| A community school is both a set of partnerships and a place where services, supports and opportunities lead to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities. Using public schools as a hub, inventive, enduring relationships among educators, families, community volunteers, business, health and social service agencies, youth development organizations, and others committed to children are changing the educational landscape - permanently - by transforming traditional schools into partnerships for excellence. |
Every recent poll and survey agrees: Education is America's number-one domestic policy issue. Communities across the country are looking for ways not just to reform schools but to create excellence. We'd like to tell you about one way that works: developing partner-ships called community schools.
What is a community school? Boiled down to the basics, a community school is both a set of partnerships and a place where services, supports and opportunities lead to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities. Using public schools as a hub, inventive, enduring relationships among educators, families, community volunteers, business, health and social service agencies, youth development organizations and others committed to children are changing the educational landscape - permanently - by transforming traditional schools into partnerships for excellence.
The Coalition for Community Schools, 142 local, state and national organizations in both the public and private sectors, is working to sustain these efforts and extend them into your community. As the community school profiles on pages 6-10 illustrate, these initiatives are the result of the dedication, innovation and collaboration of people from many different sectors and walks of life.
There is a role for all members of a community to play in making community schools a reality. School superintendents, principals, local elected officials, public and private human services agencies, youth development organizations, community organizations and community development groups, business, and civic and religious organizations all can bring leadership and resources to bear. We hope you will be excited by what's happening in these growing experiments and find some way to encourage similar efforts where you live. Why? Because now more than ever, they just make sense.
| The community schools, whatever the differences among them caused by varying economic and social patterns, have a common philosophy. These schools are based upon the democratic ideal of respect for each individual person and his right to participate in the affairs o f the community which concern the common good … Such a program is characterized by change in response to changing needs, continuous experimentation to seek out satisfactory ways of achieving common goals, and careful evaluation of the results of its activities. |
|
- Community Schools in Action: The Flint Program, 1960
|
WHAT A COMMUNITY SCHOOL LOOKS LIKE
A wide range of models and approaches can fit into a basic community school framework. Every school is unique, but here's the Coalition's broad vision of a well-developed community school.
A community school, operating in a public school building, is open to students, families and the community before, during and after school, seven days a week, all year long. It is operated jointly through a partnership between the school system and one or more community agencies. Families, youth, principals, teachers and neighborhood residents help design and implement activities that promote high educational achievement and use the community as a resource for learning.
The school is oriented toward the community, encouraging student learning through community service and service learning. A before- and after-school learning component allows students to build on their classroom experiences, expand their horizons, contribute to their communities and have fun. A family support center helps families with child-rearing, employment, housing and other services. Medical, dental and mental health services are readily accessible.
Artists, lawyers, psychologists, college faculty and students, businesspeople, neighbors, and family members come to support and bolster what schools are working hard to accomplish - ensuring young people's academic, interpersonal and career success. Their presence turns schools into places that crackle with the excitement of doing, experiencing and discovering unknown talents and strengths. Community schools open up new channels for learning and self expression. Students come early and stay late - because they want to.
Ideally, a full-time community school coordinator oversees the delivery of an array of supports provided by local agency partners and participates on the management team for the school. To achieve their desired results, most community schools over time consciously link activities in the following areas: quality education; positive youth development; family support; family and community engagement in decision-making; and community development.
BUILDING ON CORE PRINCIPLES
The idea of community schools is not new. Settlement houses, offering an array of opportunities to neighborhood residents, first developed in the late 1800s. In the early 1900s, educators and others began to explore ways to bring these opportunities into public schools, making schools social centers for communities.
Fueled by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and its work in Flint, Michigan, a formal community education movement gained national visibility in the 1930s. Its goal was to make schools the social, educational and recreational anchor of communities and to involve adults as well as young people in lifelong learning.
In the past decade, the number of school-community initiatives has increased dramatically. Today's community schools may differ from one another in model and approach, but they are rooted in a common tradition and share a core set of principles: They foster strong partnerships, share accountability for results, set high expectations for all, build on the community's strengths, embrace diversity and avoid cookie-cutter solutions. Each principle is important - essential even - to the successful operation of community schools. But one stands out among the others: Community schools foster strong partnerships.
