Some integrated student supports benefit the entire school community, like clothing or school supply drives, career fairs, and health services, while more intensive supports are reserved for students who need them most. Quincy, MA 02169 Teachers have the flexibility to work beside community educators as students explore enrichment and leadership opportunities that would otherwise be squeezed out of the school day. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, Deeper Learning: College, Career & Civic Participation, Deeper Learning: School Organization & Design, Community Schools: An Equitable Strategy for School Improvement, Community Schools as an Effective School Improvement Strategy: A Review of the Evidence, Community Schools: An Evidence-Based Strategy for Equitable School Improvement. Click here and scroll down to read why Dan makes the strong case that Communities In Schools, as the nation's largest and most effective dropout prevention organization, has perfected a successful community schools model that's been proven to show results. Lesson 2. Educators and policymakers embarking on a community schools approach can benefit from a framework that focuses on creating school conditions and practices characteristic of high-performing schools and ameliorating out-of-school barriers to teaching and learning. 1250 Hancock Street, Suite 803N Dr. Lura and members of our Community Schools team are excited to learn and share about how to create and sustain successful community schools. The goal of Community Schools is to transform schools into places where students, families, staff, and the surrounding community can work together to ensure every student is successful. This environment reaps big dividends—attendance and test scores have soared in the community schools, while suspensions have plummeted. Community School Coordinators are the unsung heroes of successful community schools. Metrics are arranged as follows: • Elements are the broad categories of work to be completed during the initial phase of the initiative. Maier, A, Daniel, J., & Oakes, J. Source: United Way Bay Area. Phone 212-514-7010, Integrate school staff into a building-level team, Set expectations that change will take time, Establish a process for the district and their partners to agree on a vision, Define and support the strategy through policies, laws, and regulations. A Smooth Transition During Bumpy Times The expression was used in a 1982 Quebec government white paper to designate a hub where the community and the school work together for their mutual benefit. Their work is graded with rubrics, and students have multiple opportunities for revision. These services connect the school to the community and ensure that students have all the support they need to succeed academically. Lesson 1. About us (accessed 3/8/17); Bronstein, L. R., & Mason, S. E. (2016). Finding 3. San Francisco, CA: United Way Bay Area. More than half of Oakland International’s 2014–15 graduating students (51%) took and passed the rigorous A–G courses required for admission to California state universities, compared with 24% of their English learner peers districtwide and 46% of all Oakland Unified School District students. Tiell, Jeffery. The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Curriculum February 12, 2016 Susan Frey. Students who participate for longer hours or a more extended period receive the most benefit, as do those attending programs that offer activities that are engaging, are well aligned with the instructional day (i.e., not just homework help, but content to enrich classroom learning), and that address whole-child interests and needs (i.e., not just academics). However, the best and most successful Community Schools all share common features which support student learning: School leadership has a clear instructional vision and high expectations for all students. We conclude that well-implemented community schools lead to improvement in student and school outcomes and contribute to meeting the educational needs of low-achieving students in high-poverty schools. A. Evidence suggests that results are much stronger when programs with clearly defined elements and structures are implemented consistently across different sites. Therefore, effective plans for comprehensive place-based initiatives leverage local assets to meet local needs, while understanding that programming may need to be modified over time in response to changes in the school and community. The development of social capital and teacher-peer learning appear to be the factors that explain the link between collaboration and better student achievement. As states, districts, and schools consider the best available evidence for designing improvement strategies that support their policies and priorities, the effectiveness of community school approaches offers a promising foundation for progress. Community Schools as an Effective School Improvement Strategy: A Review of the Evidence (research brief) by Anna Maier, Julia Daniel, Jeannie Oakes, and Livia Lam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. • Building trust and communicating with the community school coordinator is essential. (n.d.). Community schools — which feature integrated student supports, expanded learning time, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership — can be a successful strategy for improving schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The meaningful family and community engagement found in community schools is associated with positive student outcomes, such as reduced absenteeism, improved academic outcomes, and student reports of more positive school climates. (n.d.). Andrew Cuomo gave his state of the state speech. That is, community schools are stronger when they develop a variety of structures and practices (e.g., leadership and planning committees, professional learning communities) that bring educators, partner organizations, parents, and students together as decision makers in development, governance, and improvement of school programs. Sign up for our mailing list to stay up to date with the Learning Policy Institute. Community schools appeared in Britain and the U.S. in the 1970s. Andrew Cuomo gave his state of the state speech. Careful internal tracking of the 5-year graduation rate for the class of 2015 shows a 72% success rate—high for this extremely vulnerable population. Community schools, which feature integrated student supports, expanded learning time, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership, can be a successful strategy for improving schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Schott Foundation for Public Education Successful community schools do not all look alike. All are English learners and most live in poverty. Millions of