Educators and Community Sharing Responsibility for Student Learning

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has helped to focus education reform discussions in the United States on helping all students succeed. Yet many schools struggle with a variety of chronic problems that make achieving this goal seem, at times, a Herculean task. These include engaging students in learning; involving parents in their children's education; providing essential competency-building lessons in the arts, civics, and physical education; and, increasingly, addressing issues outside the traditional purview of the school system?helping students and their families with health, social, housing, and other needs, for example, as well as meeting the specialized needs of immigrant students and their families.

A recent poll highlighted in Phi Delta Kappan (Rose & Gallup, 2003) found that Americans in general are concerned about these issues, too. Ninety-four percent or more of the public saw factors such as home life and upbringing, the level of parental involvement, student interest or the lack thereof, and community environment as leading to the achievement gap that NCLB seeks to remedy. In addition, a new Educational Testing Service report identified 14 factors that contribute to the achievement gap, eight of which are external to school, including low birth weight, lead poisoning, parent participation, reading to young children, student mobility, and TV watching (Barton, 2003). What goes on beyond the school walls unquestionably affects student learning and development, and reorganizing schools in a way that recognizes and addresses these community-based challenges can help improve student achievement and community vibrancy.

What does the research tell us that young people need to succeed? According to the Coalition for Community Schools, which reviewed research across multiple disciplines?education, health, mental health, youth development, family support, family involvement, and community development?effective schools focus on addressing five specific conditions for learning (Blank, Melaville, & Shah, 2003):

There is a core instructional program with qualified teachers, a challenging curriculum, and high standards and expectations for students.

Students are motivated and engaged in learning?both in school and in community settings, during and after school.

The basic physical, mental, and emotional health needs of young people and their families are recognized and addressed.

There is mutual respect and effective collaboration among parents, families, and school staff.

Community engagement, together with school efforts, promotes a school climate that is safe, supportive, and respectful and that connects students to a broader learning community.

It is difficult to expect schools to fulfill these conditions on their own. In response, some community and school leaders are attempting to improve student learning by working together through the creation of community schools.

What Is a Community School?
Community schools are more than schools as we traditionally think of them; they are composed of deliberate partnerships that support and strengthen opportunities for students, families, and the surrounding community. Community partners typically include health and social agencies, family support groups, institutions of higher education, youth development organizations, and local government and community groups?all organized around a common goal: to create the conditions necessary for all children to learn at high levels.

Community schools are generally open most of the day, every day?including evenings, on weekends, and during the summer. They serve as community centers, strengthening families and communities so that they, in turn, can contribute more effectively to student learning and development. Community schools also have a curricular dimension, grounding learning in the community's local conditions and challenges, as well as using students' real-life experiences to generate excitement about learning (see "Community as Curriculum in Community Schools," below). Polls show that the public supports expanded access to school facilities and services (see "Public Support for the Community Schools Vision," page 3).

Community schools actively seek to address this need by drawing community members into the schools, both for student benefit and for adult services. They frequently provide job training, computer access, and other community services.

Partnerships are key to the community school vision. Schools must focus on teaching and learning, but they cannot ignore other needs. To address these other needs, they can build intentional partnerships with a variety of community agencies and institutions so that students gain access to a wider variety of assets. These partnerships give community schools three advantages over schools acting alone:

They garner additional resources so that the school can reduce noninstructional demands on teachers and principals, allowing educators to concentrate on improving student learning.

They offer varied learning and development opportunities that enhance young people's social, emotional, and physical competencies, as well as their academic ability.

They offer young people, their families, and communities opportunities to build "social capital"?the networks and relationships that create the potential for success.

Research Support for Community Schools
In Making the Difference: Research and Practice in Community Schools, the Coalition for Community Schools reviewed the evaluations of 20 different community school initiatives. Although not all evaluations looked at the same indicators, their collective results show that community schools succeed in four important ways.

Community schools improve student learning. Community school students show significant and evident gains in academic outcomes and in essential areas of nonacademic development. Seventy-five percent of the initiatives reported improvement in student academic achievement, as measured by improved grades in school courses and scores on proficiency tests (15 initiatives). More than half of the evaluations looked for and found evidence of improvement as measured by improved attendance (8 initiatives), reduced behavior or discipline problems (5), greater compliance with school assignments and rules (3), greater contact with supportive adults (3), and improvements in personal and family situations (3).

Community schools promote family engagement with students and schools. Families have access to services and opportunities?including chances to participate both as leaders and as learners?that make them effective partners in their children's education. More than half the evaluations measured and reported specific benefits to families, such as improvements in communication with schools and teachers (4 initiatives); family stability and ability to provide for children's basic needs (3); parents' ability to meet workplace obligations (2); parents' confidence in their ability to teach their children (2); and attendance at school meetings (2).

