The history and development of a partnership approach to improve schools, communities and universities

Abstract

The compelling, important, and innovative idea of “university-assisted community schools” originated at the University of Pennsylvania. Today it is an advanced, international exemplar. The main ideas merit attention and scale-up. For example, universities and other higher education institutions located in challenging urban neighborhoods and rural places have important resources to offer local children, families, communities, schools, and neighborhood organizations, starting with their talented faculty and highly energetic and creative students. These resources position these higher education institutions to serve as anchors and hubs for the kinds of complex, multi-faceted innovations needed to improve community outcomes, as well as mutually beneficial outcomes for the higher education institutions doing this important work. Starting in the mid 1980s, the leader-authors of this chapter and their school and community partners seized this idea and then rolled up their sleeves to make it happen. For example, they pioneered and scaled-up important innovations such as academically-based community service-where professors teach their courses in local community schools and other community settings-while also demonstrating how higher education institutions and leaders of research universities in particular can become transformational agents for beneficial social change. This chapter describes the journey toward this advanced exemplar, including the development of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, the growth of the international network of university-assisted community schools, and the several awards that nominate this model as an international exemplar.