Community Schools
Education
A Massive Rollout of 'Community Schools' Shows Signs of Paying Off, Report Finds
New York City's efforts to transform schools into full-service hubs for their community is translating to better graduation and attendance rates, according to an evaluation from RAND.
School & District Management
Opinion
Becoming A Community School District
A school district leader reflects on the value of partnering with university researchers on community schools work.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Partnership for Equity: Learning from Oakland's Full Service Community Schools
A longitudinal, multi-methods research project examines early outcomes and ongoing implementation of one school district's efforts towards becoming the nation's first full service community schools district.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Building Collaborative Learning Environments in an Inquiry-Based Community School
Lyel Resner interviews the founders of Compass Charter School, a progressive community school in Brooklyn, about strategies and challenges of building a true community school, elevating empathy in the school model, and what leaves them hopeful when children engage in inquiry and connect across their differences.
Student Well-Being
As Schools Tackle Poverty, Attendance Goes Up, But Academic Gains Are Tepid
Flooding impoverished schools with health and social services is not new, but these so-called "community schools" initiatives are gaining steam in places like New York City. But is it an effective strategy for improving long struggling schools?
Equity & Diversity
Community Schools Are an Effective School Improvement Strategy, Brief Says
Done well, community schools can be an effective school improvement strategy, a new research brief says.
School & District Management
Video
How Community Schools Can Cultivate Hope, Opportunity, and Agency (Discussion)
Education Week's 2017 Leaders To Learn From featured a discussion with Vancouver, Wash., School Superintendent Steve Webb, Chief of Staff Tom Hagley, and Director of Family and Community Engagement Tamara Shoup. They sat down with Education Week's Evie Blad to discuss the district's community schools.
Community schools are a strategy to unite and mobilize families, schools, and communities in educating the next generation. By leveraging an array of expertise and services, community schools can reduce barriers to learning, improve student outcomes, and build strong school and neighborhood assets.
Education
Opinion
Community Schools Are Turnaround Models
Community schools offering wraparound services offer the best hope for failing schools.
Education
Opinion
Response: Community Schools 'Transform the Lives of Children and Families'
Mark Gaither, Dr. JoAnne Ferrara, Katrina Kickbush, and Mavis G. Sanders share their thoughts on Community Schools, and readers who are leaders of Community Schools around the United States also contribute their experiences.
Education
Opinion
What Are Community Schools?
The new "question-of-the-week" is: What happens in Community Schools - how do they work?
Education
Opinion
Community Schools Offer Hope to Disadvantaged Students
By offering wraparound services, community schools have the potential to change the lives of disadvantaged students.
School & District Management
Are Community Schools Part of the Answer to Chronic Absenteeism?
A new report finds that students attending longstanding community schools tend to have better attendance than students attending more typical schools—but only at the elementary and middle school levels.
Families & the Community
ESSA May Offer Megaphone for Parent, Community Voices
Advocates for parent and community engagement see a chance to expand on their impact under the Every Student Succeeds Act.
School & District Management
Video
Blunting the Impact of Poverty With Community Schools – 2016 Leaders to Learn From
Rather than waiting to see how job losses and higher housing costs would impact the schools in Vancouver, Wash., top leaders in the district set out in 2008 to create an “opportunity zone” where schools would focus on addressing the impact of poverty that can affect students’ classroom performance.
In several phases, schools in the opportunity zone each set aside space for a family- and community-resource center staffed by a coordinator to help meet the needs of students and their families. Each resource center developed its own menu of services that are tailored to the specific needs of the school community, offering things like food pantries, free clothing, referrals to mental-health services, family-literacy classes, GED prep programs for parents, and on-site dental care through mobile dental vans.
“We have a vested interest in the success of young people,” Superintendent Steve Webb says. “Too many of our young people have barriers to student success in their homes and in their neighborhoods. ... If not us, then who?”
City leaders and school volunteers credit Webb and his chief of staff, Tom Hagley, with helping make that vision a reality.
This video was produced as part of Education Week’s Leaders To Learn From project, recognizing outstanding school district leaders from around the country.
More at http://leaders.edweek.org. Education Week Video