Community schools function more effectively. Parents and organizational partners work together with the school staff to support learning, helping community schools positively influence overall school operations. Principals and staff affirmed the importance of on-site services (5 initiatives); more parents participated in their children's learning (4); there was nonpartisan support for public education and access to resources through community partnerships (4); and services were well integrated into the daily operation of schools (2). In the classroom, evaluators found increased emphasis on creative, project-based learning and more innovations in teaching and curriculum (2). School environments were more cheerful and were more likely to be perceived as safe (2).

Community schools add vitality to communities. When the community is engaged with the school, resources and benefits flow both ways. Eleven evaluations suggest that community schools play a powerful role in strengthening community, as measured by improved community knowledge of and perception of the community school effort (7 initiatives); increased use of school buildings, awareness of community agencies, and access to facilities previously unknown or unaffordable (7); improved security and safety in the surrounding area (2); and strengthened community pride and engagement in the school (2).

Making Community Schools Work Locally
Unless there is a unifying purpose across educational, social, developmental, and community services, schools are left with an array of unconnected programs. Community schools offer a comprehensive strategy to integrate all of the community and the school resources and expertise around a common vision for improving student learning, strengthening families, and creating healthier communities.

Realizing that the education of young people is a community responsibility, a growing number of communities and school districts are embracing the vision of community schools. Large urban centers, including Portland/Multnomah County (Oreg.), Indianapolis (Ind.), and Chicago (Ill.), are reshaping their schools as community schools. Smaller school districts, including Evansville (Ind.), Independence (Mo.), Lincoln (Nebr.), Port-Chester Rye (N.Y.), Ankeny (Iowa), and Tukwila (Wash.), are doing the same. Each is pursuing a different approach, but frequently draws on national models.

The work of the SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) Schools Initiative in Multnomah County in Oregon (see "The SUN Initiative," page 5) illustrates the key policy elements that go into developing a community school strategy:

Local Leadership Alliances. Leadership is pivotal to creating and sustaining community schools. Community alliances with broad stakeholder involvement help develop and promote a compelling community school vision, mobilize resources, ensure accountability, inform the community, nurture partnerships and relationships, and build capacity to sustain the effort. School and community leaders can find common ground by focusing on data related to student performance and child and family well-being, listening to students and parents, and thinking and acting holistically.

Community School Coordinators. At the school site, a full-time community school coordinator can help to mobilize and integrate the resources of the school and community partners and improve their effect on student learning. A coordinator is needed to manage the additional programs and services available at a community school. Financing this position can be a challenge, however, because the coordinator can be an employee of a community-based organization, a public or private agency, or a school district, community schools can leverage funding from a diversity of resources, including: public, private, and community-based organizations; school, city, or county budgets; or philanthropic and corporate organizations.

Site-Based Planning and Decision-Making Teams. To provide leadership for individual schools, strong community school programs include planning and decision-making teams comprised of families and residents, school staff, and community partners. These teams review data, assess existing programs, identify gaps in services, mobilize community resources, monitor progress toward results, and help to engage families and the community.

Reengineering Local Resources. Retooling local financial and human resources can create a permanent infrastructure for community schools by supporting community school coordinators and creating incentives for agencies to work together. The most creative community school initiatives tap local resources, along with well-established federal funding streams such as Title I, to sustain their efforts. With this infrastructure in place, it is more feasible to integrate a range of federal and state categorical programs into a comprehensive community school vision that will achieve locally defined results. Thus, community schools do not create conflict with advocates for specific categorical systems, rather they bring those streams together into a more holistic approach and, in fact, advocate for funding these programs.

A strong commitment to mobilize community assets, a coordinator and community team, and alignment of resources to support these groups, as well as substantive technical assistance, are necessary components of strong community schools. In a number of communities, these elements have come together to establish successful, wide-ranging community schools (see box on page 6 for a profile of one particular SUN community school).

State Action
State leaders?governors, legislators, chief state schools officers, and other agency heads?have an important role to play in developing community schools. Initial steps that can be taken at the state level include the following:

Develop and promote the community schools vision as an integral component of the state strategy for improving student learning. Illinois has done this by including student, family, and community supports as one of four core elements of its system of support for schools, with an explicit reference to community schools.

Promote integrated planning. States can use the community schools vision to articulate planning and request for proposal (RFP) requirements that lead to the integration of state-financed categorical programs at school sites. In addition, networking existing task forces and advisory groups focused on categorical issues (e.g., after-school programs, violence prevention, school health) will enhance integration at the state, community, and school levels.