Partners in community schools represent a range of sectors and embody a rich mosaic of perspectives and experiences. Against this backdrop of diversity, the talent, energy and commitment of partners coalesce around the shared mission of improving the lives of children, youth, families and the community. Partners work together every step along the way in developing community schools - from identifying assets and needs to designing programs and services that meet those needs to implementing programs and services and assessing impact.
WORKING TOWARD POSITIVE RESULTS
Community schools know that it is not enough to mean well, they must do well. Each community school ideally is organized around a strategic framework that allows communities to move systematically toward results. Stakeholders come together to identify the results they are seeking for children, families and communities and to devise ways to measure progress toward achieving these results. Their discussions also serve as a forum for articulating and solidifying the purpose and goals of the community school initiative.
Community schools across the country are collecting data related to student learning and achievement, youth development, family well-being, and community life. Results of these data collection efforts suggest that when adequately sustained, community school activities can contribute to improvements in these areas.
RESULTS IN LEARNING AND ACHIEVEMENT
- Charles Drew Elementary School, a West Philadelphia Improvement Corps site, showed more improvement on the state's standardized reading and math tests in 1999 than any other school in the state.
- At Hampton Year Round Elementary, a United Way/Bridges to Success program in Greensboro, N.C., the proportion of students who scored at or above grade level increased on state reading tests (43.6 percent in 1997 compared with 50.5 percent in 1998), writing tests (45.6 percent in 1997 compared with 70.7 percent in 1998) and math tests (45.6 percent in 1997 compared with 55.1 percent in 1998). In recognition of these increases, the school was awarded state "Exemplary School" status.
- At I.S. 218, the Children's Aid Society flagship school, math performance rose from 37 percent of students at grade level in 1994 to 44 percent in 1995 and 51 percent in 1996.
- At Hampton Year Round Elementary, a United Way/Bridges to Success program in Greensboro, N.C., the proportion of students who scored at or above grade level increased on state reading tests (43.6 percent in 1997 compared with 50.5 percent in 1998), writing tests (45.6 percent in 1997 compared with 70.7 percent in 1998) and math tests (45.6 percent in 1997 compared with 55.1 percent in 1998). In recognition of these increases, the school was awarded state "Exemplary School" status.
- Students in St. Louis Park, Minn., have increased their standing in a national assessment of positive youth development assets conducted by the Minneapolis-based Search Institute. Ranked about average when they first began taking the survey, St. Louis Park students now show assets that place them in the top 15 percent of schools participating in the national evaluation.
- In interviews conducted by the Academy for Educational Development, students in New York City's Beacons programs say that Beacons is significantly helpful in "avoiding drug use," "learning to avoid fighting," "doing better in school" and "volunteering in community."
- According to the Bush Center for Child Development, Yale University, parents who received services at
Schools of the 21st Century were able to improve their child development practices, were less stressed, spent less money on child care and missed fewer days of work.
- Missouri's Caring Communities sites report that instances of child abuse or neglect declined 15 percent between 1996 and 1998 compared with a 10 percent decline in other communities in the state.
- Principals at Schools of the 21st Century reported less vandalism, increased parental involvement, better teaching practices and improved public relations with the community because of expanded services offered in the school.
WHERE IT'S HAPPENING: NINE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Community schools build on the basics - families, neighborhoods and academics - to create 21st century excellence. The following profiles illustrate the many different ways communities can embrace the activities and core principles guiding community schools. They under-score the commitment of community schools to support and help improve academic achievement. They include elementary, middle and high schools located in urban, suburban and rural communities.
Each initiative has created a unique design that takes advantage of local resources and capacity. Exactly what goes on in a particular community school depends on what each community and school decide to do. Typically parents, community agencies, students and school staff work together to decide what is most needed and possible - in their own neighborhoods. In short, there are no cookie-cutter solutions.
But there are centralized resources and networks that localities interested in developing community schools can turn to for help. Many communities, like those profiled here, speed up implementation by adapting elements from a variety of community school approaches. The experiences of these communities suggest the value of linkage to national and state networks - from Beacons Schools and Community Education to Caring Communities, Children's Aid Society and Communities in Schools to ventures that are university assisted or United Way supported, as well as numerous others. These organized approaches provide valuable support - from technical assistance in planning, start-up and public awareness to training, financing and evaluation. Tapping into a network can help localities see how to connect the various elements of a community school into a comprehensive whole.
