Strong communities, measured in terms of belonging, are often shown to produce positive social and educational outcomes. Although useful, this approach narrows the potential scope of the concept and inadequately measures complex communities where positive outcomes, such as student engagement, can be mixed with negative outcomes, such as social exclusion. Conceptualizing communities as a network of interrelationships allows for breaking the concept of community down into the underlying structures among community members. Researchers can then examine community processes and outcomes using new measurements that capture the internal dynamics of community formation as driven by potentially competing theoretical mechanisms: bonding and exploration.