ABSTRACT
Since Ron Edmonds' initial work, many other researchers have also developed lists of factors associated with successful schools. There are two ways to help students attain academic achievement. First, it is possible for schools alone, independent of the type of community support available, to organize and to offer effective instruction that can overcome many negative factors in a child's environment. Second, when schools fail to provide the education that students require, there are examples to show that communities, operating independently of schools, can take the steps necessary to overcome the failure of schools. African Americans saw in the concept of integration something that would actually mean the disintegration of the African American community and the cultural assimilation of that community into the mainstream. Several important functions that can and must be performed by the African American community in the education and socialization process.
