January 5, 2005 Vol. IIII, No. 1
The Coalition is excited to share the many workshop sessions that are confirmed for our National Forum. To view workshops, click on one of the following categories.
December 2, 2004
The Coalition for Community Schools charted its course for 2005 at its December 2nd Partners Meeting. The Coalition highlighted its goals for 2005 and updated partners on the Coalition's upcoming National Forum taking place in Chicago, IL, March 9-11, 2005.
Coalition Partners discussed the implications of federal legislation on community schools, and heard from leading researchers about how the No Child Left Behind Act and the proposed Full Service Community Schools Act might be affected by the recent election.
Ira Harkavy, Associate Vice President
and Director of the Center for Community Partnerships at the University
of Pennsylvania and Coalition Steering Committee member, opened the Forum
by discussing the growth of community schools. He made special reference
to the fact that Amy Gutmann, the incoming President of the University
of Pennsylvania, in her inaugural week, devoted time to discuss the work
of community school initiatives.
The
following goals were shared and then discussed in further depth in breakout
work groups at the Partners meeting:
- Make Community Schools a Mainstream Idea: Primary strategies include enlisting prominent researchers to lend credibility to the idea; engaging superintendents and elected officials more substantively, creating clear, resonant messages; and engaging partners in outreach and education.
- Develop a Shared Advocacy Agenda: Strategies include building shared talking points among partners, focusing on the Full Service Community Schools bill, and exploring opportunities to enter the NCLB debate.
- Build a Shared Curricular Framework: This goal focuses on expanding the use of real-world problem solving curricula in public schools. This is a new goal for the Coalition and it will be more comprehensively addressed in January 2005, at the Coalitions Community-as-Text meeting.
- Develop Tools and Skill-Building
Opportunities: We need to identify gaps and areas in which additional
development is needed and fill those gaps.
Frederick "Rick" Hess, the Director of Education at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank in Washington, DC, and Mary Kusler, Senior Government Relations Staffer at the American Association of School Administrators, were invited to speak to the Partners about the implications of the recent election results on Community Schools.
The Coalition invited Rick Hess to speak to the Partners to provide them with a center-right perspective on education reform and community schools. He discussed the election in terms of implications for NCLB generally, and community schools specifically. He made it clear that while we don't yet know what the Administration will do in terms of social policy, we do know that NCLB is firmly planted and probably won't be changed until it is re-authorized in 2007. He indicated that the accountability thrust has contributed to narrowed curriculum and homogenized instruction.
In terms of Full Service Community
Schools Legislation, he did not see it as objectionable as written, however,
he said that it is important that we take into consideration the following:
- Community Schools are not a priority for legislators
- Because of the groups that Community
Schools are associated with
(or have been associated with in the past) there may be some
negative feelings on the part of the republican party - Conservatives feel that Democrats
have had their chance to fix
education and failed. Now they have to "bite the bullet" as
conservatives institute hard choices - Some conservatives think that
community schools are too close to
having the State involved in child rearing
Conclusion:
From Hess' perspective, the Community School agenda needs to be seen as
a tool of flexibility, and not seek new federal money. For example, how
can community schools become part of a package of activity related to
failing schools that will be reconstituted, or charter schools?
Community schools are not necessarily
objectionable to the republican majority, but we need to be careful with
our language. Because the republicans hold the House and Senate, we are,
in effect, playing their game in their home court.
Hess advised community school proponents to:
- Seek funding from sources other
than the federal government and use existing
funding more innovatively. - Seek out language and programs
within NCLB that can be used to promote
community schools - Consider directing resources and attention to charter schools
Mary
Kusler, Senior Government Relations Staffer, with the American Association
of School Administrators, began by bringing to light what she sees as
the fundamental tension in federal education policy: all children vs.
each child. How do we create reform for all children but recognize the
differences in each child?
She stated that universal access to education was the primary goal for public schools prior to NCLB. Now, NCLB requires universal proficiency within ten years. She asked whether schools are now designed to reach this new goal.
Kusler feels that there are fundamental
flaws in how NCLB accomplishes the goal of universal proficiency. NCLB
does not address the challenge of special education and English language
learner groups, it fails to account for school district size, it focuses
narrowly on academic goals when AASA polling shows that almost 60% of
American believe that the role of public schools is to develop better
citizens. NCLB also fails to take account of non-school factors, such
as parental involvement.
One of the problems that Kusler foresees
is that states are being asked to do much more with much less funding
from the Federal government. Because of this, several states have lawsuits
pending on NCLB. Equity and adequacy lawsuits will continue to increase
as a way to generate additional funding for K-12 education.
After Hess and Kusler concluded their talks, the floor was opened up for questions.
Q.
