SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION REFORM DEMANDS RESTRUCTURING RELATIONSHIPS
AMONG HOME, SCHOOL AND WORKPLACE

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 1 -- Schools of the future will
be like shopping malls, offering an array of community services,
such as job-training and remedial education for adults and
enrichment courses for children.  
	The authors of "Rebuilding the Partnership for Public
Education" are confident that is a safe prediction because some
schools have already become "full service centers" offering such
programs.  
	In the book published this summer by the Mid-Atlantic Center
for Community Education at the University of Virginia, Larry
Kilbourne, Larry E. Decker and Valerie A. Romney advocate
community-family-school partnerships to restructure and improve
public education. They call for making schools "delivery points"
that support families and cite several such programs in the book.
	Noting that traditional families, in which there is a
working father, a housewife mother and two or more children,
comprise only six percent of American households, the authors call
for integrating community services at schools to give children the
attention, personal interest, intensity of involvement and
continuity over time that traditional families provided in the
past.     
	Observing that social services have been created in a
"piecemeal fashion, in response to specific problems, with no
central authority, direction or vision," the authors contend that
schools are ideal locations for integrating services.  
	Delivery of services at schools can be accomplished without
long-term additional revenue, say Kilbourne, a consultant and
advisor to Fairfax County schools; Larry E. Decker, associate dean
of administration at U.Va.'s Curry School of Education; and Valerie
A. Romney, associate director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for
Community Education.  
	"When service providers are brought to a central location,
duplicative services can be recognized quickly, and new methods
developed for achieving collaboration," said Decker, who directs the
center that has been awarding $100,000 annually since 1987 from the
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation of Flint, Michigan.  The center has
worked with more than 40 states to assist in developing plans that
facilitate cooperation among community residents, school officials
and agencies.
	States and communities play crucial roles in developing
full-service schools, the authors acknowledge.  "Bringing services
to one central location requires start-up funds, and many sites need
additional capital outlays to create room for programs," said
Decker.  However, as collaboration among service providers
materializes, agencies can share expenses of delivering programs and
reduce overall costs, the authors have found.  
	"Successful education reform must involve the whole
community--not just the schools.  That is why coalition building is
one of the most important processes in reform," said Decker, who
hopes the book will guide those who want to forge new community
partnerships.
	The book recognizes the BIG-Ed Council of the Virginia
Peninsula Chamber of Commerce as a successful regional collaboration
of businesses and education.  It encompasses five school divisions
with more than 70,000 students, three universities, a community
college and several technical schools.  The coalition has addressed
short-term training requirements of workers and is now focusing on
long-term education needs in the region.
	Noting that the process of coalition building is often
called "community education," Decker said, "Community education's
principles--local control, integrated delivery of services, maximum
use of resources and lifelong learning--are among the most promising
ideas in education reform."
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October 31, 1994

	FOR MORE INFORMATION, Decker is at (804) 924-0866.