George Lucas Educational Foundation
Edutopia

Community Partnerships

Learn and share ideas about how to engage caring individuals, organizations, and businesses to help schools with resources, mentors, internships, and more.

  • 5 Ways to Combat Classroom Isolation

    Looking outside your classroom walls can help students develop a global perspective—and refresh your teaching.
    Michael Dunlea

  • Using Community Challenges for Learning

    Find tips on how to collect real-world problems for your students and a framework to start and monitor their projects.
    Cathleen Beachboard

  • Tips for Partnering With a University

    Working with a nearby university is a good way for a school to bring in peer mentors and to introduce students to different careers.
    Theresa Cullen

  • Building a 21st-Century Learning Space

    A community raised $6 million to construct an innovative 30,000-square-foot facility complete with makerspaces and learning labs.

  • Running a Business in School

    Students learn skills like maintaining inventory, marketing, and scheduling while working in a cafe as part of a business class.

  • 5 Ways to Stop Bullying and Move into Action

    With daily news reports about the devastating impact on students who have been relentlessly bullied, teachers find themselves on the front line in addressing bullying and intolerance. It is time to move into action. Not In Our School offers solutions-based strategies and tools for change to a network of schools that are working to create safe, inclusive and accepting climates.
    Becki Cohn-Vargas

  • 5 Steps to Better School/Community Collaboration

    A parent and community organizer shares some resources and great ideas, including the creation of a resource map and connecting with subject matter experts to connect to curriculum.
    Brendan O'Keefe

  • The Importance of Community Involvement in Schools

    Family and community involvement play essential roles in the success of schools, explains blogger Anne O'Brien.
    Anne OBrien

  • How Can High-Poverty Schools Engage Families and the Community?

    High-poverty schools can involve students' families through home visits and by joining the community's safety net to provide social and medical services for those in need.
    William Parrett and Kathleen Budge

  • Empowering Kids to Be Part of the Solution

    Giving elementary students a project in their community provides a real-world application for their content learning.

  • Building Products for Real-World Clients

    Students in India in grades pre-K to 12 use design thinking to create products that address real needs.

  • Local Issues Make Science Learning Meaningful

    Students use scientific inquiry to investigate real-world issues facing their community.

  • Parent Partnership in Education: Resource Roundup

    Experts agree that parent involvement in education is a big predictor of student success. So where can parents begin? We've compiled a list of articles, videos, and other resources to help you engage productively with your kids' teachers and school.

  • Family Engagement: Resource Roundup

    Explore tips, strategies, and resources to help improve the connection from home to school and expand parent involvement.

  • It’s Not What’s Wrong With the Children, It’s What’s Happened to Them

    Instead of punitive discipline that limits students’ potential, we must adopt a more holistic approach and address the life circumstances that are causing their behavior.
    Jennifer Ng’andu