Partnerships That Advance Community, Democracy, and Scholarship
from Part V - Community Schools as School–University Partnerships
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2025
Universities have long collaborated with schools through various school–university partnerships (SUPs). Critiques of SUPs point to their inequitable power dynamics, with the university often prioritizing its own interests over the needs of the school. University-assisted community schools (UACS) seek to counter these critiques by centering the community, practicing deliberative democracy, and producing public scholarship. After briefly reviewing the current literature surrounding SUPs and UACS, this chapter examines the UACS model in the context of the UCLA Community School. Two examples illustrate how the UCLA Community School seeks to create more equitable relationships as a mutualistic school-university partnership. The chapter concludes with implications for policy and practice that support the development and expansion of university-assisted community schools, highlighting how they enhance equitable relationships between schools and universities and also bring together higher education community engagement reforms and the K-12 community schools movement.
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