None of these examples would exist without significant support. Support from families and communities; strong leadership, often through state and local community collaboratives; linkage to a network or other source of technical assistance; and a predictable source of revenue - from federal, state and local governments; local United Ways; foundation and corporate sponsors; and school districts - are the hallmarks of every sustainable effort.
We hope that in reading about these real-world examples, you will be encouraged to transform your own schools into community schools. It just makes sense.
COMMUNITY SCHOOL PROFILES
Elementary Schools
| I've learned that commitment and hard work aren't always enough. I truly believe it takes the effort and good will of the entire community to help all our children succeed. |
|
- Catalina Montes, principal, Thomas Gardner Extended Services School |
Boston, Massachusetts
THOMAS GARDNER EXTENDED SERVICES SCHOOL
The Allston-Brighton neighborhood, home to Thomas Gardner Extended Services School (GESS), is among the most culturally and ethnically diverse in Boston. As many as 36 different languages are represented in the school's K-6 student body, and over half of its 500 students are learning English as a second language (ESL). Yet recent fourth-grade student performance on Massachusetts' state language arts test catapulted GESS into the top 10 most improved schools in the state.
According to Principal Catalina Montes, the school's progress is tied closely to the efforts of an entire community, working in the school before, during and after school hours. Ten years ago, when a Boston College (BC) faculty member visited Gardner as part of a research study, Montes made the professor promise to stay involved. "You can't leave," she said. "We need you." Eventually, a close partnership among Gardner; BC; the local YMCA, which serves the important role of fiscal agent; and the Healthy Boston Coalition developed into GESS. GESS is part of the Children's Aid Society community schools adaptation network and receives support from the Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund.
BC graduate and undergraduate students, as well as faculty, work at the school daily. Before-school breakfast and after-school tutorial programs are staffed by certified teachers, with BC students working as mentors and tutors individually with GESS students. To make sure school-day and after-school learning is connected, after-school teachers regularly visit the day program as classroom special- ists. A Parents Center hosts weekly coffees and workshops on various topics such as immigration clinics staffed by BC law students. ESL and parenting skills classes, counseling, a full-time nurse, and weekly "Power Lunches" with volunteers from the business sector are among the services offered by GESS and its partners to keep the doors of opportunity open for students and families.
Greensboro, North Carolina
HAMPTON YEAR ROUND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Hampton Elementary School, located in a high-poverty neighborhood, is used to breaking the mold - it operates on an unconventional year-round calendar. It also offers a full-day menu of services, supports and opportunities through its Bridges to Success program, a collaborative effort of the school district and the United Way of Greater Greensboro. School starts at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast. Throughout the year, nearly 200 students participate in after-school science, computer, art and recycling clubs, guided by teachers who volunteer as advisors. Fourth graders participate in a weeklong Leadership Academy. On Saturdays, a Book and Breakfast Club attracts families.
The partnership has helped eliminate inadequate health care as a barrier to learning. With the assistance of the United Way, the school's full-time nurse arranges dental, health and vision screening and transportation to outside services. Attendance rates have increased and now stand at 94 percent. Parent participation and children's academic performance also have improved. Average scores on state reading, writing and math tests for students in grades 3-5 increased from 1997 to 1998. In recognition of the increases, the school was awarded state "Exemplary School" status.
Last year, the United Way funded a series of school visits by members of the Greensboro Symphony to introduce third graders to orchestral music and participate in miniconcerts. Encouraged by the children's enthusiastic response, the orchestra sought additional resources. This year, 12 highly motivated students selected by the school will be given the opportunity to study a string instrument for three years. Those who stay with their lessons will be invited to join the orchestra's junior string ensemble.
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
AQUILA PRIMARY SCHOOL
"Things are happening here I've never seen any-where," says Rob Metz, principal at Aquila Primary School. Part of what he's referring to is Aquila and Cedar Manor Together (ACT), a partnership among his school, nearby Cedar Manor Intermediate School and Jewish Family Services. Funded by state, county and district funds and nurtured by the school district's Community Education program, ACT brings together social workers, psychologists, family support workers and volunteers to help families organize their lives so that their children do better academically. ACT team members visit every classroom every week to talk about difficult but important topics - like good touch/bad touch or loss and grief. Team members spend much of their time in the community working with families to keep their children in school and excelling.
