School Administration=Community Educators.

Overview & Synopsis

School administrators need a better understanding of community education, which is defined as both a process and a place for bringing communities and their resources together. A Georgia Southern course examines the meaning and techniques of community education and addresses administrators' fears about school building damage or disruption and about their official relationship to district community education coordinators. A search of publications on community education courses found that most of them were part of education programs, emphasized school-based community education, and offered little field experience. The Georgia Southern course covers 17 topics dealing with 16 areas of competence in community education. The areas of competence include the philosophy and practice of community education, building and program management, educational change, and the integration of community education with the K-12 program. Among the 17 topics presented are the relationship of the school to the community, the financing and administration of community education, adult education, and cooperative work with parents, employees, the community, and the media. (RW)