Commentary: Participatory Action Research Leads to Sustainable School and Community Improvement

Fantuzzo, McWayne, and Bulotsky (2003) describe a collaborative community research program that aims to decrease the population incidence of child maltreatment and build preschool children’s competencies. This university-community collaborative has contributed substantially to the knowledge base that informs maltreatment prevention, including the development of a culturally appropriate measure of urban children’s social competence, a better understanding of the deleterious effect of maltreatment on children’s social and academic competencies, and the implementation and evaluation of a collaboratively developed intervention for maltreated children. Additionally, Fantuzzo and his colleagues have demonstrated their commitment to collaborate with community residents, practitioners,and agencies to apply research-based conceptualizations and empirical findings to building a community’s capacity to protect its most vulnerable children.