Modeling Collaboration through Caring Communities of Learners

Schools are not organized and their staffs are not trained to reliably secure spiritual and psychological well-being of students, though good teachers often inspire by example. Schools are organized and instituted primarily to teach subject matters and skills (Hirsch, 1996, p. 267). Education is not an island, but part of continent of culture. (Bruner, 1996, p. 11). If a community values its children, it must cherish their parents. (Bolby, 1951, p. 84). How do school counselors reconcile these three seemingly legitimate, but disparate perspectives? To respond adequately to this question, value of collaboration among sometimes competing school and community groups needs to be vigorously reinforced. With this special issue, Dr. Susan Keys (Johns Hopkins University) has expertly assembled a collection of informative and, at times, provocative articles. These suggest that our profession can forge proactive links among schools, homes, and communities by embracing comprehensive, multifaceted, school-wide and communitywide models, which in turn effectively deal with those factors that interfere with learning and teaching and contribute to violent and aggressive behavior (see Taylor & Adelman in this issue). In other words, while each article revisits issue from a different angle, a common theme can be readily identified. Schools, and communities from which they reside, must be open to substantive restructuring to better serve students and their families; that is, a meaningful alliance must emerge from an ongoing dialogue among relevant parties, emphasizing both shared values and interdependency. Peter Luongo, for instance, reiterates need for an integrated, service-delivery system, where there exists interrelated programming and staff are cross-trained in several disciplines (e.g., mental health, social work, and education). Similarly, Porter, Epp, and Bryant advocate for a multidisciplinary partnership model in which schools foster development of comprehensive services, integrated care, and effective methods of prevention. The articles by Susan Keys and Fred Bemak are more practical in nature and focused on transformational and leadership roles of school counselors. In a sense, these authors posit, and rightly so, that counselors must model a collaborative spirit and advocate for creation of school-based, interagency service-delivery teams. A point I want to underscore here involves what Bemak calls the social-ecological context of schoolbased collaboration. Within this framework, I believe effective schools must be devised that are also safe, prevention-oriented, and collaborative in nature. Reminiscent of Bemak's approach, I suggest that schools should be reconceptualized as caring communities of learners, where not only educational and cognitive outcomes are accentuated, but also emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual (character and moral development) requirements of students, parents, and staff are competently addressed (Sink & Rubel, in press). This systemic and programmatic orientation is consonant with comprehensive guidance and counseling movement (Sink & MacDonald, 1998; MacDonald & Sink, 1999), for both emphasize need for integrated and developmentally appropriate services and interventions to assist students and their significant others. …