93-09-04 Mid-Atlantic Center for Community Education

TO HELP CHILDREN AND SCHOOLS, FIRST HELP FAMILIES;
THAT'S GOAL OF LOCAL CENTER

     CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 4 -- Here's a somber thought as
children return to school:  "Schools are destined to failure if
they do not involve parents and the community."  That's the
belief of Larry Decker, an educator at the University of Virginia
who is helping to stimulate a national movement toward using
schools as community centers that benefit families.
     As project director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Community
Education based at U.Va., he assists programs that bring together
representatives of agencies and institutions that can provide
educational, social, economic, recreational and cultural services
to local citizens.  A central premise in the community education
concept is that schools are ideal sites for coordinating a
variety of services that can contribute to lifelong learning for
people of all ages.
     Decker believes this collaboration is essential in bringing
about lasting educational reform.  "For America's educational
system to be successful, we have to target families," said
Decker, an associate dean in U.Va.'s Curry School of Education.
     He added, "If families disintegrate, children's
opportunities for success disintegrate."
     Decker would like to see schools become "integrated full-
service centers" where adults would gain help in reading
instruction or job training skills, where children could attend
enrichment classes or participate in community theatre and where
citizens could take part in the local decision-making process of
allocating resources.
     "The idea is for the home, the community and the school to
be in concert with each other," said Decker, who was chosen in
1986 by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a long-time
supporter of community education programs, to devise a seven-year
plan for spurring state-level involvement.
     That plan offers states several rounds of funding
opportunities that have totaled $50,000 annually since 1987.  The
first grants were seed money to help states plan what kinds of
community education programs would be appropriate.  The second
round of funding helped implement such programs.
     Subsequent grants are allowing states to train community
education personnel and develop models of successful programs.
     In 1987, the center awarded grants to 47 states and the
District of Columbia for developing five-year community education
plans.  In 1989, the center awarded funding to implement 27
state-level projects, and this summer, the center awarded grants
to 10 states for enhancing their programs.
     Decker and his staff are working on a national needs
assessment of community education programs and are reviewing
model state programs.
     The beauty of using schools as centers for fusing family and
community resources is that additional state or federal money is
not necessarily needed, according to Decker.  "Each community has
a wealth of untapped volunteer talent that could coordinate local
resources."
     Decker, who believes this approach to education makes good
economic sense, does not view community education as a fad.  "The
idea has been around for about 50 years, and is needed now more
than ever."
                               ###
September 3, 1993

     FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Decker at the Mid-Atlantic
Center for Community Education at (804) 924-0866.

 
Karen Castle, Office Services Specialist, University News Office
P.O. Box 9018, Booker House, Charlottesville, VA  22906
(804) 924-7116, kac@virginia.edu

[Submitted by: Karen A. Castle  (kac@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu)
               Fri, 3 Sep 93 16:01:40 EDT]