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CIVIC CAPACITY – What, Why and from Whence

Based on the Civic Capacity: What, Why, and from Whence by Clarence N. Stone,
the author put forward a different view of the civic capacity as concerted efforts to address
major community problems. The author also took special actions to involve multiple sectors
of a locality, governmental and nongovernmental. The civic is refers to actions built around
the idea of furthering the well-being of the entire community not just a particular segment or
group. Meanwhile, capacity of individuals in a democracy to become active citizens and to
work together to solve collective problems and of communities to encourage such as the
participation in their members, it signifies skills of discerning facts and making judgments in
the context of civic activism.

The concept of civic capacity was on the assumption that government and civil
society are not discrete spheres of activity. One of the myriad ways that the author call is
public policy is in fact the joint product of governmental and nongovernmental action. The
character and effectiveness of governmental activity depends substantially on how it
combines with related nongovernmental activity. The education is not delivered to the public
as an aim that is served by the combined efforts of educators and members of the
communities.

There are the several problem of public school performance that have found primarily
in areas where low-income populations are concentrated. The performance of the individual
schools that have influenced by the family background and community environment of the
students in attendance. The education problem is closely linked to poverty. Besides that, the
education problem was based for several reasons which one of it is a better-educated
parents that provide their children with the greater readiness for conventional academic
learning. Furthermore, a former school board member from Houston, Texas talk about the
parents in their middle class which were PTO mothers that were usually wives of
professional men with excellent incomes. They did not just serve their own children but the
other children would also they serve and it made schools successful. The parents would
volunteered and raised money privately for extras for school resources. The lower income
neighbourhoods perform weakly and some educators are quite skilful in mobilizing resources
from the larger community and enlisting constructively the support of parents. It shows that
the schools in poor neighbourhoods face the greater challenges.

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Four Cases of Civic Capacity

There are four cases that building civic capacity around school reform which are Kent
County at Maryland, El Paso at Texas, Boston, and Philadelphia. The first case is Kent
County, Maryland is a small and nonmetropolitan jurisdiction on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
The performance Assessment Program is the first their state’s education department
program but the students were scored quite low. By hiring Dr. Lorraine Costella that were the
board members choose become the new superintendent that had a reputation as an
innovator, this rural country showed its willingness to pursue a new path to school reform
and she immediately laid the groundwork as a new superintendent for a cross-sector
coalition.

In the beginning, she included the key stakeholders that started by holding an all-day
strategic planning forum that included teachers, principals, school board members and
community leaders. She also followed the strategic planning forum by turning to a school
board member for guidance in adopting a special management process, designed of the
education and the Baldrige in education approach. It would involving all the stakeholders in
devising an implementation plan and the process. The approach involved a year’s training
and led to a classroom compact through which the teachers could work with students. She
also created a Professional Development Council that made up of the multiple stakeholders.

This Professional development would sending the teachers and the principals to
other school districts to observe their practices and also putting them into special summer
training programs. She also used her expertise in proposal writing to bring external funds
into the district from the state, federal government and private sources, trained the staff at all
levels in grant seeking and also have strategy to create structures and informal practices to
encourage collaboration and innovation.

After three years of efforts, she become superintendent, the Kent County moved to
the top in performance on the state’s tests that based on the Kent County goals with detailed
attention to creating a sense of inclusion in planning and implementation. Moreover, Dr.
Costella developed of the professionalization of her staff in such a way that they put in long
hours and extra effort. This is because they felt valued and saw themselves as respected
members of a team. This approach was to distribute leadership throughout the district but
could not making changes. The eight years as superintendent, Dr. Costella replaced a
majority of the school principals as she reshaped the system into one in which principals are
instructional leaders. She did manage in shaping a highly innovative system by clear
direction from the top, the extensive consultation not just with the school board and

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community leadership but also with the professional staff through multiple channels of
interaction.

The second case is at El Paso, Texas. It is a border city with a population of more
than a half million. In Texas, school district does not match city or county boundaries. The
city is served by three districts, two of which spill outside the city limits. El Paso’s route to
school reform involved a significant interaction among people possessing important
institutional bases. Reformers in El Paso established an education intermediary, the El Paso
Collaborative for Academic Excellence, housed on the campus of and supported by the
University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). The members of the collaborative are the lead
organizer for the El Paso Interdenominational Sponsoring Organization (EPISO), Sister
Mariberth Larkin, president of UTEP Dr. Diana Natalicio and Dr Susanna Navarro. They
formed and inner core of actors with a close harmony of vision and complementary roles to
play. The collaborative represented a response to the concerns of educators, the community
and the business sector. Navarro, recruited a dedicated and focused staff. She also use her
connections to the foundation of the world.

Their approach include close attention to curriculum, extensive use of data and the
involvement of parents and other members of the community to foster support for standards -
based schooling. The central activity, however, was teacher training and professional
development for administrators, teachers and staff. The initial effort of the collaborative was
to encourage teachers, administrators and parents to work together at the school level to
develop a team approach.

In working with the three urban school districts, the collaborative wanted the school
to be active partners. They offered technical assistance in various forms, tangible resources
through it success in grant seeking, an accessible fount on ideas and communication link to
various elements of the wider community. They also operated a series of yearlong seminars
and offers follow-through session as part of Parent Engagement Network. The collaborative
has become a continuing source of idea, activities and outreach, educational achievement
remains a focal concern in the community. Civic capacity was possible in El Paso because
of the collaborative effort by Natalicio, Navarro and Larkin. Since action took place when
someone needed to identify a crisis and frame it as specific problem in need of urgent
action.

