Faith-Based Organizations, Community Development, and the Reform of Public Schools (original) (raw)
Related papers
Faith Partnerships and Public Schools in Philadelphia: Rewards and Perils
2003
In 1999, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) school superintendent David Hornbeck introduced educators and religious leaders to his requirement that each public school in the city develop a relationship with a faith partner, a religious institution that could share facilities and resources with the school. Hornbeck saw religious institutions and schools as possibly the only two stable institutions remaining in the inner city. He felt that these two should work together to meet the needs of their primary constituents--children. Hornbeck's comprehensive school reform plan included two strategies for public engagement in education: (1) the linking of schools with community-based organizations, and (2) the development of a campaign to bring 10,000 volunteers into the public schools. The faith partnership initiative helped to fulfill both of these requirements for reform. Susan Brin Hyatt, in her work on tenant management, shows how neoliberal principles are manifested in the U.S. emphasis on volunteerism and service at a moment when the state is increasingly relinquishing responsibility for the public welfare. This paper provides an ethnographic account of the type of volunteer effort that Hyatt might critique, examining the motivations and hesitations that characterize volunteer experiences. The paper presents an account of the agency of volunteers in resisting and engaging with the regime of volunteerism in a neoliberal state. It draws on fieldwork with a faith-based mentoring program (one of the most successful in the district, with over 40 volunteers participating each year) at an elementary school in south Philadelphia. (Contains 17 references and 5 notes.) (BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
In the scholarly literature on the justice of tolerating, supporting and funding faith-based schools, faith-based schools face charges that they threaten their students’ well-being and society at large. One of the most persistent of these charges in the history of American schooling is that faith-based schools are a threat to social cohesion. Public schools, in contrast, are often thought to enable social cohesion by providing meaningful opportunities for sustained interaction among diverse social groups. The aims of America’s public schools, however, have narrowed from a focus on citizenship, moral character and intellectual development, among other things, to a goal of satisfactory test scores in basic math and literacy. American common schools, therefore, are no longer well-poised to cultivate social cohesion and, therefore, the objection to faith-based schools based on the perceived threat to social cohesion is no longer rooted in the reality of American schooling.
2008
In the spring of 2008, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) asked Research for Action to conduct an exploratory study of partnerships between faith-based organizations and schools. The goal of the study was to understand the types of supports and benefits schools receive from their faith-based partners as well as the range of outcomes and impacts that result from these partnerships. This study was based on interviews at 23 schools and surveys received from 54% of all SDP schools. The study found that although nearly half (44%) of schools in the sample had a faith-based partner, the remainder were struggling to create or maintain a partnership (27%) or had never attempted to develop a faith-based partnership (29%). Faith-based partnerships in this study also varied in their complexity, ranging from one-time events to partnerships that provided multiple services, such as use of facilities, monetary donations, mentoring, parental engagement and tutoring services. Although principa...
Faith-Based Doctrine, Law, and Policy and Social Education Reform
International Journal of Educational Reform
civil rights-and for imposing limitations on children's access to knowledge about the undeniably complex nature of their psychological and physiological well-being. While law and policy does not yet discriminate against specific religions in determining which faith-based groups receive funding for their school and community programs, the most dominant religious voices in assisting lawmakers draft faith-based doctrine into legislation have been Christian Protestants. Given their political influence, those particular religious voices may be more likely than others in successfully competing for faith-based funding. Indeed, John J. DiIulio, Jr., 1 director of the newly established Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, has already defined a telling White House position this year by promising certain lobbyists that "the president would not allow financing for the Nation of Islam's programs" (quoted in Kaminer, 2001, p. D1). In addition, other minority religions that may eventually be exempted from funding are the B'nai Brith, the Church of Christ, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Unification Church, all of which the White House is being pressured to exclude from funding because leaders of our nation's major religions want them classified as cults exempted from funding (Kaminer, 2001). Such proposals, if enacted as federal policy, may exacerbate religious tensions in a country that has tendentiously prided itself for its exercise of religious tolerance. Thus we hope that the humor in an editorial cartoon in the Atlanta Constitution remains just that, humor. In that cartoon, a couple watching a news report on television comment, "Competition's fierce for funds in Bush's faith-based initiative," as the reporter states, "Bloodshed between Muslims and Jews, Catholics and Protestants are poised for more violence" (Luckovich, 2001). On the other hand, the doctrine of child-benefit, as discussed above, will surely be provided as an argument advocating the use of funds as direct support of children, regardless of the religious context of delivery. This "balancing" argument will also be noted clearly in the national discourse on vouchers and voucher education. A search of ERIC documents and academic journals reveals a paucity of research involving faith-based doctrine, law, and policy and their potential for impact on public education and in all matters of curriculum reform. The subject matter appears so fresh that a corpus of substantive research is as yet unavailable. As a studied legal issue, faith-based law and policy represent areas directly untried in the recent courts, although in this article we document one dispute in Broward County, Florida, involving parental demand for the county to update its sexuality and health education programs to reflect a new state statute calling for "abstinence-only-until-marriage" curricula. Because the plaintiffs reached a settlement with the school board, the U.S. district judge dismissed the case. Our American heritage informs us that faith-based doctrine converted into law and policy has always been a visceral point of contention in our nation.
Education Law Center, 2010
This policy brief addresses federal and state constitutional issues that arise when faith-based organizations participate in state prekindergarten (pre-k) programs and recommends safeguards to ensure that public funding of those programs complies with constitutional principles respecting the separation of church and state and freedom of religion. To date, there have been no court decisions analyzing a state pre-k program under the federal or state constitutions, although decisions addressing public funding of other religiously affiliated educational programs provide guidance on how courts might consider these issues. The recommendations and guidance provided in this brief are general in nature; every state's constitution and jurisprudence differ and the law in this area is evolving. Key to the analysis presented here is understanding that state administrative agencies have the authority to regulate and monitor faith-based early childhood programs that choose to participate in publicly funded pre-k. In fact, an effective mixed delivery system requires the agreement of all providers-public, private, and faithbased-to abide by state licensure requirements, budgeting procedures, quality Summary of State Policy Recommendations State policymakers need to implement practical regulatory guidance for pre-k providers to keep within state and federal constitutional limitations on religious practices. These safeguards should include: • Precluding state-funded programs from teaching religion, proselytizing, or discriminating against students on the basis of religion, and • Ensuring that state funds are directed solely to the cost of educating and caring for children enrolled in the statefunded pre-k program.
Practical Guide to Church and State Issues Involving Public Education
1996
Due to increasing attacks on school curriculum and policies, administrators must understand the law associated with education and religion. Guided by this knowledge, school leaders can foster an educational environment while simultaneously protecting individual expression. If a lawsuit occurs, an administrator can best protect both the school and student plaintiffs by knowing educational law and constitutional rights, appreciating individual perspectives, recording all incidents of dispute, determining insurance policy coverage, cooperating with the media, learning from the experience, and maintaining great concern for plaintiffs. The Lemon Test and the Cherry Hill decision will guide educators in irople...a.z curricula consistent with the First Amendment. Individual religious expression is protected by the U.S. Constitution and by the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The 1984 Equal Access Act allows secondary school students to hold religious club meetings during noninstructional times on public school grounds. According to 1996 White House guidelines, individual students can pray and read a religious text alone; students can wear (nondisruptive) religious symbols; teachers can educate about religion and its role in art, philosophy, and music; officials cannot organize prayer sessions during school hours; and schools cannot allow prayers at graduation ceremonies. Included are 22 references. (MLH)