Research Practice Network

About the Network

• Create, maintain, and execute a research agenda focused on improving implementation and outcomes for students, community schools, families, and community members;
• Serve as a clearinghouse for research and implementation level best practices;
• Convene community school advocates around areas for collaboration and joint research; and
• Identify new funding streams to support high-quality research on community schools.

Joining the Network

Practitioners and researchers are encouraged to join and connect with, share, learn from, and collaborate with those in the Community Schools field and receive timely announcements of new research and funding opportunities. Those outside of these roles are also welcomed to join to learn more about Community Schools.

Complete the RPN Membership Form

• Dr. Helen Janc Malone, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer
• Dr. Emily Cheng, Senior Data Analyst
• Liz Thacker, Senior Manager for Partnerships and Engagement

Past Events

2026 Webinars

• What We’re Learning from the National Evaluation of the FSCS Grant Program: Early Findings & Practitioner Perspectives – June 16
  • Expanding the Reach of the Full-Service Community Schools Program | IES
  • Initial Challenges Implementing the Full-Service Community Schools Approach and How FY 2023 Grantees Addressed Them | IES
• Engaged and Empowered: Southern Stories of Community Schools – March 24
• Youth as Delivers (Not Recipients) of Service: University-Assisted Community Schools and Their Sustainable Partnerships That Improve Teaching & Learning from K-16+ – February 24
• Community Schools Impact on Student Outcomes: What We are Learning from California –   January 13
  • Community Schools Impact on Student Outcomes

2025 Webinars

• Connecting Learning to Career: The Role of Community Schools in Workforce Development – October 28
• In-Service Teacher Supports for Community Schools – October 8
• Preparing and Supporting Educators in Community Schools – April 29
  • What Does the Community School Classroom Look Like? A Systematic Literature Review of Teaching and Learning in Community Schools
• Research Practice Partnerships: Working with K-12 faculty, staff, and students to improve Community Schools – April 2 (Webinar Slide Deck)
  • Brokering in Education Research-Practice Partnerships 
  • NNERPP RPP Knowledge Clearinghouse
  • RPP in Education: The State of the Field 
• Centering Youth Voice in Research: Principles, Practices, & Perspectives – February 25

2024 Webinars

• Durability and Partnerships Town Hall – December 3 (Webinar slide deck)
  • DOE Sustainability Toolkit
  • DOE Blending and Braiding Webinar Series:
    • Blending and Braiding: Strategies to Access Funding and Services Across Federal Agencies. – December 5
    • Blending and Braiding: Using Different Funding Streams to Meet the Needs of the Whole Child. – October 21
• Addressing Chronic Absence Through Community Schools – October 22
  
• Making Family Math a Part of Your Research and Practice Agenda – June 13 (Webinar Slide Deck)
  • Family Math literature review by Eason, et al
  • MakeItMath family toolkit
  • Family Math Research Agenda
  • NAFSCE National Assembly in October in Denver (with Family Math strand)
  • Erikson Institute resource on family. math nights
• Democratizing Evidence: The Power and Opportunity to Transform – Advancing Equity through Evidence and Democratic Engagement – April 25 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• Collaborative Leadership in Community Schools – March 26 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• Relational Leader – February 7 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• The Importance of Community Schools and Out-of-School Time Partnerships – January 31 (Webinar Slide Deck)

2023 Webinars

• Youth Voice in Community Schools: Building Collaborative School Leadership Structures – January 24 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• U.S. Department of Education’s Evaluation of Full-Service Community Schools – February 23 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• Preparing the Next Generation of Community School Professionals – March 9 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• Best Practices for Family Engagement and Community-School Partnerships – April 21 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• Sustaining Community Schools After the Post-Pandemic Funding Cliff  – October 25 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• Emerging Strategies in Evaluating Family Engagement – November 28 (Webinar Slide Deck)

