Stop Asking Families to Fundraise. Start Building Partnerships That Support Learning.
Five practical ways K–12 principals can connect families, community expertise, and school priorities
A neighborhood librarian helps a student find a book they want to read. A local business owner shows students how classroom math applies to a career. A community organization helps families connect with services that support attendance and well-being. These connections can make a school stronger. But community involvement works best when it is more than a donation drive or a one-time event. Principals can help families and community members contribute to clear school priorities in ways that support students’ learning, belonging, and success.
The Learning Policy Institute describes community schools as places that connect classroom learning, family engagement, student and family services, and shared leadership (Learning Policy Institute, 2025). In this approach, families and community partners help shape priorities alongside school staff.
The five strategies below are practical starting points, not a scientifically ranked list. Each one connects community participation to a school need—and gives principals a way to plan, coordinate, and assess the work.
1. Build structured tutoring and literacy partnerships
Parents can help schools connect with public libraries, universities, retirees, and community organizations that may be able to support students’ reading or other academic needs. For principals, the key is to build on a school’s instructional plan rather than create a separate program for teachers to manage.
What the research suggests
Reading Partners offers an example of a structured volunteer tutoring model. In an evaluation of the program during the 2012–2013 school year, participating students made approximately 1.5 to 2 months of additional reading progress compared with students in the control group (Jacob et al., 2015). Many students in the control group also received supplemental reading support, so the results estimate the program’s added benefit compared with other support, not compared with no support.
The study supports a specific, organized tutoring model. It does not show that every volunteer reading activity will produce the same results (Jacob et al., 2015).
What principals can do
Identify the students, skills, and grade levels that need additional support.
Ask families to help introduce the school to potential tutoring partners.
Look for volunteers who can commit consistently.
Set expectations for training, supervision, student placement, and progress monitoring.
Coordinate with an established program or school staff member who can oversee instruction.
A manageable first step may be to help recruit volunteers for a school-approved literacy program already in place.
2. Connect classroom learning to local careers
Families often know people who work in health care, construction, technology, the arts, public service, entrepreneurship, and skilled trades. Principals can help schools draw on that knowledge to show students how academic learning connects to future opportunities.
A career-day speaker can spark interest. A sustained partnership can give students repeated chances to explore careers through classroom demonstrations, mentoring, projects, or supervised workplace experiences.
What the research suggests
Career Academies offer an example of a more sustained model. These high school programs combine small learning communities, academic and technical coursework, and work-based learning. In a long-term evaluation, students in the Career Academies group had average annual earnings gains of 11% over eight years following their expected graduation (Kemple & Willner, 2008).
That result applies to the full Career Academy model. It should not be interpreted as evidence that a career fair, guest speaker, or internship by itself will produce the same outcome. The earnings gains were concentrated among young men, and the study did not find greater postsecondary attainment for participants compared with the alternatives available to the comparison group (Kemple & Willner, 2008).
What principals can do
Ask teachers which curriculum units could benefit from a community expert.
Invite employers and professionals to build relationships over time.
Match activities to students’ ages: demonstrations in elementary school, career exploration in middle school, and supervised work experiences in high school.
Include a range of career paths, from college and skilled trades to entrepreneurship and public service.
Make sure career learning connects to classroom goals and student interests.
For example, a principal might connect a local construction company with a math teacher to explore measurement and estimation. The teacher would guide the learning objectives; the business partner would add a real-world perspective.
3. Bring community partners into efforts to reduce barriers
Students’ attendance and participation can be affected by challenges outside the classroom. Schools may be able to coordinate with trusted organizations that provide health care, food assistance, mental health services, or other family supports.
Community schools guidance emphasizes coordinating services around priorities identified with the community (Learning Policy Institute, 2025). For principals, that means starting with a specific question: What barrier are we trying to address, and which partner is qualified to help?
What the research suggests
A 2025 study examined 458 schools in the first implementation cohort of California’s Community Schools Partnership Program. After the first full year, the schools’ reduction in chronic absence was, on average, 30% greater than the reduction in matched comparison schools. The study also reported a 15% reduction in average suspension rates and improvements in mathematics achievement (Swain et al., 2025).
The 30% figure describes a greater reduction relative to matched comparison schools; it does not mean chronic absence fell by 30 percentage points. The study used a matched comparison design rather than random assignment. Its findings concern the broader community schools approach and do not establish that one service or parent activity caused the reported changes (Swain et al., 2025).
What principals can do
Gather family input about barriers without asking families to disclose sensitive information in public.
