The Clarity Series: Community-Based Learning
Purchase
Description
To fully prepare K-12 students for life and career, connect with your community!
A successful community-based learning program is a triple win—for students, schools, and the entire community. Curriculum becomes more meaningful and relevant, students are more engaged, and schools and districts benefit from new advocates.
Authors Prast and Viegut show how to move beyond guest speakers and field trips to creating a vibrant program that promotes academic achievement and future career skills. In this second acclaimed book in The Clarity Series, readers will learn how to
- Forge rewarding partnerships with local partners, from major employers to small businesses and community groups
- Implement a high-quality, sustainable initiative that bridges disciplines
- Recognize and overcome barriers to effectiveness
- Apply best practices from today’s most-effective programs
Turn to this helpful guide to tap the limitless opportunities and potential offered by community-based learning.
"Community-based learning, as described in this series, just might be the missing piece we are looking for on our competency-based, personalized learning quest for our students. If we can bring this work together—if we can connect them to their passion (personalize), move them along when they are ready (competency-based) and ground them in real life experience (community-based), perhaps we can truly give them the roots and the wings we have only been theorizing about for fifty years.”
—Dr. Sandra Dop, Program Consultant
Iowa Department of Education
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Preface
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
- 1. An Introduction to Community-Based Learning
- Increase student engagement
- Make the curriculum relevant and experiential
- Strengthen the connection between the community and schools
- The foundation for community-based learning
- The levels of community-based learning
- Changing the work
- 2. The Foundation for Community-Based Learning
- Learning theory
- Learning processes
- The social nature of instruction
- A vital connection
- A new solution to a new problem
- 3. A Framework for Community-Based Learning
- The CBL framework
- 4. Case Study: Community-Based Learning School
- The beginning of community-based learning school
- Making progress
- Challenges arise
- Creating a curriculum
- Setback
- Exceeding expectations
- 5. Essential Practices in Community-Based Learning
- Drinking the good wine first
- Get the right people on the bus
- Source your champions
- Increase intentionality
- Seek transfer
- Customization and individualization
- Evaluate current partnerships
- 6. Professional Development for Community-Based Learning
- Establish student learning goals
- Determine the best practices to achieve those goals
- Identify the necessary resources
- Decide what teachers need to know and be able to do
- Gain the knowledge and skills
- CBL needs development
- 7. Leading Community-Based Learning
- Responding to the need for high quality
- A tolerance for risk
- Situational leadership
- Distributive leadership
- Mindful leadership
- Systems implementation
- 8. Overcoming Barriers
- Time
- Large-scale tests
- Risk aversion
- Partnership peril
- Waiting for the right time
- Toxic leaders
- Facing down detractors
- Good to great
- Existing structures
- Wants over needs
- 9. Starting Community-Based Learning—Today
- For teachers
- For principals
- For superintendents
- For boards of education
- For everyone
Appendix: Sample community-based learning unit
Appendix: Sample community-based learning unit
References
References
Index
Index
Additional materials
Description
To fully prepare K-12 students for life and career, connect with your community!
A successful community-based learning program is a triple win—for students, schools, and the entire community. Curriculum becomes more meaningful and relevant, students are more engaged, and schools and districts benefit from new advocates.
Authors Prast and Viegut show how to move beyond guest speakers and field trips to creating a vibrant program that promotes academic achievement and future career skills. In this second acclaimed book in The Clarity Series, readers will learn how to
- Forge rewarding partnerships with local partners, from major employers to small businesses and community groups
- Implement a high-quality, sustainable initiative that bridges disciplines
- Recognize and overcome barriers to effectiveness
- Apply best practices from today’s most-effective programs
Turn to this helpful guide to tap the limitless opportunities and potential offered by community-based learning.
"Community-based learning, as described in this series, just might be the missing piece we are looking for on our competency-based, personalized learning quest for our students. If we can bring this work together—if we can connect them to their passion (personalize), move them along when they are ready (competency-based) and ground them in real life experience (community-based), perhaps we can truly give them the roots and the wings we have only been theorizing about for fifty years.”