Thirty children from Aquila end their day at Kids Café, an after-school program located and run by a not-for-profit agency two miles away. Some of the children who participate live there in a residential program with their mothers, who are in drug treatment or on parole. Other participants are children who would be unsupervised in the afternoon for other reasons. The children do homework, play and learn how to be a family. Every day, the children and their mothers work in teams under the watchful eye of a professional chef, planning, preparing and serving a sit-down meal. Activities such as these help children acquire "developmental assets" that all youth need to grow up healthy, competent and caring. The St. Louis Park community has embraced the framework designed by the Search Institute, which evaluates such assets. A Search Institute analysis shows that St. Louis Park students who ranked about average when they first took the survey now have assets that place them in the top 15 percent of participating schools nationwide.
Wichita, Kansas
STANLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Designed as a "community haven," Stanley Elementary School is generally open and in use from 7 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. Stanley is a Communities in Schools, Inc. (CIS) site that houses substations of the city's departments of Health, Human Resources, Parks and Recreation. Stanley's services are the most widely used in the city: Twenty-three repositioned personnel provide support services to CIS students and families each semester. Services are provided using funds from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. There also is an on-site city/school district library and a senior service center.
Evenings and weekends, the school hosts college classes, community programs and recreation for adults. At weekly Family Learning nights, parents come to Stanley with their children. Adults take part in English as a second language and other literacy activities. Their school-age children study with reading tutors while preschoolers play together in child care provided with Title I funds. Participants from Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA, a branch of the Corporation for National Service Americorps program) work with the CIS site coordinator to organize literacy activities, raise funds and promote community service.
Partnerships with Washburn University and the Yamaha Corporation have introduced astronomy and keyboard-based music instruction into the curriculum. Stanley's third-grade teachers are working with a local arts group to integrate classroom language arts into a musical production of the Pied Piper tale. Extended-day tutoring and mentoring is provided by 45 volunteers including local college students, foster grandparents, and Big Brothers and Big Sisters program participants. Program measures show positive impact. Students involved in CIS activities improved their 1999 reading scores by 21 percentile rank points - up from six points the year before. Ninety-five percent of all students were promoted to the next grade.
COMMUNITY SCHOOL PROFILES
Middle Schools
Denver, Colorado
LAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL
The Beacon Neighborhood Center at Lake Middle School in Denver, Colo., sees itself as "a grassroots effort to promote youth development and community building." With core funding from the Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and additional local support, it brings education, recreation and leadership experiences to students attending Lake Middle School. It also serves students from surrounding elementary and high schools and provides continuing education and training to parents and neighborhood adults. Lake Beacons is managed by Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, a nonprofit organization that helps Latina women and others become self-sufficient.
Activities for middle and high school students combine enrichment with leadership and employment preparation. Students with experience in the program and good grades can apply for paid positions at the center. Students run the reception area, assist in center programs, and participate in weekly leadership development and staff meetings. More than 60 students have progressed through some or all levels of responsibility, including supervision of other youth staff.
Teens also are teaching adults how to explore issues surrounding cultural diversity - especially by recognizing and getting past negative stereo- types. Youth Empower, a group of 13-16 year olds, has developed a series of workshops and interactive presentations to help adults learn to work effectively with youth, build ethnic and cultural awareness, and help youth develop their own leadership skills. Course content comes directly from the students' own insight, reflection and growing tolerance. Youth Empower has been invited to work with groups throughout the Denver area. The students made presentations at the Promise Colorado Conference in fall 1999 and Youth Speak 2000 in Grand Junction, Colo.
| … it made me feel really good that a professional potter with her talent told me my piece was very creative .... This project allowed all of us to perform to the extreme! |
|
- 7th-grade boy's writing portfolio essay, Winburn Middle School, Lexington, Kentucky |
San Diego, California
O'FARRELL COMMUNITY SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED ACADEMIC STUDIES
A decade ago, a group of teachers and parents came together to turn a long-vacant San Diego school building into a new kind of public middle school. It was based on a clear philosophy: All children in the proper environment can learn at advanced levels. Teachers would assume responsibility for children's learning, make major decisions with a CEO rather than a principal and share in the school's administrative work. Convinced that children need to be emotionally and physically healthy to do their best, the school staff decided to dedicate a wing of the building to house community partners who could help meet their students' physical, social and emotional needs.