Make targeted investments in community schools to increase the effectiveness of existing programs and resources. States should support community school coordinator positions to leverage school, community, and state resources and provide flexible funding that will help bring schools and community partners together.

Strengthen preparation and professional development programs. State leadership programs and higher education institutions should give more attention to helping school leaders and teachers understand how to engage the expertise of family and communities in supporting student learning. The absence of attention to this issue is striking.

Provide training and technical assistance. Since most state training and technical assistance is categorical in nature, more assistance is needed to help people learn to work across categories to implement a holistic educational vision. The state of Illinois recently began such an effort, the Illinois System of Full Service Community Schools (FSCS), located online at http://www.fscs.k12.il.us.

Encourage the rehabilitation and construction of school facilities as community schools and centers of community. States should revise school construction and financing standards to ensure that school buildings can incorporate the services and opportunities of a community school; encourage blending of school construction funding with funding for libraries, recreation centers, health centers, and other public facilities; and develop guidelines to limit the size of schools and locate them so that they are accessible to students, families, and members of the community.

The Federal Role
The federal government has a role to play in supporting community schools, too. Efforts at the federal level to support integrated planning and service delivery have historically been fraught with difficulty. Nonetheless, suggestions for action at this level include

Use its bully pulpit to articulate the role and the responsibility of community in regards to the education of our children.

Offer policies, resources, and incentives for integrated planning, training, and technical assistance, as well as more relevant professional preparation programs.

Provide funding for local capacity building and community school coordinators.

Expand funding for the specific programs and services that are integrated at community schools.

The U.S. Department of Education has supported various elements of community schools through programs like the Smaller Learning Communities (SLCs), Community Technology Centers (CTCs), and 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CLCs). The SLC is a $142 million competitive grant program designed to help large high schools plan, implement, or expand smaller learning communities and emphasizes the need for broader community involvement within these schools. In 2003, $23 million in CTC grants was awarded to bring disadvantaged schools and communities together around academic and economic issues through school-based, community accessible technology centers. The 21st Century CLC program, now funded at $1 billion, supports a variety of after-school programs that encourage community involvement with schools.

Realizing the Community Schools Vision
Schools continue to face a wide array of issues as they seek to improve student achievement and strengthen the community. While community schools have been identified as an important model for addressing these issues, the challenges to creating and sustaining them cannot be overlooked. They are complex systems that must be established carefully and with the support of a variety of community and educational organizations. In developing community schools, challenges include getting buy-in from constituents, establishing leadership and governance structures, organizing financial and human resources to ensure ongoing support, building the capacity for community involvement and access, integrating these reforms to support student achievement, and measuring the outcomes.

Many of the strategies that can be used to address these challenges have been highlighted in this Infobrief. For example, accessing the technical assistance offered by national community schools organizations can help participating organizations build and strengthen their relationships, as well as clarify decision-making processes. Including site managers and operating teams results in more efficient management, planning, and decision-making. Building on pre-existing collaborations helps mitigate some of the consensus building issues involved in establishing community schools. Finally, establishing an ongoing evaluation component as part of the initial process helps provide data that can be used to measure the program outcomes and engage in continuous improvement.

School and community leaders are seeing the promise that community schools hold for building a sense of shared school and community responsibility for the success of our young people. They believe that community schools enable young people to contribute more to their own learning and develop a sense of responsibility and connectedness to their families and their communities. They believe that community schools offer students an array of experiences necessary for success: a strong education, a desire to learn, healthy minds and bodies, nurturing families, and a safe and supportive community.

With strong leadership from policymakers, administrators, and practitioners from many fields, community schools can become a reality, fulfilling our promise to help all children become vital and contributing members of society.

References
Barton, P. E. (2003). Parsing the achievement gap: Baselines for tracking progress. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. Retrieved November 25, 2003, from http://www.ets.org/research/pic/parsing.pdf

Billig, S. H. (1999). The impacts of service-learning on youth, schools and communities: Research on K-12 school-based service-learning, 1990?99. Learning In Deed research summary. Retrieved November 25, 2003, from http://www.learningindeed.org/research/slresearch/slrsrchsy.html

Blank, M. J., Johnson, S. D., & Shah, B. P. (2003, Spring). Community as text: Using the community as a resource for learning in community schools. In K. J. Pittman, N. Yohalm, & J. Tolman (Eds.), When, where, what, and how youth learn: Blurring school and community boundaries (pp. 107?120). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Blank, M. J., Melaville, A., & Shah, B. P. (2003, May). Making the difference: Research and practice in community schools. Washington, DC: Coalition for Community Schools, Institute for Educational Leadership. Retrieved November 25, 2003, from http://www.communityschools.org/mtdhomepage.html

Bonny, A. E., Brito, M. T., Klosterman, B. K., Hornung, R. W., & Slap, G. B. (2000, November). School disconnectedness: Identifying adolescents at risk. Pediatrics, 106, 1017?1021.

