This study highlights the Community Schools (CS) implementation experience of five rural Vermont schools. Principals and CS coordinators participating in a state-funded program aimed at CS establishment were interviewed to understand better their experience with implementing a school/district-wide policy and reform effort. Findings suggest several…

Oakland International High School, winner of the 2017 National Community School Award, supports its recently arrived immigrant students by integrating academic, social, mental health, and material supports into the school day and beyond. Its community school model incorporates a Wellness Center, a tiered system of support and engagement, external…

This article presents the findings of a longitudinal study documenting the progress, challenges, adaptations, and outcomes of a strategic community--academic partnership (S-CAP) to address substance misuse between a local university and a medium-sized county in East-Central Indiana. The article details how the S-CAP built on initial successes to…

Public schools in the United States have struggled to determine whether their mandate is simply knowledge transmission or includes the development and well-being of the whole child. Contemporary realities of resegregation and inequality have prompted many districts to embrace this latter notion and consider the Full Service Community Schools…

Solar eclipses are a rare phenomenon that everyone should have the opportunity to explore in depth. This article describes two programs developed by a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach center with the goal of bringing the excitement of eclipses to all learners. The STEM outreach center collaborated with local…

The COVID-19 pandemic set higher education institutions on an unprecedented path requiring of them to identify alternative strategies and implement various initiatives to sustain their academic projects. With the widespread devastation of the pandemic, the purpose of universities within their communities were again in the spotlight. A sensibility…

Background: The perspectives of community partners about their experiences working with medical students and how service-learning experiences affect the communities they serve remains understudied. Objective: This study addressed gaps in the literature by reporting on in-depth interviews conducted with community partners who participated in a…

Each community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership may incur "ripple effects" -- impacts that happen outside the scope of planned projects. We used brainstorming and interviewing to create a roadmap that incorporated input from nine CBPR participants and five community/academic partners to retrospectively assess the ripple…

Sport- and physical activity-related participatory action research (PAR) often involves voluntary partnerships spanning institutions, organizations, and jurisdictions. Negotiating and maintaining multi-stakeholder and multi-jurisdictional research partnerships can be likened to a delicate balancing act fraught with potential challenges and strains…

Even after significant education turnaround efforts supported by federal and state agencies, achievement gaps between white students and students of color and students not living in poverty and students living in poverty persist (McFarland et al., 2018). Student academic outcomes are often driven by factors unrelated to teaching in classrooms…

Students benefit from exploring nature and participating in outdoor activities that challenge them emotionally and physically. The purpose of this article is to describe an outdoor education class with 21 undergraduate physical education teacher education (PETE) students and the benefits of participating in this experience. The second purpose is…

Schools have long partnered with local organizations to support access to essential services like food, housing, or mental and physical health. Schools can build on wrap-around school models by helping students and families intentionally cultivate community relationships, skills, and knowledge, thus putting students on a path toward long-term…

Using the Pennsylvania Department of Education Family/Community Standards, university professors from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford collaborated with multiple community clubs such as the Rotary and Kiwanis as well as local agencies including St. Bonaventure University on the development and implementation of a family literacy day event…

Among the challenges faced by work-integrated learning (WIL) educators, recruiting, selecting, and retaining outside organizations as 'clients' or 'community partners' to work with students looms large. The gap between classroom needs and professional practice often leads to a tangle of unrealistic expectations. These challenges grow even more…

Value-added products can generate farm income and improve community food access, yet lack of available kitchen infrastructure and labor can limit farm production capacity. This project explored how community-based culinary schools might fill the gap. A unique "product share" model was identified and piloted, meeting the collective needs…