Community Involvement

in Curriculum

William M. Alexander

forces and move Yet even in some of these movements

ments in American education could result there are opportunities for community em
in sharply opposed practices regarding com phases and involvement. Thus, the school-
munity involvement in curriculum. The without-walls notion simply moves students
impact of current movements toward greater into a wider community. Systems planning
efficiency and accountability in education and centralized financing and even larger
could move significant responsibilities for school districts could provide for more orga
curriculum development away from the in nized local community participation than
dividual school and even the school district. now generally exists. Even the elimination
A systems approach to curriculum develop of neighborhood schools could result in
ment could create curriculum-designing units the use of more representative community
serving several schools and school districts. councils.
State and national assessment programs Perhaps the only development that
could be reflected in criteria for local cur- would truly eliminate the possibility of orga
riculums. Centralization of school financing nized community involvement is the elimina
could result in increasing control over cur tion of the public school structure itself.
riculum by the central fiscal power. Perfor And the impact of today's advocates of
mance contracts could give some curriculum deschooling and disestablishment seems more
and instruction responsibilities of the local than balanced by public opinion and govern
school and district to outside contractors. mental actions supporting the schools but
Forces aiming at valid and important demanding their improvement and account
purposes may tend to cloud the identity of ability. These demands in many ways call
the school community and inhibit the active for and support community involvement
participation in curriculum development of plans such as those described in this issue.
parents and citizens served by individual
schools: elimination of neighborhood schools Some Lessons from the Past?
to achieve racially balanced school popula
tions; creation of metropolitan school districts The history of curriculum development
to equalize educational opportunity; school- in the past 50 years is replete with efforts
without-walls organizations to utilize re toward community involvement both in de
sources of urban areas. cision making about the curriculum plan and

May 1972 655

 "Perhaps past difficulties in securing community involvement in curriculum have
been due to the preoccupation of curriculum development with curriculum content."

in providing resources and agenda for it. The usually been accompanied by strong com
various community school movements, the munity support. On the other side of the
use of school-community councils of several coin, teacher and student strikes, bussing and
types, lay participation in curriculum devel other population shifts, sex education, drug
opment programs and projects, cooperative abuse, and violence have also aroused com
work-experience programs, community study munity groups. Participation in the usual
and service efforts, widespread utilization types of curriculum study groups has been of
of community resources, even community- less interest.
centered curriculum designs, have long been
Second, community involvement is
urged and also reported in curriculum writ
most real and personal at the individual
ings. Yet such current efforts are sometimes
school level. Seeking full participatory repre
hailed as new or revolutionary, and genuine
sentation in educational decision making in
community involvement seems widely lack
Battle Creek, Michigan, in the late 1940's,
ing. Not only, it sometimes seems, are educa
Superintendent Virgil M. Rogers organized
tors unaware of the antecedents of current
an Educational Advisory Council with two
practice, but they may be ignoring principles
lay representatives (president of the school
that could be perennial. Two such principles
PTA and one other parent of the opposite
are suggested here.
sex) of each school in the city. This
First, community involvement is most predominantly lay organization paralleled a
widespread and effective when the issues curriculum council including one teacher
are real and personal. P arents are concerned representative from each school.
about the educational progress of their own Although today one might prefer to
children. People in general are concerned merge these organizations, we found that
about the goals of their schools, what and they worked well in Battle Creek then,
how well the schools do to achieve them, and especially as communication channels be
what education costs. They become con tween the schools. Review of various types
cerned about specific curriculum issues, of councils operating elsewhere during the
building plans, teacher salaries, and zoning past 25 years confirms my belief that district-
arrangements as these matters touch on their wide organizations not based on individual
primary concerns. Successful community school representation tend to lack the vitality
involvement efforts have focused on primary and problem-solving focus of such represen
concerns. tative councils.
When the people of communities in the These observations lead this writer to
South were faced with the problems of a conclude that the starting point for effective
greatly depressed economy in the 1930's, they community involvement in curriculum de
even went to school with their children to velopment is in the real and personal con
learn to cope with the real problems of un cerns of parents and other persons in relation
employment, food preservation, and nutri to a particular school. Whether its students
tion. Victory Gardens and Corps, salvage and live in the neighborhood or are bussed in
rationing, wartime preinduction, and man from a rural area or across the city, the
power training programs were vigorously population is defined and its parents can be
supported in World War II. The turns to identified and consulted. They can be orga
emphases on national defense priorities, nized through homerooms, teams, grades,
physical fitness, compensatory education, and or other arrangements into groups from
other highly publicized social needs have which can be drawn agenda items of concern.

656 Educational Leadership

As these agenda items are pursued and agree especially for goal setting and curriculum
ments, disagreements, and recommendations planning in the important and neglected
noted, channels for communication with areas of values and valuing processes.
other schools and other decision-making The curriculum domain of human rela
groups can be developed and utilized. Plans tions in particular requires extensive com
can also be made for involving students at munity involvement. Already some human
appropriate levels. relations councils have been quite effective
in facilitating adjustment of changing popu
Some Items for the Agenda lations. Can they also give guidance to school
faculties in planning curriculum opportuni
Perhaps past difficulties in securing com ties for study and even resolution of human
munity involvement in curriculum have been relations problems within the school and
due to the preoccupation of curriculum de community? Help is needed in selecting ap
velopment with curriculum content which propriate content in the social sciences and
parents expect the schools to teach but in humanities, in arranging for interaction in
which they themselves have little interest. school and community of persons with vary
Interest and involvement seem highest when ing cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and in
the content is related to enterprises, activities, planning for effective participation of older
problems, and concerns at hand. Instead of students in the various social enterprises of
trying to involve laymen in planning the the community.
scope and sequence of the curriculum as it The broad domain of specialization
has been, we should seek their aid in design already utilizes a variety of out-of-school re
ing curriculum opportunities of greater in sources in many school districts, especially in
terest to them and more relevant to students. vocational education and other work-experi
Esoteric goals arouse little interest, but ence programs. Community schools of the
the central goal of developing the self- past and metropolitan schools-without-walls
directing, continuing learner can be made of the present differ primarily in their locales;
meaningful and attractive. Large numbers the former brought the community into the
of adults today face the necessity of continu school and the latter take the school into
ing education. Translation of this goal into the community. Both approaches are de
a curriculum domain of continued learning sirable, with wise planning needed to achieve
skills could well utilize the full cooperation of efficient use of maximum resources so that
parents at home and of all the community each student may have opportunity to explore
resource services in which learning skills are the areas of career and self-development most
acquired and practiced libraries, television appropriate to him.
and radio stations, newspapers, theaters, At least at the high school level a council
museums. Could each school have a council on community educational opportunities, per
on continued learning skills seeking the haps operating through subcommittees in
guidance of community educative agencies each area of specialized interest in the arts,
as to skills to be taught in school, and the service areas, occupations, and other cate
help of all participants in maximizing the gories could work for extension of educa
development and continued use of skills tional opportunities for all students. In time
needed in learning outside school? such councils might become the prototypes
The goal of personal development is one for new boards of community education
for which home and school have an especially responsible for coordinating complete educa
direct and heavy responsibility. A school tional services for all children and adults of
advisory committee in this domain could the community.
utilize many nonschool resources in planning
for health and physical development in and WILLIAM M. ALEXANDER, Professor
out of school, for school and out-of-school of Education, University of Florida, Gaines-
counseling and other special services, and ville.

May 1972 657

Copyright 1972 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development. All rights reserved.