This book focuses on the topic of the multiple-stakeholders that comprise the education community across the P-20 continuum. In various ways and forms, the authors of the chapters found within this book promote the importance of engaging with the diverse array of stakeholders in order to truly improve education in an increasingly interconnected world. The book itself is divided into two major arcs, the first of which covers community relations and stakeholder engagement in P-12 schools, while the second addresses those same issues in higher education. When one considers the activities that take place within education institutions, there is a realization that they are influenced and driven by much more than just the educators and administrators who occupy the schools. In the editors’ own work, (e.g., see Tran & Bon, 2016), the importance of the inclusion of the viewpoints and inputs of multiple-stakeholders in school decisions when appropriate has been consistently argued, given that the school is considered by many to be a social and communal environment. To address these issues, in this text, this book is lucky to have a collection of peer-reviewed writing that explore various aspects of how multiple-stakeholder input can be used to improve school decisions.
Henry Tran is an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policies and director of the Talent Centered Education Leadership Initiative (TCELI), who studies issues related to education human resources (HR) and finance. He holds two national HR certifications and serves on the Board of Advisors and Board of Trustees for the National Education Finance Academy. In addition, he is the executive editor of the Journal of Human Resources, formerly Journal of School Public Relations.
Douglas A. Smith, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Community College Leadership and Higher Education at Iowa State University. Dr. Smith has led community college leadership preparation programs in South Carolina and Iowa. His research is focused on contemporary community college issues, community college leadership, and rural education.
David G. Buckman, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Ed.S., Program Coordinator in the Department of Educational Leadership at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. He studies school human resources and school finance issues in the P-12 educational environment and is the associate editor of the Journal of Education Human Resources (JEHR).
