CHAPTER 3 Pursuing and Securing Collaboration to Improve Results HAL A . LAWSON Collaboration is a unique strategy with enormous potential for schools, community agencies, and school-agency relationships. Unfortu- nately, collaboration’s full potential remains untapped because its unique features, requirements, benefits, and contingencies have not been described precisely and coherently. This chapter addresses this need and provides a conceptual framework for collaboration. The framework is pragmatic; its aim is to improve practice, policy, and research. For exam- ple, readers can use this framework to develop planning inventories and evaluation checklists. Although collaboration yields important benefits, it is not a panacea for schools and community agencies. Collaboration is difficult to secure and maintain, and exacts what economists call “transaction costs.” For example, collaboration takes a long time to develop, and it consumes precious resources. Because it involves many people, profes- sions, and organizations, collaboration is not always the most efficient way for professionals to work and interact. Furthermore, when key people leave a school or an agency, the collaboration may stall or even unravel, and then relationships need to be rebuilt. In other words, col- laboration is not a once and for all achievement. It must be stewarded, supported, and rewarded, which involves additional transaction costs. So, why pursue collaboration? This chapter’s title provides the simple answer, and the ensuing analysis offers some details. When the conditions and problems for which collaboration is tailor-made are evident, it is a practical necessity. More specifically, in some school communities, collaboration is an example of competent practice. Basic competence related to collaboration entails doing the correct things, at the proper times, in the appropriate places, and for justifiable rea- sons, and achieving the desired results. 45 Hal A. Lawson is Professor of Educational Administration and Policy Studies and Professor of Social Welfare and Special Assistant to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at The State University of New York at Albany.