environment and to make the school environment
more welcoming. Simple steps, such as communicating with parents
about security measures and the reasons for them, or posting signs
as to where to enter the school building, can make a big difference.
You might establish a volunteer desk where a parent or community
volunteer serves as greeter, guiding visitors to the office to sign
in. Security guards, if you have them, can be oriented to friendliness
and courtesy as well as vigilance.
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