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…

The modern-day community schools movement reached a new plateau in 2008 when Randi Weingarten made community schools a central element of her platform as the new president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The AFT's action was a milestone on a journey that began a decade earlier, when advocates for community schools determined that it…

From their beginning, community schools have expanded the learning day as a central component of their comprehensive strategy. Community schools of the early twentieth century served as centers of the community where students, families, and community members came to learn, to become civically engaged, and to prepare for the workforce. In this way,…

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…

From statehouse to schoolhouse, interest in community schools and expanded learning opportunities (ELO) has grown. This report captures the interaction between these two mutually beneficial education reforms in local communities and draws important lessons that will help schools, districts, community partners, and others. It illustrates the…

In June 2013, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and the Institute for Educational Leadership convened a group of stakeholders, researchers, and practitioners in Washington, DC. The group discussed the role of partnerships in advancing educational opportunities for low-income children and youth in the United States. They examined topics…

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…

Title I funds are available to districts and schools with high numbers or percentages of disadvantaged students to provide services, including academic enrichment services through Title I, Part A, so all the nation's children have an equal opportunity to education and can reach proficiency on state academic achievement standards and assessments.…

Students learn best when their physical, mental, emotional, and other needs are met, but schools rarely have the time and resources available to meet those needs. If schools can find a way to engage families and communities, students are more likely to succeed. But how? One answer is the community schools strategy. A community school has a set of…

Community schools are one of the most efficient and effective strategies to improve outcomes for students as well as families and communities. Community schools leverage public and private investments by generating additional financial resources from partners and other sources. This report looks at how community schools finance their work. It…

This paper explores ways in which principals of community schools--and other principals who, though they may not yet identify their schools as community schools, are responding in a very similar manner--work successfully with community partners, families, and other key stakeholders to improve student outcomes. By reflecting on the topic from the…

Education is the foundation of democracy. As such it must work for all young people. Yet far too often young people disengage from learning and do not reach their full, human potential. Community schools--places where partners come together to offer a range of supports and opportunities for children, youth, families, and communities before,…

Community schools foster a learning environment that extends far beyond the classroom walls. Students learn and problem solve in the context of their lives and communities. Community schools nurture this natural engagement. Because of the deep and purposeful connections between schools and communities, the curriculum is influenced and enhanced,…

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,…

Community schools are environment-changing institutions that engage children, families, neighbors, and local organizations in active work to improve life and learning in the community. This article describes how community schools create conditions that enable students to learn and teachers to teach at high levels. The authors discuss keys to…