Trust is a major ingredient in the success of these new collaborations as school doors are opened and outsiders are invited into principals' offices, classrooms and assembly halls. Conversely, the best examples of engagement find school leaders invited into homes, libraries, community centers, churches and council chambers. Indeed, the administrators in the communities above are coming to count on the energy, spirit and expertise of parents and community members from many walks of life to devise and advocate local standards, examine and set budgets and build support for the public schools in their communities. After studying the conditions of the many school communities we visited, we developed five simple, common characteristics of public engagement activities that typified all of the school sites. Of course, this work is not necessarily easy, and we would be lying if we said it was.
Public engagement is hard work.
Ask any of the people in the districts we've described. It takes time, patience and the ability to both listen and converse very differently to both internal and external constituents and work hard to include them. Yet it is precisely these things that are marking the leaders who succeed in engaging their communities. They are the foundation on which the power of contemporary school leadership lies in the future, and they will form the basis for success in district-led engagement. Public engagement also requires collaboration and communication within school constituencies and communities, a fact that can be threatening to established hierarchies of authority.