This book offers a new perspective on the management of schools by bringing together the knowledge and understanding of school effectiveness and community education. Tony Townsend argues that the core activity of the school, to provide a learning environment for children, should be supplemented by educational activities that service the needs of the community as a whole. He offers a model for the development of the `core-plus' school, including practical ideas for school leaders to build strategies for improving school programme possiblities and processes to encourage greater community involvement.

Tony Townsend is Director of the South Pacific Centre for School and Community Development, and is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University.

Chapter 1 Introduction: an international perspective on school effectiveness; Chapter 2 The effective school: towards a framework of understanding; Chapter 3 Community perceptions of effective schools; Chapter 4 Effective schools: the case studies; Chapter 5 The core-plus school; Chapter 6 Developing the core-plus school:a model for action; Chapter 7 Leadership in the core-plus school; Chapter 8 Process Issues for core-plus education; Chapter 9 From community needs to core-plus policies; Chapter 10 Programmes in the core-plus school; Chapter 11 Financing and managing the core-plus school; Afterword: a vision for the next century;