Use the community as a focus of study. Challenge students to apply theoretical principles to real-life situations. Students can serve communities by acting as historians, researchers, scientists, and environmentalists. Community members can supplement classroom teaching by providing relevant instruction using the community setting. This helps the entire community view young people as competent, caring contributors.
Students learn more and produce at a higher level when they feel their work matters.
An added bonus is that community-based work can result in significantly lower textbook expenditures and increased community support for the schools. Although grants can provide sudden infusions of cash and accelerate action, they can distract schools from their primary purposes and divert effort from long-term sustainable improvements. Small schools that are most effective in obtaining new resources begin with the people who know them best, whose hearts they have touched. The following paragraphs outline some strategies for tapping into community resources. As part of community meetings, create wish lists of school needs for current patrons and community members.