Developing a Measure of School-Community Capacity

Abstract

This exploratory research aimed to develop qualitative and quantitative strategies and means of assessing the relationship between school-community capacity and selected educational outcomes for children. School-community, a delimited way of defining community for the purpose of this study, was a conceptual innovation that emerged during the research process. Rather than a predictive instrument, a diagnostic tool for school-community capacity assessment was developed. Factor analysis results in the validation phase identified 5 to 7 education context-related and data contributor-relevant community capacity dimensions in a pool of 22-item indicators. These dimensions were the following: trust in government leaders and processes of selecting leaders, trust in school-community leaders, trust in community and civil society organizations (may be counted as one dimension altogether or three separate dimensions), civic involvement, access to resources, participation in school, and pride in community (purok [zone] or barangay [village]).