About Community Schools
What is a Community School?
Community Schools Overview Piece Recent NATional Research Report
A community school is both a place and a network of supportive partnerships between the school
and the community. Community schools create a web of support that help children learn, families succeed, neighborhoods engage and communities thrive. By sharing expertise and resources, schools and communities act in concert to educate the whole child – academically, emotionally, physically and socially. This is accomplished through utilizing the unique relationships available in each school with families, teachers, nonprofits, faith communities, citizens and businesses.
Research shows that it takes more than academics for children to grow into educated, responsible adults. Together with families and the community, community schools are committed to identifying the barriers to students’ success and doing everything possible to remove those barriers. Community schools bring the resources of the community into the school to make sure children have everything they need to succeed.
National Education Assocation’s advocacy video and materials on Community Schools
Community Schools Video, produced by students from Oakland Unified School District, the nation’s first full-service community school district
Frequently Asked Questions about Community Schools
Six Pillars for Community School Success
National Center for Community Schools resources, research and case studies
“If we provide children with what they need to be healthy and feel supported, and with opportunities they deserve to be successful in school, the student will succeed and families and neighborhoods will be stronger.”
– Martin Blank, President of the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) and Director of the Coalition for Community Schools, Washington, DC
OUR PARTNER AGENCY: NATIONAL CENTER FOR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Click above to learn more about the National Center for Community Schools in NYC.
COALITION for COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Click above to learn more about community schools nationally and the research that drives our work.
EDUCATIONAL EQUITY and COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Click above to learn more about community schools as a strategy for increased educational equity.
Why Community Schools?
Engaged Communities
Community schools integrate the surrounding community into the school, resulting in stronger families and neighborhoods. Using public schools as hubs, community schools work with community partners to offer a wide range of supports, services and opportunities to children, families and neighborhoods.
Healthy Families
Community schools welcome and encourage the active participation of all families in the school community so that families have the skills to support their child in being successful at school, are fully engaged in their child’s education, and have an accurate understanding of the school’s expectations of their child.
Successful Students
Community schools prioritize educating
the whole child, addressing each child’s comprehensive needs through the shared responsibility of the student, family, school and community. We focus on Core Components to establish Conditions for Learning that lead to a thriving learning environment.