Today, O'Farrell Community School for Advanced Academic Studies serves 1,500 sixth-through eighth-grade students. With support from the county, the school's discretionary budget, state Healthy Start funding and other sources, the Family Support Service (FSS) Wing is up and running 12 hours a day. Family advocates see over 500 children and families a year and have been able to document - through fewer absences, fewer detentions and other indicators - measurable improvement in family stability and student outcomes. While enrichment, recreation and support services are important components at O'Farrell Community School, the
FSS Wing stresses that academics come first. Parents and community members are involved closely in the school and in their own learning. A Head Start program run by a neighborhood organization conducts parenting classes on site - in Spanish and English. An employment preparation program includes classes in budgeting, resume writing and interviewing. And a thrift store on campus offers a career clothing section, as well as a large selection of family apparel, dry and canned food, furniture, and appliances.
COMMUNITY SCHOOL PROFILES
High Schools
Kansas City, Missouri
VAN HORN HIGH SCHOOL
In the 1970s, the bottom fell out of the neighborhood surrounding Van Horn High School. Families moved out, and housing values plummeted as the school district experienced court-ordered desegregation. Local children were bused throughout the Kansas City school district, and when they returned home each afternoon, there were no parks, Boys Clubs, YMCAs or other positive opportunities in their own neighborhood.
By the mid-1990s, things had begun to change. Through the efforts of a grassroots coalition of local community members and the Kansas City School District, Van Horn became the site of Caring Communities, a statewide initiative. A School/Neighborhood Advisory Committee including parents, neighborhood residents and Van Horn school staff decide what they want for their community. Van Horn now boasts a year-round health clinic, family service social workers and a job developer. Strong partnerships with community agencies have brought extracurricular activities to the school for the first time in years. Students produce a school paper and yearbook; participate in debate teams, multicultural clubs and sports; and take advantage of mentoring and tutoring help.
While Van Horn provides an operational hub, activities reach far beyond the school to help create families and neighborhoods that are safe, supportive and engaged. Not just school students but all resi dents in the neighborhood are eligible to receive health services at the school clinic - and parents and community members play a major role in Caring Communities' content and direction.
Strong community involvement also has led to the creation of a 501(c)(3) community development organization enabling the community to seek new revenue sources and expand its agenda.
| Our community partnerships provide so many resources here on site. They're there as soon as you need them. |
|
- Mary Long, principal, Van Horn High School, Kansas City, Missouri |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
UNIVERSITY CITY HIGH SCHOOL
University City High School (UCHS) is just one of 13 West Philadelphia schools where the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps (WEPIC) approach is making a difference. Drawing on the resources of universities and surrounding communities, WEPIC partnerships develop deep, rich and thematically related learning experiences that connect academic exploration, community service and community revitalization. In one joint learning experience, University of Pennsylvania and high school students teamed up with former residents of a neighborhood displaced by urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960s, known as Black Bottom. Working together, participants explored interviewing techniques, personal recollections and the performing arts as a means to study history. The project culminated in a series of "Black Bottom Sketches", written and performed by students and community members.
Themes based on environmental planning, health and nutrition, and literacy developed at several elementary and middle school feeder schools also have been extended and adapted at the high school level. For example, a university nutrition class studying food supply, control and usage helped younger students learn about nutrition, analyze their own eating patterns and create a student-run fruit bar. At the high school level, the focus shifted from studying consumption to learning about alternative production techniques and managing a business. WEPIC at UCHS is focused particularly on strengthening students' school-to-work opportunities.
WEPIC, the University of Pennsylvania and other community partners have developed a wide variety of paid internships and work experiences. UCHS is also home to the university's newly created Skills Development Center. The center helps students, as well as underemployed and unemployed adults, prepare for high-skill careers. In one initiative, students are certified in fiber optic and copper cabling, provided internships with local companies, and prepared to take local union apprentice exams.
Tony, Wisconsin (K-12)
FLAMBEAU SCHOOL
Flambeau School has functioned as a community center for rural Rusk County and the surrounding area for more than 50 years. During the regular school-day hours, 670 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade attend the school. During the evening and weekend hours, classes and activities are offered to students and adults of all ages. The geographical isolation of the school - it is the only public building in a six-mile radius - is a key factor that has shaped its evolution into a focal point for lifelong learning and community activities. Approximately 15 years ago, the various educational programs and services became systematized and formally connected with the district's Community Education program, with funding from the school district.