children face tremendous challenges outside of school, such as lack of stable housing, inadequate medical and … Report offers strategies to create successful community schools. Research could focus on the impact of community schools on student, school, and community outcomes, as well as seek to guide implementation and refinement, particularly in low-income, racially isolated communities. Therefore, effective plans for comprehensive place-based initiatives leverage local assets to meet local needs, while understanding that programming may need to be modified over time in response to changes in the school and community. Authentic parent and community engagement is promoted so the full community actively The report also demonstrates that successful community schools are found across racial, economic, and geographic diversities in this country. A strong start is the foundation of a successful community schools initiative. Strong community school evaluation studies provide information about progress toward hoped-for outcomes, the quality of implementation, and students’ exposure to services and opportunities. Andrew Cuomo gave his state of the state speech. Comprehensive community school interventions have a positive impact, with programs in many different locations showing improvements in student outcomes, including attendance, academic achievement, high school graduation rates, and reduced racial and economic achievement gaps. Register at bit.ly/bscs19. Two district-wide efforts supported by the local teachers unions show the potential of this approach. Successful Community Schools increase attendance, improve graduation rates, create safe communities, and improve academic outcomes. Community schools, however, take on many different configurations according to the needs of their particular population and the resources available to them, mean-ing that no two community schools—even in the same community—look alike. Finding 8. By pointing out exactly what has been working in community schools, the research brief provides districts and schools with specific ways community schools can work to help improve student success. Successful community schools do not all look alike. Increasing economic inequality and residential segregation have triggered a resurgence of interest in community schools—a century-old approach to making schools places where children can learn and thrive, even in under-resourced and underserved neighborhoods. Schools implement a collaborative school governance structure that includes a lead CBO partner and members of the School Leadership Team. Check it out here: Then don't miss a thing. Working with the CIS national office, state CIS offices provide training and technical assistance to local affiliates, procure funding through numerous sources, and offer additional supports that enable capacity building for site coordinators at the local level. But Oakland International students thrive at surprisingly high rates. Together with their community partners, ExpandED School leaders re-engineer schools to align their time and resources to meet shared goals for students. That’s the conclusion of this research review, based on an analysis of over 100 studies. SLLA Flashcard Study System: SLLA Test Practice Questions & Exam Review for the School Leaders Licensure Assessment (Cards) [SLLA Exam Secrets Test Prep Team] on Amazon.com. Cohort 1: 30 Schools Awarded July 1 2013 – June 30, 2016 (12 CBOs in NYC and 18 schools in Rest of State) Cohort 2: 32 Schools Awarded – July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2017 (13 CBOs in NYC and 19 schools in Rest of State) TOTAL - 62 Schools Awarded 8 You can read the entirety of it here. New York, NY 10003 Curriculum February 12, 2016 Susan Frey. practices from successful community schools models across the nation and states. Effective implementation and sufficient exposure to services increase the success of a community schools approach, with research showing that longer-operating and better-implemented programs yield more positive results for students and schools. By creating community mobilization teams made up of family members, educators, and other community members who have participated in professional development programs, they enhance family-to-family education and outreach, preparing the community for success. In addition, we assess whether the research base justifies the use of well-designed community schools as an “evidence-based” intervention under ESSA in schools targeted for comprehensive support. Schools implement a collaborative school governance structure that includes a lead CBO partner and members of the School Leadership Team. Young people receiving such supports, including counseling, medical care, dental services, and transportation assistance, often show significant improvements in attendance, behavior, social functioning, and academic achievement. Successful community schools do not all look alike. Therefore, effective plans for comprehensive place-based initiatives leverage local assets to meet local needs, while understanding that programming may need to be modified over time in response to changes in the school and community. Finding 2. If the government truly wants to improve school standards, it need look no further than the successful community schools in Tower Hamlets, says Estelle Morris They operate as neighborhood hubs, providing families with access to a health care clinic in the school or nearby; connecting parents to job-training opportunities; delivering clothing, food, furniture and bikes; and enabling teenage mothers to graduate by offering day care for their infants. Students can benefit when schools offer a spectrum of engagement opportunities for families, ranging from providing information on how to support student learning at home and volunteer at school, to welcoming parents involved with community organizations that seek to influence local education policy. The result: Students get about 35% more learning time than their peers in traditional public schools. Therefore, effective plans for comprehensive place-based initiatives leverage local assets to meet local needs, while understanding that programming may need to be modified over time in response to changes in the school and community. Source: ExpandED Schools. Each has a Family Resource Center, and one third of the families participate in the program. Strong implementation requires attention to all elements of the community schools model and to their placement at the center of the school. Lesson 9. The New York Times. Health screenings, tutoring, food, clothing, shelter, and services addressing other needs: CIS provides integrated student supports such as these by leveraging community-based resources in schools, where young people spend most of their day. Community