Connect trusted service providers with the school counselor, family liaison, or community school coordinator.
Offer school-approved events that explain how families can access available supports.
Plan follow-up so families can find help after the event ends.
Keep confidential referrals and professional services with qualified staff and providers.
Parents can help make introductions and support outreach. School staff and service providers should handle private information and professional referrals.
4. Bring local knowledge into classroom learning
Libraries, museums, arts organizations, cultural groups, environmental organizations, and community members can offer students opportunities to learn from the people and places around them.
The strongest partnerships connect to learning goals. A librarian might help students investigate local history. An artist might support a unit on storytelling. An environmental group might work with a science class on a schoolyard inquiry project.
Community schools guidance identifies expanded learning opportunities and community-connected classroom instruction as important parts of the model (Learning Policy Institute, 2025). The Learning Policy Institute also summarizes findings from community schools in several states, including growth across areas such as student engagement, family engagement, attendance, and health care access in New Mexico (Learning Policy Institute, 2025). These findings concern comprehensive school partnerships; they do not establish that one cultural event by itself raises achievement.
What principals can do
Ask teachers which units could benefit from local knowledge or expertise.
Identify partners whose experiences reflect the languages, histories, and cultures of the school community.
Plan a connected series of activities instead of a one-time presentation.
Give students a way to apply and share what they learn, such as an exhibition, performance, oral-history collection, or research presentation.
Set learning goals with teachers and partners before activities begin.
For example, families could help organize an “Our Neighborhood, Our Stories” project. Students might work with a librarian, local historian, and community elders to document neighborhood stories, with teachers guiding the research and helping students decide how to share it.
5. Give a family–community advisory team a clear purpose
An advisory team can give families, educators, students where appropriate, and community partners a role in shaping school improvement. It is most useful when members have a clear charge—such as advising on attendance, literacy support, or access to enrichment—rather than meeting only to plan events.
Shared leadership is a core feature of the community schools approach. Families and community partners help shape priorities with educators (Learning Policy Institute, 2025). California’s community schools research also examines a broader model that includes family engagement, collaborative leadership, expanded learning, and integrated supports. The findings relate to that combined approach; they do not show that advisory committees alone caused improved outcomes (Swain et al., 2025).
What principals can do
Give the team a specific purpose and a manageable meeting schedule.
Invite families who are not already represented in school organizations.
Offer translated communication and more than one way to participate.
Map existing community relationships before recruiting new partners.
Review a small set of measures, such as tutoring consistency, participation, attendance patterns, or family feedback.
Clarify which decisions the team can make and which remain with school or district leaders.
Clear roles help families and community members contribute meaningfully while keeping responsibilities understandable.
What these strategies have in common
The shared idea is coordination. Families help identify priorities, community partners contribute relevant knowledge or services, and school leaders connect those contributions to students’ learning and well-being (Learning Policy Institute, 2025; Swain et al., 2025).
For principals, that can mean shifting the conversation:
From “Who can donate?” to “Who can help address this priority?”
From “How many people attended?” to “Who participated, and what did students gain?”
From “Let’s hold an event” to “How can we build a relationship that continues?”
These are practical planning recommendations based on the partnership approach, not separate research findings.
Start with one school priority
Principals do not need to launch all five strategies at once. A practical first step is to meet with families and staff, choose one priority, identify two or three potential partners, and agree on a small pilot.
Before community members work with students, school leaders should confirm applicable screening, supervision, visitor, accessibility, consent, and privacy requirements. Families can help open doors while trained educators and service providers lead the work that requires their expertise.
A useful question to guide the partnership is: What can this partner contribute that our students need, and how will we know whether it is helping?
References
Jacob, R. T., Armstrong, C., & Willard, J. A. (2015). Mobilizing volunteer tutors to improve student literacy: Implementation, impacts, and costs of the Reading Partners program. MDRC. https://www.mdrc.org/work/publications/mobilizing-volunteer-tutors-improve-student-literacy
Kemple, J. J., & Willner, C. J. (2008). Career academies: Long-term impacts on labor market outcomes, educational attainment, and transitions to adulthood. MDRC. https://www.mdrc.org/work/publications/career-academies-long-term-impacts-work-education-and-transitions-adulthood
Learning Policy Institute. (2025, June 24). How community schools improve outcomes [Fact sheet]. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/community-schools-outcomes-factsheet
Swain, W., Leung-Gagné, M., Maier, A., & Rubinstein, C. (2025). Community schools impact on student outcomes: Evidence from California. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/ca-community-schools-impact-student-outcomes-report