Community members have long taken owner-ship of education and schooling issues. As part of a recent planning effort facilitated by the Institute for Responsive Education, teams of residents learned that the district's main priority was helping students develop competencies in "the basics," defined by this community as technology, school-to-work, social and life skills.
Flambeau students in grades 5-8 are developing social and academic skills through the Youth Connections Program (YCP), funded through a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant. During one experiential learning exercise, teams of students worked together to devise a plan for climbing over a fictitious fence of a daunting height. Afterward, students analyzed and reflected upon the experience. Flambeau staff and students at nearby Mount Scenario College provide academic tutoring to YCP participants, every day of the week. Every other weekend, YCP organizes events for students and their families. While students are off canoeing or tubing, families attend parenting classes offered by University of Wisconsin extension personnel.
| Many participants had not previously felt connected to the school, and the program fosters a sense of belonging much in the same way that sports does for student athletes |
|
- Dave Johnson, director of community education |
LINKING TO COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Following is information on some of the key community school networks across the country. Profiles of schools in other networks can be found at www.communityschools.org/approaches.html.
|
ALLIANCE SCHOOLS The Alliance Schools initiative, a partnership among the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation Network, the Interfaith Education Fund and the Texas Education Agency is a community-based strategy to increase student achievement in low-income areas. Ernesto Cortes Texas Interfaith Education Fund 1106 Clayton Lane, Suite 120W Austin, TX 78723 (512) 459-6551 CARING COMMUNITIES Caring Communities is the primary school-linked support and services delivery strategy of the Missouri Family Investment Trust, a state-level, public-private partnership. Community partnerships involving an array of stakeholders, including parents, provide leadership and support for local sites. Adaptations in 18 communities and 115 schools are supported by funds pooled across seven state agencies. Steve Milburn Missouri Family Investment Trust 3915 West Pine Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63108 (314) 531-5505 COMMUNITY EDUCATION Community Education promotes parent and community involvement in public education, the formation of community partnerships to address community needs and the expansion of lifelong learning opportunities. Community educators come together under the leadership of the National Community Education Association (NCEA). NCEA works in close collaboration with the National Center for Community Education, which provides leadership training and technical assistance. Starla Jewell-Kelly National Community Education Association 3929 Old Lee Highway Suite 91-A Fairfax, VA 22030 (703) 359-8973 www.ncea.org Jill Waters National Center for Community Education 1017 Avon Street Flint, MI 48503 (810) 238-0463 www.nccenet.org HEALTHY START Healthy Start, which grew out of legislation passed in 1991 by the California Legislature, is one of the largest school-linked services initiatives. Local collaboratives develop and institutionalize more effective school-linked service delivery systems. Lisa Villarreal UCD/Education CRESS Center Davis, CA 95616 (530) 754-4307 hsfo.ucdavis.edu SCHOOL-BASED YOUTH SERVICES PROGRAM Developed by the New Jersey Department of Human Resources in 1987, this was the first major state program that gave grants to community agencies to link education and human services, health, and employment systems. The "one-stop" program has been initiated by schools and community agency partners in 30 school districts. Kay Reiss New Jersey School-Based Youth Services Program New Jersey Department of Human Services P.O. Box 700 Trenton, NJ 08625 (609) 292-1617 www.reeusda.gov/pavnet/ye/yesbysp.htm UNITED WAY/BRIDGES TO SUCCESS Developed by the United Way of Central Indiana, this initiative is being adapted in seven communities through the leadership of local United Ways. Many other local United Ways are involved with a variety of community school approaches and serve as catalysts for new initiatives. Sheri DeBoe Johnson United Way 701 North Fairfax Street Alexandria, VA 22314-2045 (703) 836-7112 ext. 250 www.unitedway.org |