schools vary in the programs they offer and the ways they operate, depending on their local context. Oakland International is a community school. Collaboration and shared decision making matter in the community schools approach. In Philadelphia, the Mayor-elect Jim Kenney has called for an increase of 25 community schools. Source: Kirp, D. (2017, April 1). As such, it has an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth development, and family/community engagement. To celebrate National Principals Month the Coalition has compiled a variety of resources geared towards principals looking to implement the community schools … Ample evidence is available to inform and guide policymakers, educators, and advocates interested in advancing community schools, and sufficient research exists to meet the ESSA standard for an evidence-based intervention. Lesson 10. The Value of a Visit: Community Schools Learn from Each Other. Earlier this month, New York Gov. Among other tasks, they: » Help organize the resources to meet the needs of teachers, school … Throughout the report they also include "lessons learned" sections, which summarize the most important take-aways from the case studies and advocate for specific effective implementation strategies. Available supports include free legal representation to students facing deportation, after-school tutoring, English as a second language classes for parents, mental health and mentoring services at the school wellness center, medical services at a nearby high school health clinic, and an after-school and weekend sports program. Successful community schools. In addition, quantitative evaluations would benefit from including carefully designed comparison groups and statistical controls, and evaluation reports would benefit from including detailed descriptions of their methodology and the designs of the programs. Finding 6. We conclude that well-implemented community schools lead to improvement in student and school outcomes and contribute to meeting the educational needs of low-achieving students in high-poverty schools, and sufficient research exists to meet the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) standard for an evidence-based intervention. Here more than one third of the students are Latino, many of them English learners, and 70% receive free or reduced-price lunch. (2017). Lesson 9. Research finds that community school models offering various agreed-upon features provide an excellent social return on investment and significant promise for providing opportunities for learning and promoting well-being in students and communities. Finding 5. In addition to providing students and families with much-needed services and supports, well-implemented community schools can be a successful strategy for whole-school transformation. Who needs charters when you have public schools like these? "Research shows that successful community schools increase test scores, improve attendance, promote parent involvement, and decrease school violence. A. Finding 9. Here Are 3 Keys to Successful Community Schools Earlier this month, New York Gov. (n.d.). These schools open early, so parents can drop off their kids on their way to work, and stay open late and during summers. With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday following only days later, A Smooth Transition During Bumpy Times This is of particular relevance in the face of growing achievement and opportunity gaps at a moment in which the nation faces a decentralization of decision making about the use of federal dollars. Successful community schools do not all look alike. In each area, the report synthesizes high-quality studies that use a range of research methods, drawing conclusions about the findings that warrant confidence while also pointing to areas in which the research inconclusive. Recognize that successful community schools do not all look alike. School-linked services: Promoting equity for children, families and communities. In doing so, they identify barriers to such engagement and work to overcome them. Webb and Reagan figure prominently in a new report on successful community schools initiatives nationwide, released last week by the Center for Popular Democracy, which … Students from Torres High School in East Los Angeles meet in a community center to discuss changes they would like to see in their school and neighborhood. With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday following only days later, Lesson 9. At Oakland International High School, approximately 29% of students—virtually all of whom are recent immigrants—arrived in the United States as unaccompanied minors. Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 12-1983 An Experiential Project Examining the Summer School and New York, NY: Columbia University Press. My late wife, Judy, was an early childhood educator and I learned from her how important parental engagement New York, NY: ExpandED Schools. Students whose families participate consistently have shown positive gains in attendance and in English language proficiency for English learners. Existing cost-benefit research suggests an excellent return on investment of up to $15 in social value and economic benefits for every dollar spent on school-based wraparound services. With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday following only days later, I couldn’t help but reflect on the lack of progress my city of New York has made towards ending social inequality, and narrowing long-standing achievement gaps. The goal of Community Schools is to transform schools into places where students, families, staff, and the surrounding community can work together to ensure every student is successful. For expanded learning time and opportunities, student access to services and the way time is used make a difference. Community Schools have been getting a lot of attention as more and more districts try and implement them in an effort to mitigate affects of poverty on students' opportunities to learn. The Bull City Community Schools Partnership strives to implement the Community School model as championed by the National Education Association (NEA) and the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) here in Durham, North Carolina. CIS places a full-time site coordinator at each school; the site coordinator is typically a paid employee of the local CIS affiliate (a nonprofit entity governed by a board of directors and overseen by an executive director). Some have lost family members to violence; some come to school hungry; some face risks simply getting to and from school. Experts will gather at TC to discuss a new study showing that successful community schools can improve outcomes in high-poverty communities. 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