critical place of community development in school transformation: The story of the Vaughn family center and Pacoima urban village, The

Teacher Education Quarterly, Fall 1999 by Oppenheim, Matt

Theoretical Framework

In order to study school-based community development, Keith's argument guides us in two ways. First, we are directed to study the role of agency; in other words, understanding the way people act to create meaningful change. Second, we are directed to understanding the role of community development in school restructuring.

Keith defines agency as "people taking an active role in defining and constructing their world" (1996: 255). The role of agency is critical to participatory democracy, which "counsels approaches that make the most of local strengths and capacities for renewal and that build on concepts of citizenship that stress the development of agency" (1996: 254).

Vygotsky (1978) helps us address the role of agency in community development. Those researching community development often look to Vygotsky in focusing on behavior that is modeled by successful learners. Vygotsky formulates the concept of the "zone of proximal development" in understanding a developmental state in which learners move from their current developmental level, to their potential level of development through the influence of guidance or collaboration (1978: 86). Del Rio and Alvarez (1995) discuss the importance of the zone of proximal development to agency or voluntary action, when people are conscious about their actions and are involved in constructing their social environments.

In this study the concept of the zone of proximal development is applied in examining the role of agency in the Center. Here, the author looks to the voices and behavior of parents and community residents who had become paraprofessional staff. When these people modeled their beliefs and behavior to others, they were using agency, or conscious action, to create an environment in which new volunteers and participants had the potential to become effective agents as well.

The second directive by Keith is to consider the role of community development in school restructuring. Senge's (1992) concept of the learning organization is applied by school reformers and is also a theoretical framework with which to study a community development process. He presents a core philosophy comprised of four components that organizations can use to create a dynamic, creative, and collective learning environment. These four concepts include "personal mastery," "shared vision," "team learning," and "mental models."

Personal mastery focuses on the ability of people to use their existing knowledge base and goals for personal development. Having shared vision creates a purpose to unite a group of people and a lofty goal that inspires people to work together. Team learning identifies the ways that people collaborate, work, dialogue and make decisions together. Senge defines mental models as the framework within which people see and act in the world around them.

Learning organization dynamics were applied in two ways in this study. First the concepts of personal mastery, collective vision, mental models and team learning were used in writing interview questions. The second way learning organization dynamics were used is in the analysis of themes that arose from fieldwork. Senge's dynamics were used in understanding how the themes from the research relate with the concept of learning community. Treating this setting as a learning community, we can then begin the work of weaving community development into a school restructuring process, as Keith suggests.