BEACONS The Beacons approach is an integrated strategy to both engage young people and strengthen neighbor-hoods. Since 1995, the Youth Development Institute at the Fund for the City of New York has promoted adaptation of school-community collaborations similar to the New York Beacons in Denver; Minneapolis; Oakland, Calif.; and Savannah, Ga. Beacons also operate in San Francisco. Sharon DuPree Youth Development Institute Fund for the City of New York 121 Avenue of the Americas, 6th Floor New York, NY 10013 (212) 925-6675 www.fcny.org CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY (CAS) COMMUNITY SCHOOLS The CAS approach developed out of a partnership involving the Children's Aid Society, the New York City Board of Education, a local school district and participating agencies. Through community alliances, this model broadens the school's mission to bring in parents, teachers and the community as full partners. In 1995, CAS opened a Technical Assistance Center to help other communities adapt this model. Jane Quinn Children's Aid Society 105 East 22nd Street New York, NY 10010 (212) 949-4954 www.childrensaidsociety.org COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS, INC. Communities in Schools, Inc. helps localities develop not-for-profit 501(c)(3) boards, which identify and broker resources to support children and families in schools. CIS operates in more than 1,500 schools in 243 school districts across the country, with state and local programs in 33 states. Tom Wilson Communities in Schools, Inc. 1199 North Fairfax Street, 3rd Floor Alexandria, VA 22314-1436 (703) 518-2564 www.cisnet.org READINESS TO LEARN INITIATIVE This program authorizes grants to local school-linked, community-based consortia to develop and implement strategies that ensure children arrive at school every day "ready to learn." Activities are family oriented, culturally relevant, coordinated, locally planned, outcome based, creative, preventive and customer service oriented. Chris McElroy Washington State Readiness to Learn Initiative Old Capital Building - P.O. Box 47200 Olympia, WA 98504-7200 (360) 753-6760 SCHOOLS OF THE 21ST CENTURY (21C) This school-based child care and family support approach promotes the optimal growth and development of children ages 0-12. The 21C model's goal is to transform the school into a year-round, multiservice center providing services from early morning to early evening. Jennifer McGrady Heath The School of the 21st Century The Yale University Bush Center 310 Prospect Street New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 432-9944 www.yale.edu/21C/ WEST PHILADELPHIA IMPROVEMENT CORPS (WEPIC) WEPIC's mission is to build university-assisted community schools. WEPIC partnerships between universities and local schools are designed to revitalize both school curricula and local neighborhoods through community-oriented, real-world problem solving. Ten institutions of higher education are now part of the WEPIC network. Joann Weeks WEPIC Replication Project University of Pennsylvania 3440 Market Street, Suite 440 Philadelphia, PA 19104-3325 (215) 898-0240 www.upenn.edu/ccp |
COALITION FOR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Strengthening schools, families and communities
The Community Schools Public Education Campaign is one of the key activities of the Coalition. Sponsored by the Children's Aid Society, the Coalition for Community Schools and the Ad Council of America, the goal of the ad campaign is to build awareness of and support for the community school approach to public education. Campaign resources include television, radio and print ads.
To order free copies of this document and learn more about the Coalition, contact:
|
Martin J. Blank, Staff Director Coalition for Community Schools c/o Institute for Educational Leadership 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 310 Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: (202) 822-8405 ext. 45 Fax: (202) 872-4050 Email: ccs@iel.org www.communityschools.org The Coalition appreciates the generous support of the Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. We are grateful to Atelia Melaville for writing this document and Laura Samberg for editing it. |
|
COALITION FOR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Steering Committee
|
IRA HARKAVY, CHAIRMAN Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania DORIS BAYLOR Minneapolis YMCA CYNTHIA BROWN Council of Chief State School Officers JOAN BUCKLEY American Federation of Teachers JAY SCHENIRER Foundation Consortium PHIL COLTOFF The Children's Aid Society SALLY COVINGTON National Center for Schools and Communities JOY DRYFOOS Independent Researcher SHARON DUPREE Fund for the City of New York JILL WATERS National Center for Community Education STARLA JEWELL-KELLY National Community Education Association |
SHERI DEBOE JOHNSON United Way of America KAREN MAPP Institute for Responsive Education EVERETT NANCE University of Missouri, St. Louis LAURA PIREs-HESTER Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund GORDON RALEY National Collaboration for Youth KAY REISS New Jersey School-Based Youth Services Program PEGGY SPARKS Birmingham Public Schools GERALD TIROZZI National Association of Secondary School Principals LISA VILLARREAL California Center for Community-School Partnerships MARTIN J. BLANK Staff Director, Coalition for Community Schools |
|
|
Community schools create opportunities for self-expression that students are hungry for. As one middle school student wrote in an after-school creative writing group, "The way I want to express myself is in every way, in every shape, in every motion, like wind blowing through the trees." |
Coalition for Community Schools
c/o Institute for Educational Leadership
1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 310
Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: (202) 822-8405 ext. 156
Fax: (202) 872-4050
Email: ccs@iel.org
www.communityschools.org