Innovation in education is vital for responding to emerging challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and for building progress on longstanding challenges in schools. The infusion of substantial, highly flexible pots of federal relief dollars created an opportunity to pilot new programs and initiatives. Many states and districts opted to invest…

The Coalition for Community Schools (Coalition), as an alliance of national, state and local partners that advocate for community schools, wanted to provide support and a space for community school leaders to share their challenges and successes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning March 17, 2020 through the present, the Coalition conducted…

Popular understandings of segregation often emphasize the Jim Crow South before the 1954 "Brown" decision and, in many instances, explain continued segregation in schooling as the result of segregated housing patterns. The case of Flint, Michigan, complicates these views, at once illustrating the depth of governmental commitment to…

This report provides a cost estimate for the first ten years of a Promise scholarship program for the Buchanan Community Schools (Michigan) patterned after the Kalamazoo Promise. Moreover, it presents a detailed outline of the method used in the calculation of the cost estimate. All the major assumptions and variables, as well as their sources,…

"Teacher-Powered Practices: How teacher teams collaboratively lead and create student-centered schools" focuses on how innovative teachers are radically changing the ways schools are designed and run. The how here are the common practices, structures, and processes teacher-powered teams design and use daily. The guide identifies nine…

Several systemic factors contribute to the lack of stability and educational opportunities for students in foster care, including lack of transportation to the school of origin (or the schools they enrolled in when they first entered foster care), difficulty enrolling in new schools and transferring credits between school districts, gaps in…

In this report, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) highlight instructional and community-based strategies for strong public schools in Georgia. The authors offer eight essential, evidence-based strategies for success: (1) Access to high quality early childhood and pre-K education; (2)…

When L. Brooks Patterson, the executive of Oakland County, Michigan, publicly called for the county to become the first in America to teach Mandarin Chinese in every public school district, the Oxford Community Schools responded immediately. Over the past four years, the school district of 5,030 students in southeastern Michigan has elevated the…

Many reports on rural education give little attention to digital learning. At most, they tend to note either infrastructure needs or the potential of remote course access, with little focus on instruction, outcomes, or exemplars. This report intends to begin correcting that imbalance by connecting the dots between rural regions, rural education,…

A recent massive infusion of federal funding marked a dramatic shift in the federal approach to helping low-performing schools. As part of the broad array of economic stimulus efforts included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the U.S. Congress appropriated an extra $3 billion for school improvement grants (SIGs) to…

This toolkit is designed to help community schools evaluate their efforts so that they learn from their successes, identify current challenges, and plan future efforts. It provides a step-by-step process for planning and conducting an evaluation at your community school site(s). The toolkit is a practical, hands-on guide that makes it possible for…

Introduction to profiles of some community schools -- places where the education of children and the activities of a community occur either alternately or simultaneously. (Author)

THE PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HAD BECOME THE IDEAL CENTER FOR COMMUNITY EDUCATION IN FLINT. IT WAS THE PRACTICAL PLACE FOR CARRYING THE CONSTANTLY CHANGING ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS OF THE COMMUNITY. THE APPROACH USED TO FACILITATE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING AND INTERACTION INCLUDED, FIRST, GETTING THE PEOPLE INTO THE SCHOOLS, WHERE THEY BECAME INTERESTED.…

IN FLINT THE EFFECTIVENESS AND SCOPE OF COMMUNITY USE OF THE SCHOOL WAS DIRECTLY RELATED TO ITS FACILITIES AND THEIR AVAILABILITY. THUS THE CONCEPT OF A COMMUNITY SCHOOL PROGRAM HAD A PRONOUNCED EFFECT ON THE ARCHITECTURAL PLANNING OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN FLINT. FLINT'S FIRST COMMUNITY SCHOOL CONTAINED THE FOLLOWING FACILITIES NOT USUALLY FOUND…

The basic assumption of this paper is that unused and underused public school buildings are appropriate facilities to become opportunity centers for neighborhood citizens of all ages. A detailed case study of a community education program in Grand Rapids, Michigan, illustrates this assumption, and a brief historical summary of changing population…