What is Community Education?

Community EducationCommunity Education is an effective way to respond to the challenge of improving education at the international, national and local levels of society. It expands the traditional roles of public schools by creating relationships between home, school, and community.

Individuals enhance their lives and communities through Community Education, which provides opportunities for learning and collaboration. It impacts everyone from local community members, schools, government, families, neighbors, and the individual.

At the heart of Community Education is the ability for an individual and the entire community to become lifelong learners. Through Community Education, citizens can develop relationships and problem solving skills to conquer the diverse challenges facing our society.

The Three Components of Community Education:

  1. Lifelong Learning
  2. Community Involvement in Schools
  3. Effective use of Resources

The Ten Principles of Community Education:

  1. Lifelong Learning
  2. Self-determination
  3. Self-help
  4. Leadership Development
  5. Institutional Responsiveness
  6. Integrated Delivery of Services
  7. Localization
  8. Maximum use of Resources
  9. Inclusiveness
  10. Access to Public Information

Community Education Programs:

  1. Encourage increased use of community resources and volunteers to augment the basic educational program
  2. Develop educational partnerships between schools and public and private service providers, business and industry, and civic and social service organizations
  3. Use public education facilities as community service centers for meeting the educational, social, health, cultural, and recreational needs of all ages and sectors of the community.
  4. Develop an environment that fosters lifelong learning
  5. Establish a process for involving the community in educational planning and decision making
  6. Provide a responsive, community-based system for collective action by all educational and community agencies to address community issues
  7. Develop a system that facilitates home-school-community communication

FAU Strategic Plan

Florida Atlantic University's 2015-2025 Strategic Plan, is a comprehensive roadmap to guide FAU in achieving elevated performance and ranking in its key service areas. The current plan provides the FAU community with goals and strategies designed to align the day-to-day activities of all faculty and staff with the overall vision for the university.