Beyond the School Walls: Collective Impact in Micropolitan School-Community Partnerships

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that the time students spend outside of school, as well as the communities in which they spend it, impact educational outcomes. Inequitable educational outcomes are the result of complex, interdependent problems in the public and private sector, suggesting the need for approaches that bring together schools with other organizations to address problems in the ecological and developmental systems of family, school, out-of-school programs, and communities. Collective impact has gained prominence as a strategy for such cross-sector partnerships. This qualitative study uses a comparative approach to extend knowledge of collective impact into rural and micropolitan communities using civic capacity as a framework. It identifies limitations in mobilization of members and issue framing which suggest a need to reconceptualize collective impact as a political arrangement, rather than an organizational one. The findings suggest the need to engage in community organizing activities to build political capital by confronting social isolation and exclusion among groups, examining power and privilege among community members and developing critical place-based leadership for intergenerational capacity building.

Disclosure statement

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Notes

¹ As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, rural communities are those with fewer than 2,500 residents outside of an urbanized area and are home to 46 million Americans. Micropolitan areas consist of an urban cluster of less than 50,000, but at least 10,000 and are home to 27 million (U.S. Census, 2019; Wilson et al., 2012).

² Developmental evaluation is a formative approach to evaluation that provides additional information for learning to support collective change (Walzer et al., 2016).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah J. Zuckerman

Sarah J. Zuckerman, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is a former early childhood and elementary special education teacher, serving in urban and rural districts. Her research examines how educational and community leaders promote collective action to address local challenges and improve outcomes for children, with a focus on mobilization of community and organizational members; issue framing and sensemaking; and developing capacity for change.