Communities around the country are converging on a new approach to raising achievement for low-income children. This approach draws on two reform movements: (1) full-service community schools that provide wraparound health and social services to children and families, and (2) Prenatal through Grade 3 initiatives to improve quality, alignment, and…

Community Schools implement evidence-based strategy to bring together the resources of school, family, and community in order to make schools stronger and help young people thrive. While they might take different approaches, these schools generally employ whole-child, research-based strategies and elevate innovative and holistic practices in order…

In today's global economy, a high-quality, comprehensive education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity--it is a prerequisite for success. Such an education must promote academic knowledge and skills, as well as the kind of individual and social competencies that are essential for navigating the relationships and challenges of the modern…

Across the United States, communities are thinking differently about how to transform their schools and neighborhoods. There is tremendous excitement about strategies that weave together resources in a clearly defined "place" to collectively improve outcomes for children, youth, families, and communities. The paper explores the…

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…

For Lynch View Elementary, a K-5 school in suburban Portland, the school day doesn't end when the bell rings at 2:22 p.m. As one of 64 "community schools" in Multnomah County, the school also provides homework assistance, academic enrichment, free breakfast and dinner for students, a weekly food pantry, a host site for local medical…

In 2009, the Coalition for Community Schools at the Institute for Educational Leadership (CCS-IEL) embarked on an ambitious action research and development project, leveraging the community school system infrastructure present in three geographic regions (Tulsa, Oklahoma; Multnomah County, Oregon; Albuquerque, New Mexico) to advance research and…

Background: Growing health disparities have a negative impact on young people's educational achievement. Community schools that involve deep relationships with partners across multiple domains address these disparities by providing opportunities and services that promote healthy development of young people, and enable them to graduate from high…

Community schools have always rooted their work in a solid body of research about what it takes to promote student success, including parental involvement in children's education, rich and engaging out-of-school experiences, student wellness and family stability. Because the community schools strategy, on its face, makes sense--and because the…

This "Patterns of Practice: Case Studies of Early Childhood Education & Family Engagement in Community Schools" report updates the community school case studies through a description of ongoing developments in Cincinnati, OH; Evansville, IN; Multnomah County, OR; and Tulsa, OK and adds to that knowledge base of early learning and…

Over a decade of research has demonstrated the positive effects of extended school day programs on various elementary and middle school student outcomes, both in the short and long term. The efficacy of extended school day programs in promoting academic outcomes among high school students is less well understood. This study contributes to the…

A community school is a place and a set of partnerships connecting a school, the families of students, and the surrounding community. A community school is distinguished by an integrated focus on academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development. The community school strategy is central to efforts…

Great strides have been made by community school initiatives across the nation in their efforts to impact student achievement, attendance, student engagement, graduation rates, parent involvement and more. Data on community schools is growing and the authors encourage readers to review research reports and syntheses on results. The results…

Leaders in the nation's schools and communities are working together across the boundaries of education, government, and public, private and community-based agencies to create community schools. The 11 communities profiled in this report illustrate how cross-boundary leadership helps community schools move from pilot projects to large-scale,…

This report summarizes information on community service activities in each of Eugene, Oregon's neighborhoods (as defined by school attendance zones) that currently supports a community school program or has experienced interest in starting a community school program. A variety of descriptive information is presented for each community school…