I am concerned that without a separate program for community schools such
as Congressman Hoyer has proposed we would lose the focus on community
schools. This is what happened when community schools legislation was
put into a block grant in the early 1980s
A. The ideal would be a separate program, but that is not likely in
the current administration. CCS Note: Funding for all domestic
discretionary programs will be extremely difficult in the next four years
given the President's priorities and desire to cut the budget deficit
in half.
Q. How do we create community
schools if we include CS in Title 1?
A. It becomes a local issue and local leaders have to come together
behind community schools.
Q. If getting a separate program
is unlikely, could we make Community Schools an explicitly allowable use
in Title 1?
A. It would require legislative action. Michael Enzi of Wyoming will
be the Chairman of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee
in the next Congress. He may be someone we can approach about this.
Q. What possible strategies are
there for moving forward? Could we use the Full Service Community Schools
legislation as an organizing vehicle - with a focus on the following themes
- education for citizenship, localism or role of local community in education
issues, community as curriculum, schools as centers?
A. Keeping the focus of community schools local is very important.
As dialogue continues, federalism is going to be a big issue. There is
a strong interest in the Constitutional provisions that give states power
over education issues. So these themes of turning decision-making back
to the community, back to where people know the kids names, is helpful.
However, keep in mind in dealing with schools that when you have sanctions
tied to one or two areas (as is the case with NCLB), schools will only
focus on those areas and neglect all else.
Q. Gov. Warner is head of the National Governor's Association with
high school reform as his agenda. What is the power of Governors at this
point in context of NCLB?
A. The Administration's priority is high schools, not higher education.
They want to extend NCLB to high schools, but we are not really sure what
that is going to look like - we have the opportunity to influence what
this looks like.
Most of the action has been with state departments negotiating to get waivers. Governors have a huge platform and name to get press for their issues.
Q. What are the prospects of getting
the appropriations up to the authorization levels for the 21st Century
Community Learning Centers Program part of NCLB? What advice do you have
for advocates?
A. The likelihood of getting additional appropriations is grim. There
is not enough money to be found. We will only see minimal increases in
Title 1, IDEA, and the Administration will propose that all little programs
be eliminated. Other big programs will receive level funding if they are
lucky. Start talking about it now. Do not be seen as reactionary to the
budget. Focus on what specific programs would benefit from the additional
dollars, how many kids will benefit? Talk about specifics not dollars.
Have your talking points ready.
Q. Making Medicaid a block grant
is what the Administration is interested in. There is huge concern in
health and human services because Medicaid will be the first thing to
go when money is tight. What is likely to happen to schools ability to
tap Medicaid funding sources?
A. Schools face immediate challenges of not getting Medicaid money
because they are not seen as a health care center even though they are
providing services that are eligible for reimbursement. Education groups
are working on the " administrative claiming issue," under Medicaid.
CCS Note: Longer term, the President's budget will offer key information
about his plans for Medicaid and the possibility of a block grant.
Q. In this environment what is
the message that you would offer to elected officials about the community
school's vision?
A. There is an emphasis on scientifically based research in education.
We need to muster evidence. Policy makers want evidence. Disarm concerns
about implicit agendas. Strong normative stances will get you into real
standoffs. Local folks need to get involved. Start monitoring and showing
a proven record of effectiveness and relate to increased educational achievement.
People on the Hill want to find new ways to change the system to reflect
the mission of public schools.
After the question and answer session, participants at the forum broke into three working groups to discuss the goals of the Coalition.
- Visibility: the discussion focused on how to make the concept of community schools a more mainstream idea;
- Policy: the discussion focused on the influence of the election on legislation and mapped policy priorities, and
- National Forum: the group focused
on highlights and logistics of the Coalition for Community Schools national
forum
Message and Taglines
Many
programs serve a similar function as community schools, but do not identify
themselves as such. This is, in part, because the community school concept
is not a mainstream idea. In order to figure out how to hone the community
school's message to make it a more mainstream concept, the working group
on visibility discussed ways to look at how other, like-minded organizations
identify and sell themselves. Some of the ideas follow:
- Use the community schools national conference to conduct focus groups and ask for ideas as part of the conference evaluation
- Have partners reach out to their constituencies
- Add a question to the community schools directory survey
- Look at partner websites for existing messages
The point was made that using the national forum as a place to gather ideas is good, but would be in a sense "preaching to the converted". The Coalition should consider looking to community organizations and schools that incorporate the ideas of community schools but don't identify themselves as such because they're not familiar with the concept. There was consensus that looking at websites to see how some of these organizations identify themselves would work well.
