The U.S. Department of Education's Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) program awards grants to states, districts, or other organizations to help partner schools implement community schools, which seek to provide coordinated, comprehensive supports to children and their families. This snapshot charts FSCS's progress in two foundational areas:…

Most research on community schools finds statistically significant, meaningful improvements in students' academic outcomes (e.g., GPA, test scores, high school graduation) and behavioral outcomes (e.g., attendance). This research brief presents an overview of the evidence on how community schools, when implemented effectively, can improve student…

Background: California's unprecedented grant investment in the community school strategy through the California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP) offers a significant opportunity for transformative, equity-centered, whole-child school reform (Maier & Niebuhr, 2021). Community schools are grounded in partnerships that schools…

The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of ten pre-service physical education teachers as they designed and implemented a community-based physical activity program through the Adventure Education model. Drawing on the occupational socialization theory as a theoretical framework, data were collected through field notes, document…

This paper outlines a novel model of community-engaged learning: "Building Bridges, Not Walls: The Democracy and Diversity Project." Inspired by the pedagogical horizontality of Paulo Freire and the applied disciplinary approach of "service sociology," Building Bridges pursues sustainable university-community partnerships with…

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has administered the federally-funded Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) grant program, also known as Title IV, Part B, of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) since 2002. The purpose of the program is to create community learning centers that provide students with…

My Vital Cycles® is a holistic ovulatory menstrual health literacy program for adolescent females. A whole school approach was used when trialled in one single-sex secondary school in Perth Australia. This study investigated the enablers and barriers for its future implementation from the perspective of the school's teachers, nurses and…

A growing divide in physical activity amongst youth, fueled by the privatization of youth athletic programs, most negatively impacts underrepresented students. Intramural-sports programs hold the potential to engage more of our youth in physical activity, including those from marginalized populations. Utilizing a collective impact approach,…

The authors describe an initiative between an urban public school district, a city college, and a college of education to establish a pipeline of teachers of color from and for the school district. The qualitative research occurred during the teacher candidates' participation in a community immersion program. Centering the teacher candidates'…

More than 8.3 million young people under 18 struggle with anxiety or depression--13 percent of the youth population. Despite the need, more than one third of the U.S. population lives in Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas, creating urgent dual crises of rising mental health needs and insufficient behavioral workforce capacity. Launched in…

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, accelerating the collapse of an already disintegrating city public school system. Prior to the storm, almost two-thirds of New Orleans public school students attended failing schools, half dropped out, and fewer than one in five enrolled in college. The school system suffered severe…