2022 Webinars

• Defining and Adapting the Community School Strategy – February 16
• Translating Research Into Practice: A Look Across Rural and Urban Contexts – March 8
• Community Schools Organizing: A Look Back and Forward – May 11
• The Critical Role of Community School Coordinators (in partnership with the Community Schools Coordinators Network) – October 27
• Building Systems for Participatory Research with Community Schools (in partnership with CSLN & UACS) – November 30

2021 Webinars

• Community Schools, Racial Justice and Equity – February 11
• Teaching and Learning in Community Schools – March 11
• Family Engagement in Community Schools – April 21
• The Roles of Principals in Community Schools –  May 13
• Approaching Community Schools Research and Impact –  June 17 
• Lifting Up Community Schools’ COVID-19 Responses Through Research – September 29 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• Measuring Outcomes in Community Schools – October 14 (Webinar Slide Deck)
  • A guide to data sharing
• The Need for Youth Voice in Community Schools – November 16 (Webinar Slide Deck)
• Sustaining Community Schools – December 9 (Webinar Slide Deck)

2019-2020 Webinars

• The Way We Do School: The Making of Oakland’s Full-Service Community School District – April 15, 2020
• The Impact of the New York City Community Schools Initiative – March 18, 2020
• The Dual Capacity Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships –  February 19, 2020
• Postsecondary Readiness and Success in Community Schools – January 29, 2020
• Youth with Disabilities in Community Schools – October 23, 2019
• Return on Investment (ROI) Study for a Community School Coordinator – September 24, 2019
• Powerful Learning: Deeper Learning Lessons for Community Schools – August 20, 2019
• Community Schools: People and Places Transforming Education and Communities – July 17, 2019
• Powerful Learning: Addressing Real World Issues through Community School Classrooms –  June 25, 2019

Community Schools Research Agenda

The IEL Coalition for Community Schools (CCS) Research Practice Network (RPN) developed the 2026–2030 Community Schools Research Agenda to guide the next phase of learning, evidence-building, and field advancement. Building on the 2020 agenda, the updated agenda was shaped through an iterative, multi-phase process that included in-person sensemaking with RPN members in May 2025, a network-wide survey in fall 2025, and a targeted review of draft priorities. More than five years of growth in Community Schools policy, funding, and implementation informed a sharper focus on cohesive frameworks, common measures, and research that directly supports implementation quality, sustainability, and scaling. The agenda reflects shared priorities to strengthen data infrastructure, understand workforce conditions, address persistent post-pandemic challenges, and expand measurement beyond school outcomes to include community-level indicators. Together, RPN members articulated a research agenda designed to produce actionable evidence, support research practice partnerships, and advance outcomes for students, families, schools, and communities. Click here to see the research agenda.

Click each agenda topic below to learn more about the specific topic. Download the image here.

RPN Clearinghouse of Community Schools Studies and Publications

Please use this form to share your updated research and publications with IEL CCS RPN. We will update our database regularly and share the research and publications with all Coalition for Community Schools (CCS) networks.

• For the most updated studies and publications, click here.
• For additional Coalition for Community School resources, click here.
• A Frequency Analysis of the Research Practice Network Clearinghouse: The Community Schools Research and Evaluations
• NEW! Community Schools Research: Existing Evidence and Emerging Priorities – a new Frequency Analysis
• Click here for our “The Power of Community Schools” brief.

RPN Working Groups:

Established in August 2026, the following RPN Working Groups are convening through early summer 2028.

• Quality Implementation: This working group will unpack the ‘how,’ the process of Community School implementation, including potential explorations into what quality implementation looks like at various stages of Community Schools, how coordinating entities and governance structures support quality, and how implementation varies across rural, urban, and suburban settings, especially noting the gap in tools for high schools.
• Measures of Success: This working group will focus on measures of success in ways that capture both outcomes and the conditions that produce them, including potential explorations into common measures, measures that go beyond academic performance, such as collaborative leadership, partner collaboration, family and student engagement, shifts in school climate, as well as exploration into ROI.
• Community Impact: This working group will consider place-based, community-level, long-term effects, including potential explorations into how Community Schools support workforce development, economic mobility, civic participation, and neighborhood wellbeing, and whether these impacts differ depending on the stage of implementation and local context.