The public seems content to sit back and leave school improvement to the experts instead of raising their voices and hands to bring about essential change. In this Information Age, Americans don't think twice about demanding information on the stock market, hospitals, and doctors to make the right decisions. Now it's time for citizens to demand the same data about their public schools. Community Involvement Is An Untapped Resource Americans recognize that public schools are the heart of their communities. They are at least five times more likely to cite public schools rather than churches, hospitals, and libraries as the most important local institutions.
Individuals frequently define the communities they live in by their neighborhood public schools.
A quarter of voters define their community by their local school district or school attendance zone, and this is also true for voters without children in their homes. How the community votes on education issues, determines priorities, spends its resources, and seeks to remedy inequities charts the direction and policy of schools. In spite of the vital role communities can play, few Americans perceive others in their community as taking an active role in improving the quality of life or schools in their neighborhoods. In fact, a quarter of Americans say their communities take only a little or no responsibility for quality schools. Today, to strive for quality public education is to strive for every child and expect high achievement from all young people, teachers, and schools.