Inequality in school and community partnerships across the socioeconomic composition of the school

I assess to what extent the partnerships that elementary schools have with community businesses, organizations, individuals, parents/families, differ across the socioeconomic composition of the school. I evaluate the number of partnerships as well as resources particularly social capital gained by the schools through partnerships. I examine the responses to in-depth, key informant interviews of a purposive sample of ten Parent Teacher Association presidents, five from schools with high Free and Reduced-priced Meal (FARM) program enrollment, and five from low FARM enrollment schools. Based on these interviews, I propose that the low FARM enrollment schools have more partnerships with the community than schools with high FARM enrollment. Additionally, low FARM schools are reported to gain financial and educational resources from more community organizations and individuals than high FARM schools. Finally, findings suggest that social capital inequality may occur such that low FARM enrollment school respondents more often report having this resource.