School Counselors in School-Community Partnerships: Opportunities and Challenges (original) (raw)

Abstract

Those who desire improvements in classroom learning must realize and acknowledge that school reform, especially when it focuses on disadvantaged students, cannot easily succeed if it ignores the circumstances of their out-of-school lives. (Maeroff, 1998, p. 5) Contemporary education reform efforts are clearly challenged by what have been referred to as the new morbidities-poor nutrition, unsafe sex, drug and alcohol abuse, familial and community violence, teenage pregnancy and parenting, lack of job skills, inadequate access to health care, and homelessness. The impact of these stressors on the educational achievement of young people is widely recognized. Research has found that conditions such as personal and familial substance abuse (Wills, Vaccaro, & McNamara, 1992), maltreatment and abuse (Eckenrode, Laird, & Doris, 1993; Graziano & Mills,1992; Kurtz, Gaudin, Wodarski, & Howing, 1993), malnourishment (Grantham-McGregor, Powell, Walker, Chang, & Fletcher, 1994), exposure to violence (Warner & Weist, 1996), and homelessness (Masten,1992; Schmitz, Wagner, & Menke, 1995) are related to low academic achievement, impaired cognitive functioning, and poor behavioral and emotional well-being (Furstenberg, Eccles, Elder, Cook, & Sameroff, 1997). In short, the new morbidities result in significant barriers to learning. In the face of a pressing need to address these barriers to learning and a recognition that schools cannot do it alone, educators and policy makers have called for renewing and rebuilding the connection between communities and schools. School-community partnerships can provide a close-knit web of services and resources, which have been demonstrated to make a positive difference for at-risk children and youth (Dryfoos, 1990; Wang, Haertel, & Walberg,1995). In serving as "liaison between teachers, parents, support personnel, and community resources to facilitate successful student development" (American School Counselor Association,1997, p. 12), school counselors are positioned to play an important leadership role in the efforts to connect school and community (Keys & Bemak,1997). At the same time, the school-community partnership movement can support and enhance the mission of school counselors to foster academic, career, and personal-social development. This article reviews the development of efforts to link schools and communities and delineates the various ways in which the profession of school counseling and the school-community partnership movement might positively impact one another. Development of School-Community Linkages Historically, schools have long been aware of the need to respond to the nonacademic needs of children. Confronted by the pervasive effects of environmental stressors on learning and behavior, schools have traditionally sought to lessen the impact and address the consequences of those stressors on students. As early as 1890, reformers were advocating the provision of medical and dental examinations, lunches, summer programs, recreational activities, and child welfare officers in U.S. schools (Tyack, 1992). In the years since that time, school systems have made significant efforts to address a range of children's developmental, health, and nutritional needs. By 1940, annual medical and dental exams were provided, and school lunches became the norm by 1950 (Myrick,1993; Tyack,1992). While schools and communities collaborated in funding these efforts, the schools were responsible for implementing the services. As the decades progressed, the federal and state governments began to increase funding to community agencies to address some of these needs (e.g., through entitlement programs for health care through Medicaid and for nutrition through the Food Stamp Program). In recent years, government-supported community health and mental health centers, hospitals, social service centers, and legal and housing agencies have provided an array of services to families and children. …