KnowledgeWorks Foundation. (2003). Ohio's education matters: KnowledgeWorks Foundation 2002?2003 poll. Retrieved November 25, 2003, from http://www.kwfdn.org/2002_poll/index.php

Lake, Snell, Perry, & Associates. (2003). Parents speak out on health and health care in schools. Center for Health and Health Care in Schools poll. Washington, DC: The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools. Retrieved November 25, 2003, from http://www.healthinschools.org/pubs/paper/parentpoll.asp

Lake, Snell, Perry, & Associates and The Tarrance Group. (2002). Afterschool Alliance nationwide poll. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved November 25, 2003, from http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/press_archives/topline_oct_poll_2002.doc

Roper Starch Worldwide, Inc. (2002, November). Public attitudes towards education and service-learning. Roper Starch Worldwide, Inc.

Rose, L. C., & Gallup, A. M. (2003). The 35th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll of the public's attitudes toward the public schools. Retrieved November 25, 2003, from http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0309pol.htm

State Education and Environment Roundtable. (2000). California student assessment project: The effects of environment-based education on student achievement. Retrieved November 25, 2003, from http://www.seer.org/pages/csap.pdf

Resources
National Community School Networks
Beacon Schools
Fund for the City of New York
http://www.fcny.org

Center for Community Partnerships: University-Assisted Community Schools
West Philadelphia Improvement Corps (WEPIC)
http://www.upenn.edu/ccp

The Children's Aid Society Community Schools
http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/locations_services/servicesindex/comm...

Communities In Schools, Inc.
http://www.cisnet.org

National Center for Community Education
http://www.nccenet.org

National Community Education Association
http://www.ncea.com

School of the 21st Century
http://www.yale.edu/bushcenter/21C

The Rural School and Community Trust
http://www.ruraledu.org

U.S. Department of Education Community Technology Centers
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/AdultEd/CTC/index.html

U.S. Department of Education Smaller Learning Communities
http://www.ed.gov/programs/slcp/index.html

U.S. Department of Education 21st Century Community Learning Centers
http://www.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/index.html

Selected Local Community School Networks
Bridges to Success
Indianapolis Public Schools and the United Way of Central Indianapolis
http://www.bridgestosuccess.org

Campaign to Expand Community Schools in Chicago: Coalition for Community Schools
http://www.communityschools.org/chicagoupdate.html

Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation, Ind.
http://www.evsc.k12.in.us/schoolzone/schcomm/schcomm.htm

Lincoln Community Learning Centers
http://www.lincolnclc.org

Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN)
City of Portland/Multnomah County, Oreg.
http://www.sunschools.org

Other Key Community School Resources
Children's Aid Society. (2001). Building a community school (3rd ed.). New York: Children's Aid Society. Available at http://www.communityschools.org/Manual.html

Dryfoos, J., & Maguire, S. (2002). Inside full-service schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Available at http://www.communityschools.org/insideschools.html

Melaville, A. (1998). Learning together: The developing field of school-community initiatives. Prepared by the Institute for Educational Leadership and National Center for Community Education. Flint, MI: C. S. Mott Foundation. E-mail infocenter@mott.org or call 1-800-645-1766.

Community as Curriculum in Community Schools

Comprehensive community schools have a significant curricular dimension. They use the community as a curricular resource, during school and after school, to engage students in learning and service and help them become problem solvers in their communities. Every community has its own unique history and culture that can be used as a resource for learning and civic involvement.

The idea of "community as curriculum" recognizes that significant learning takes place outside the classroom and that such active and directed learning can increase student achievement and help young people acquire real-life skills (Billig, 1999; Bonny, Brito, Klosterman, Hornung, & Slap, 2000; State Education and Environment Roundtable, 2000). Thus, community schools encourage service-learning, academically based community service, place-based education, school-to-work programs, use of the environment as an integrating context for learning, and other community-based learning opportunities.

Using the community as an integral part of the learning process is, in fact, one clear way to answer the age-old question asked by students: "Why is this important to me?" The growing disengagement of many students, especially in our middle and high schools, is a clear sign that we must find ways to make learning relevant to students' lives, and using the community as a learning tool is one way to bring about such reengagement. As the Coalition for Community Schools has noted, using the community as a learning resource is "particularly important because it connects the work of the community to the primary mission of the school: improving student learning. It also helps students apply what they are learning at school to their daily lives" (Blank, Johnson, & Shah, 2003, p. 110). Equally important, this approach to learning defines students as a resource to their community and enables adults to see youth in a different, more positive light.

