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Develop school-community partnerships

What is it?

The goal of helping young people avoid harm from substance use is best accomplished through a comprehensive approach involving school, family and community. School-community partnerships foster connectedness, and build resilience and protective factors. Young people benefit when they feel connected to their family, school and community.

Multifaceted approaches to preventing harm from substance use reinforce a consistent message, build on a shared goal and link together the resources of multiple systems. Effective school‐family‐community partnerships weave together a critical mass of resources and strategies to enhance caring communities in order to support all youth and their families, and enable success at school and beyond.

This requires more than mobilizing resources to respond to incidents of substance use. It involves a clear vision and cohesive policy that builds and nurtures a network of relationships that builds resilience and enhances protective factors to achieve the best academic and social outcomes for students.

Level of research support: Evidence of effectiveness

Why do it?

Community programs linked to learning outcomes have demonstrated effectiveness. "When schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more” (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Students who are well-connected to their school are less involved with health-risk behaviours and are less likely to develop substance use problems.

While the school is obviously a critical setting for addressing these issues, single school‐based strategies implemented in isolation will not have significant effect (Adelman & Taylor, 2003). Engagement between schools and community programs aimed at developing social and emotional competence should be effective for students, and communities should reap the benefits of more effective pathways between services and more efficient use of resources.

Who is it for?

  • All students (universal)
  • Students with elevated risk profiles (selected)
  • Students displaying risky patterns (indicated)

Who can facilitate it?

  • Administration

How can we implement it?

Building and maintaining effective school-family-community partnerships requires the development of policies and processes to ensure such connections are well developed and institutionalized. Evidence suggests the need to give particular attention to each of the following.

Make “connection” a school priority

  • Create the conditions and structures that enable relationships to be built and maintained.
  • Nurture an environment in which all staff, students, families, community agency personnel and other community members interact and engage in a natural and regular way.
  • Work with the broader community to offer youth healthy alcohol and drug-free environments in which to play and learn new skills, and opportunities for young people to make healthy connections with caring adults (e.g., an alcohol- and drug-free after-graduation celebration).
  • Provide mentoring relationships to students who may be at risk of disconnecting from school.

Lead the way in initiating relationships

  • Provide professional development opportunities and mentorship to help school personnel reach out and build partnerships with parents and community members.
  • Create a welcoming-honouring-partnering culture within the school. (When school staff engage in caring and trusting relationships that recognize parents as partners in the educational development of children, these relationships enhance parents’ desires to be involved and influence how they participate in their children’s academic and social development. )

Encourage parent engagement

  • Host workshops for parents on child development and ways to help with homework.
  • Nurture a sense of shared responsibility. (Communicating about school policy and disciplinary procedures provides opportunity to engage parents around issues of how school and home can work together on matters related to discipline and control.)

Build trust and support by keeping the lines of communication open

  • Encourage and facilitate communication between school professionals and parents to create environments that are welcoming to families.
  • Use mechanisms such as school newsletters, reports and local media to communicate goals, policies, programs, and celebrate achievements.
  • Facilitate dialogue among partners by organizing events where students can present ideas and lead discussions.
  • Communicate information to students, families and community about the school’s policies and programs and involve them in the ongoing development of these.
  • Communicate information to parents about their child’s individual performance and experience.

 

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