Hechinger Report/August 15, 2022
City leaders and others are increasingly aware of the power of community schools as an equity strategy. And equity is needed now more than ever as schools face hardships exacerbated by the pandemic.
The ultimate goal of community schools is to ensure open pathways to academic success. Research from the RAND Corporation and the Learning Policy Institute and National Education Policy Center (LPI-NEPC) show that community schools are a good investment and an effective change strategy.
Some community school proponents say that our current predominant school design is akin to a traditional telephone: a simple two-way system of delivery wherein teachers teach and students learn.
Community schools are more like smartphones. They have collaborative leadership structures that help educators connect, pool resources and think more expansively. Ultimately, they help kids succeed in school and beyond.
And if community schools are like smartphones, promoting them citywide is like an upgrade to a stronger, more powerful operating system.
As a former public school teacher in Boston and an advocate of community schools, I’ve seen positive results when school systems adopt this holistic approach.
Consider these examples from different parts of the country: Education and community leaders in Cincinnati have worked together over the past 20 years to build a system of community learning centers that now supports all the schools in the district. New York City houses the nation’s largest community school initiative, with 317 of its schools working in long-term partnership with public and private community resources. Oakland is close to finalizing its vision of becoming the nation’s first community school district.
All three districts have developed strong and sustained community engagement and systems of support at the district level with the help of university or nonprofit “backbone” partners (including, for example, the United Way and Children’s Aid for New York City; the Community Learning Center Institute and United Way for Cincinnati; and the Urban Strategies Council and Alameda County Public Health Department for Oakland) to help build capacity, manage shared data and help maximize funding.
What the three districts also have in common is a shared community-wide vision of what their schools should look like — and success in improving outcomes for students and families.
Three elements are vital to achieving such community-wide visions, according to a study I conducted.