Educational Leadership , the magazine of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, devoted an entire issue to community engagement in 1998. The purpose of these types of engagement is to create partnerships between parents, business, educators and communities in order to create the best possible educational opportunities and successful schools. New Hampshire must have successful schools, because they are the keystones to economic vitality for both the state and local communities. A successful school is the heart of a thriving community where economic opportunity and development produce a well-balanced quality of life. Both schools and communities benefit through investment in education.
Parents are often the key drivers of engagement activities with schools.
Their investment of time and energy into their children's education has been demonstrated to positively impact the quality and level of student achievement. In many cases, their initial interest in their own child's experience expands to include participation in policy issues that impact all of the students in their community. However, all too often their participation diminishes once their children have completed their education. Recent research has demonstrated that the home, school and community all impact a child's growth and development simultaneously. The development of mentoring, tutoring and community related projects have begun to address some of these needs, along with the expansion and strengthening of traditional parent involvement projects.