—Dr. Sandra Dop, Program Consultant
Iowa Department of Education
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Preface
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
- 1. An Introduction to Community-Based Learning
- Increase student engagement
- Make the curriculum relevant and experiential
- Strengthen the connection between the community and schools
- The foundation for community-based learning
- The levels of community-based learning
- Changing the work
- 2. The Foundation for Community-Based Learning
- Learning theory
- Learning processes
- The social nature of instruction
- A vital connection
- A new solution to a new problem
- 3. A Framework for Community-Based Learning
- The CBL framework
- 4. Case Study: Community-Based Learning School
- The beginning of community-based learning school
- Making progress
- Challenges arise
- Creating a curriculum
- Setback
- Exceeding expectations
- 5. Essential Practices in Community-Based Learning
- Drinking the good wine first
- Get the right people on the bus
- Source your champions
- Increase intentionality
- Seek transfer
- Customization and individualization
- Evaluate current partnerships
- 6. Professional Development for Community-Based Learning
- Establish student learning goals
- Determine the best practices to achieve those goals
- Identify the necessary resources
- Decide what teachers need to know and be able to do
- Gain the knowledge and skills
- CBL needs development
- 7. Leading Community-Based Learning
- Responding to the need for high quality
- A tolerance for risk
- Situational leadership
- Distributive leadership
- Mindful leadership
- Systems implementation
- 8. Overcoming Barriers
- Time
- Large-scale tests
- Risk aversion
- Partnership peril
- Waiting for the right time
- Toxic leaders
- Facing down detractors
- Good to great
- Existing structures
- Wants over needs
- 9. Starting Community-Based Learning—Today
- For teachers
- For principals
- For superintendents
- For boards of education
- For everyone
Appendix: Sample community-based learning unit
Appendix: Sample community-based learning unit
References
References
Index
Index
Additional materials
Reviews
The Clarity Series: Community-Based Learning
Awakening the Mission of Public Schools
October 2014 | 160 pages | Corwin
| Format | Published Date | ISBN | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paperback | 01/02/2026 | 9781483344515 | $37.95 |
| Lifetime | 01/02/2026 | 9781483390697 | $35.00 |
To fully prepare K-12 students for life and career, connect with your community!
A successful community-based learning program is a triple win—for students, schools, and the entire community. Curriculum becomes more meaningful and relevant, students are more engaged, and schools and districts benefit from new advocates.
Authors Prast and Viegut show how to move beyond guest speakers and field trips to creating a vibrant program that promotes academic achievement and future career skills. In this second acclaimed book in The Clarity Series, readers will learn how to
- Forge rewarding partnerships with local partners, from major employers to small businesses and community groups
- Implement a high-quality, sustainable initiative that bridges disciplines
- Recognize and overcome barriers to effectiveness
- Apply best practices from today’s most-effective programs
Turn to this helpful guide to tap the limitless opportunities and potential offered by community-based learning.
"Community-based learning, as described in this series, just might be the missing piece we are looking for on our competency-based, personalized learning quest for our students. If we can bring this work together—if we can connect them to their passion (personalize), move them along when they are ready (competency-based) and ground them in real life experience (community-based), perhaps we can truly give them the roots and the wings we have only been theorizing about for fifty years.”
—Dr. Sandra Dop, Program Consultant
Iowa Department of Education
Table Of Contents:
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- About the Authors
- 1. An Introduction to Community-Based Learning
- Increase student engagement
- Make the curriculum relevant and experiential
- Strengthen the connection between the community and schools
- The foundation for community-based learning
- The levels of community-based learning
- Changing the work
- 2. The Foundation for Community-Based Learning
- Learning theory
- Learning processes
- The social nature of instruction
- A vital connection
- A new solution to a new problem
- 3. A Framework for Community-Based Learning
- The CBL framework
- 4. Case Study: Community-Based Learning School
- The beginning of community-based learning school
- Making progress
- Challenges arise
- Creating a curriculum
- Setback
- Exceeding expectations
- 5. Essential Practices in Community-Based Learning
- Drinking the good wine first
- Get the right people on the bus
- Source your champions
- Increase intentionality
- Seek transfer
- Customization and individualization
- Evaluate current partnerships
- 6. Professional Development for Community-Based Learning
- Establish student learning goals
- Determine the best practices to achieve those goals
- Identify the necessary resources
- Decide what teachers need to know and be able to do
- Gain the knowledge and skills
- CBL needs development
- 7. Leading Community-Based Learning
- Responding to the need for high quality
- A tolerance for risk
- Situational leadership
- Distributive leadership
- Mindful leadership
- Systems implementation
- 8. Overcoming Barriers
- Time
- Large-scale tests
- Risk aversion
- Partnership peril
- Waiting for the right time
- Toxic leaders
- Facing down detractors
- Good to great
- Existing structures
- Wants over needs
- 9. Starting Community-Based Learning—Today
- For teachers
- For principals
- For superintendents
- For boards of education
- For everyone
- Appendix: Sample community-based learning unit
- References
- Index