The third case, Boston, the sizable poverty population among to its school children,
one quarter of the school age children in Boston attend private school or school in suburbs.
Mostly has a white Majority electorate. Boston has Mix of racial discord gave them problem
to overcome the school system Civic capacity can overcome to manage the school politic

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among the citizen. Boston focusing on to empower their employees participates on high tech
training. Because Of that the PIC under government federal created the development
business school partnerships provide the summer job and hire graduate school. With this
partnership give more advantage to the academic achievement such as higher education,
labour organization, cultural and human service Business funding helped on development of
education to give the scholarship and mentor program to boost college attendance among
high school students (ACCESS).

Business played a major role in the move to replace the elected body school
committee to overcome the conflict to elected school committee. Although mayoral
leadership is the key factor in the transition and creation of the Boston Plan give the city
more has vision and aim in the future. The mayor provided political protection for the school
committee and the superintendent, claiming That the mayor wanted to be judged by what
happened with the city to the grassroots group and to the African American Community
particularly To build the civic capacity the element of mayoral leadership, business support,
education fund and parent community involvement should be Supporting each other to
development the city

Lastly, Philadelphia case. Philadelphia has lost about one third of its population and
four-fifths of its manufacturing jobs and High of taxes. Suburbs around its offer high salaries
to teacher than the city do spend more to per Pupil. A recent study found that average
starting salaries in the suburbs were higher than starting salaries in the city and average
maximum salaries more than. Business saw a weak school System as a major cause of
economic decline. Under Mayor Ed Rendell the city experienced a modest economic
resurgence, business and philanthropy established an important education. 1993 state
legislative decision to freeze the funding formula for local school districts. Thomas Ridge
promoting a state-wide program of vouchers, viewing the city school system as a hopeless
cause. Children Achieving was a comprehensive approach can achieve at a high level with
appropriate learning opportunities. On-going assessment and accountability, professional
development, and, at least in rhetoric, parent and community engagement were important
elements, again closely similar to the three communities described above.

After five years launching of children achieving fact that school performance did
improve which is public more attention to the education greater than Boston A board
member of the Greater Philadelphia Fund recounted his conversation with the governor.
Governor saw the existing system as something that could not be fixed and that energy
should go into “building an alternative system Hornbeck plan make under pressure to the
teacher, that failed to join the reform coalition and widely resisted the accountability aspect

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of the reform Education Fund persuaded the central office that a capacity-building role was
needed, scarce resources limited the School District's ability to provide time for teachers and
other District personnel to receive professional development, to develop curriculum, and to
work with colleagues. He also He brought star power as a national educational reform figure,
and a passionate commitment to improving both urban schools and the life chances of poor
students of colour. He also had a strong belief that his systemic approach to school reform
could turn around a poorly performing urban school system.

Civic Capacity and Local Democracy

Further in the chapter, Clarence stated the relationship between civic capacity and
local democracy. Clarence said that in school reform, the local action is not a substitute to
national and local action. Instead, it is a complement. Reviewing the four jurisdictions
examined, important actors have taken action to address weak academic achievement
problem. There are many other places with ferment education, but communities still largely
linked to business. Thus, one of the concept for civic capacity is to provide a framework to
evaluate to what extent business is overcome by a broader commitment to public
educational reform.

Clarence also questioned the logic behind viewing civic capacity as a useful
response to school reform and how does civic capacity relate to democracy. To answer the
first question, the policy outcome, such as education, stems from the dual impact of
government and non-governmental action. The focus on civic capacity can be a means of
ending school isolation and fulfilling expectations of academic effectiveness. Civic capacity
also brings additional resources into play and provides a broad political framework for
monitoring school performance. Noted that not all recourse are of a material kind. It can be
the expertise of educators, political skill of central figures, proficiency in specialized matters
and credibility generated by reform coalition membership are also important elements.
Parent’s effort and insight contribution have the potential to deepen the impact of school
reform. Thus, civic capacity is a method for reorganizing how the community supports its
education effort, rather than a particular example of how schooling should take place.

In relation of how does civic capacity relate to democracy, Clarence said that civic
capacity is important to school reform, but it is also larger story about democracy. It provide
important perspective on the practice of local democracy. As understand, democracy is a
form of governance in which rule and ruled in turn, democracy must be differentiated from
majoritarianism. It preludes practices by which any group is relegated to the position of
permanent minority either by the ballot box or other means. However, local democracy

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involves more than holding periodic elections or town hall-style meetings. If the role of
forming public policies is integral to local democracy, it is not necessary to vote or even to
express opinions. People needs to contribute to major areas of public policy, particularly
those that bear directly on daily life.

Democracy means resolving problems, the community must develop and use a
common framework of action in various sectors. It is important for the communities to work
together instead of divided, in order for the framework of action to work and solving
problems. The development of civic capacity involves the building of a shared
understanding, although it is detailed loose and coexistent. In short, when professional
development enables educators a shared understanding of their tasks, it enhances their
ability to carry out these tasks and opens them up to greater interaction with parents and
other members of the community. Civic capacity is also about enhancing the abilities and
opportunities to contribute of those previously excluded.

Clarence stated that, civic capacity can both be instrumental in promoting the reform
of the school and in strengthening democracy in a thorough way. The task of school reform
is formidable, it involves changing expectations, increasing commitment, and expanding
efforts all around. For local democracy’s part, understood as containing a contributory
dimension, it is no starry-eyed luxury. Rather, it is essential if school reform is to be achieved
in full measure.

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REFERENCE

Clarence N. Stone (February 26, 2008). Power in the City: Clarence Stone and the Politics of
Inequity