Building on the idea of looking to other organizations to determine what taglines work well for them, the group began to brainstorm ideas for a slogan. The following lines were brainstormed by the group:
- Building communities one school at a time
- Community schools foster student success
- Schools as center of lifelong learning
- Schools as center of community
- Whole child, whole community
- Building strong families and resilient kids
- Healthy kids, healthy schools
- Strengthening schools, families and communities to ensure student success
- You shouldn't have to move to
live in a better neighborhood
- Building and sustaining partnerships to create better schools, strengthen communities, and engage and empower students and families
- Coordinating resources for student success
- Life-long learning begins in school
- Partnerships for excellence
- Partnerships for student success
- Strengthening Communities, empowering children
WHAT IS YOUR TAGLINE? EMAIL US YOUR IDEAS AT CCS@IEL.ORG
Research/Leadership Group: The Coalition is planning on putting together a group of recognized and respected researchers who will support and advocate for community schools as a comprehensive approach to school reform that is more likely to help all children succeed and develop as creative, contributing democratic citizens. This group would cut across disciplines including education, youth development, family and community engagement, early childhood and family development, health and human services and citizenship and democracy.
The working group discussed the formation
of such a group, brainstormed ideas about who should be included in such
a group, and discussed the idea of an outcomes research agenda. It was
noted that researchers from the following disciplines were not adequately
represented on the list:
- Health and human services
- Lifelong learning
- Urban and community planning
- Families and communities
We discussed how to attract these people to the table and concluded that this is something that would need to be tied to research money. It was also mentioned that getting these people to the table might be difficult because many academics want ownership of their own terminology.
If you have ideas about who we
should consider for such a group, email us at ccs@iel.org
This
workgroup discussed the development of a map of partner's legislative/advocacy/
policy priorities, making clear that the focus of the map is Community
Schools. The group proposed creating a quick email survey for partners
to distinguish initiatives and projects they're working on. They also
proposed creating a common blurb for partners to include in their newsletters,
and creating a directory for states that already have Community Schools.
The workgroup also discussed federal legislation and policy. Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland introduced the Full Services Community Schools Act, H.R. 4585. The bill would provide incentives and financial support for the development of community schools. The workgroup discussed incorporating Title I into the Hoyer legislation so that Title I eligible schools may use funding for community schools. They also discussed including wording about community & family involvement, state budget cuts, the cost effectiveness of community schools, and emphasizing the ideas of localism, citizen involvement, entrepreneurship, and accountability.
Getting Republican support will be an important step in passage of any federal legislation. The group discussed ways to approach politicians, including emphasizing the effort to engage parents and the role of state and local government.
The group came up with a number of
Republican leaders who might be approached to offer support for community
schools. Among those suggested were, Michael Castle of DE, Thomas Petri
of WI, Judy Biggert of IL, John Boehner of OH, and Lamar Alexander of
TN.
Partners discussed the upcoming National Forum, Community Schools, The Time is NOW! March 9-11 in Chicago. Some of the highlights include site visits to community schools, a book signing, and leadership awards.
Participants will be able to visit
community schools in Chicago. The Coalition will provide descriptions
of each school so that participants will be able to visit a site that
best meets their needs. Participants will only be visiting one school
in the allotted time so they will have an in depth look at one school
instead of rushing from place to 
place
and only scratching the surface. Transportation will either be provided
by CCS or offered by local sites.
There will be a book signing of Jane Quinn and Joy Dryfoos' new book, Community Schools in Action. Following the reception will be the Keynote Address given by Richard Rothstein and then dinner.
The National Service-Learning Partnership has developed some online resources to assist you in your classroom and school disaster relief projects.
UNICEF and Do Something, two organizations
with a track record of
strong service-learning, have created new materials to help educate and
fundraise in your classrooms and schools.
UNICEF Youth Action Tsunami Relief:
http://www.unicefusa.org/youthaction
Includes a step-by-step guide to
planning and organizing a fundraising activity, the latest news on the
tsunami relief efforts, and downloadable canister wrappers for use in
fundraising. A two page guide to youth action for tsunami relief is available
here as a word document:
http://www.service-learningpartnership.org/teaching/tsunami.cfm
Do Something Kids Tsunami Relief
Fund:
http://www.dosomething.org/donations/kids-tsunami-relief-fund.php
Provides ideas for youth-led fundraising,
discussion questions,
resources for parents and teachers to talk to young people about the disaster,
learning activities related to water and population, and examples of youth-led
projects.
We will continue to update available
service-learning resources for tsunami relief projects in the coming weeks
on our website at:
http://www.service-learningpartnership.org/teaching/tsunami.cfm
Additional
Information
Check out http://www.communityschools.org/
for more information on the Coalition's work and progress.
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Coalition for Community Schools c/o Institute for Educational Leadership * 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW Ste 310 * Washington, DC 20036