Local leaders and teacher preparation colleges can encourage the incorporation of issues facing neighborhoods (e.g., lead-based paint avoidance, health and nutrition, water usage, neighborhood cleanliness) into the curriculum to help students become motivated, engaged learners, as well as true advocates for their communities.

Public Support for the Community Schools Vision

Several different polls demonstrate public support for the vision of a community school.

Eighty-four percent favor community use of school facilities after hours, and 62 percent favor locating services for children and adults at schools (KnowledgeWorks Foundation, 2003).

Ninety percent agree that children and teens need some type of organized learning activity after school (Lake, Snell, Perry, & Associates and The Tarrance Group, 2002).

Eighty-eight percent support health care in schools (Lake, Snell, Perry, & Associates, 2003).

Sixty-six percent believe that public schools should teach students how to use what they learn in the classroom for real-world projects and problems, and 70 percent support the use of engaging teaching methods to get students excited about learning (Roper Starch Worldwide, Inc., 2002).

The SUN Initiative: Schools Uniting Neighborhoods

The SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) Community Schools Initiative emerged from a 1998 partnership between the City of Portland and the eight school districts in Multnomah County. It had two goals: to support education and school success and to improve the way services for students and their families were delivered. To attain these goals, an ad hoc committee composed of representatives from the county, city parks and recreation, state, multiple school districts, and local community organizations was convened. Leadership from an existing county community building initiative and a city-sponsored, after-school cabinet was also included.

Their vision brought existing assets together in an expanded community school model that added educational activities and social services, and increased the involvement of families, community members, and businesses. Both the county and the city allocated general fund dollars to support the collaborative. Currently, there are 31 SUN schools, with plans to expand to 46 schools in January 2004. SUN's goals are to

Improve student achievement, attendance, behavior, and other skills by increasing the capacity of local schools to provide a safe, supervised, and positive environment for expanded experiences.

Increase family, community, and business involvement in the schools and school-based programs.

Improve the system of collaboration among school districts, government, community-based agencies, families, citizens, and business and corporate leaders.

Improve use of public facilities and services by locating services in the community-based neighborhood schools.

Like other community schools, the SUN schools have embedded collaboration and partnership deeply in their management processes to ensure that there are common structures and supports across the multiple partners, including

A nonprofit lead agency selected jointly with the school that acts as managing partner at each site. The lead agency, with school involvement, hires a site manager to coordinate services and ensure alignment with the academic school day.

Operating teams consisting of the principal, site coordinator, and lead agency that handle day-to-day management.

Site advisory committees that bring together parents, residents, school staff, and community agencies for joint planning and oversight.

An evaluation team that measures the effect of school programs and makes recommendations for continual improvement.

A SUN sponsors group, which includes the chair of the county commission, a city commissioner, and local school leaders, provides the community leadership necessary to nurture and sustain the community schools work. This spring, the group decided to extend the collaboration by folding all services into a School-Age Policy Framework for Multnomah County, which uses the community schools model and a school-linked delivery model to bring a core set of services to high-need schools.

Preliminary evaluation data shows that the SUN program has resulted in an increase in parent involvement and increased access to a host of services that have contributed to upward trends in student achievement. Based on these success indicators, local officials expect to expand the SUN model to all schools in the county.

Sun School Profile: Woodmere Elementary

Woodmere Elementary School's neighborhood has changed markedly in recent years. These days, 45 percent of Woodmere students speak a language other than English at home and 33 percent are English language learners (ELL). In addition, the majority of the school's students come from poor families; 79 percent are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

With the support of its lead agency, the Touchstone Family Support Program, Woodmere has engaged various community agencies to provide opportunities for enrichment, recreation, homework assistance, parent involvement, health and social services, and mentoring. ELL classes and recreation groups for parents and preschoolers, a Russian-speaking family support group, and Latino and Asian family outreach workers help engage underserved populations, while family support programs provide in-home services to strengthen family dynamics. Additionally, a Fall Family Festival celebrates multiculturalism with international food, artists, and performances for about 600 parents, students, and community members.

State test results show that Woodmere's expanded services are having an effect on student achievement. In the past two years, students meeting or exceeding state benchmarks increased from 77 percent to 89 percent in 3rd grade math, 58 percent to 76 percent in 5th grade math, 50 percent to 79 percent in 3rd grade reading, and 53 percent to 70 percent in 5th grade reading.