Two reports shed light on how community schools can lessen teachers’ workloads and spell out strategies for forming and maintaining school-community partnerships.
The first report points to data indicating that large percentages of teachers say they have bought food for their classrooms, helped students’ families sign up for free or reduced-price lunches, and referred students and families to other services and resources.
Community schools can ease those burdens by providing wraparound health services, offering parent-engagement and -empowerment programs, and providing other services that free teachers to focus on students’ academic needs, that report says.
The partnership-building strategies in the second report include: sharing a common vision with stakeholders, improving districts’ central-office management, and assessing results.
Both reports were released last week by the Center for American Progress, a public-policy think tank, and the Coalition for Community Schools, both based in Washington.
