About Community Schools

Celebrating the Versatility of Community School Models

Community schools are vital in transforming education by addressing student success through collaborative partnerships involving parents, educators, and the community. Each community school model carries the same intention — to uplift every student's learning experience — yet they differ in the strategies and frameworks used to achieve these goals.

Exploring the Spectrum of Community School Models

The landscape of community schools is rich and varied, with each model presenting unique methods of integrating community resources:

University-Assisted Approach: This model harnesses the power of higher education’s resources to enhance educational experiences. The Unlimited Potential Initiative is an example of this approach, creating a bridge between universities and Pre-K-12 education to provide expanded learning and integrated student supports. The Netter Center is also an example of this, mobilizing the vast resources of the University of Pennsylvania to support traditional public schools.
Multi-Partner Approach: This model is a collaboration between education, health and community services to offer a comprehensive support network that goes beyond academic learning. The Community Partnership Schools model is an example of this approach.

In addition to the approaches above, other Community School models include:

School as Lead Agency Approach: In this model, schools themselves drive the collaborative process, appointing coordinators to manage partnerships and activities. An example of this approach includes the Evansville, Indiana system which formed a council to direct community and school district collaborations, highlighting the school's central role in community engagement.
Community-Managed Approach: Led by local communities, parents, or Non-Governmental Organizations, these schools are often foundational in locales where they originate or manage established schools. Save the Children is a key player, fostering educational support structures at home and in schools worldwide, particularly in regions affected by crises.
Community-Based Lead Agency Approach: Here, a community agency partners with a school, guiding operations and resource mobilization to address the school's needs. Children’s Aid in New York City, utilizing this model since 1992, employs a site coordinator to spearhead the provision of integrated school-based services and programs.

The Solid Foundation: Pillars of Community School Success

All these diverse models are grounded in the essential pillars vital for their success: Collaborative Leadership, Expanded Learning, Integrated Student Supports, and Family and Community Engagement, ensuring they are well-equipped to support student learning and community strength.

Uniting for Collective Impact

Community schools are a collaborative effort. They draw strength from the unique characteristics and needs of their communities, tailoring approaches to best support the regions they serve. By embracing the variety among these models, communities can draw upon best practices and strategies that resonate most with their goals, fostering environments where students, families and neighborhoods thrive.

As community schools advance and expand, they reveal the remarkable outcomes that can be realized when education reaches beyond traditional classroom settings and deeply engages with the community.

“Community school” is a term used to define an approach used to improve the success of students, families and a community through collaborations between a school and a community partner(s).

A community school is both a place and a set of partnerships, according to the Coalition for Community Schools in Washington, D.C.

All community schools share the same focus – to assess and meet the unique needs of the school community. However, they vary in their approach to engaging partners and organizing resources.

Approaches

Described below are some of the most common approaches to community schools involving partnerships found in community school literature. It is by no means an exhaustive list. The below summary of community school approaches was derived from the work of Ellis, (2019), The Impact of the Community Partnership Schools Model Community School on Graduation and Attendance Rates in One Florida High School (1).

Multiple Core Partners Approach

Schools or school districts interested in exploring the idea of a community school are not limited to engaging just one core partner. In the multiple core partner approach, two or more entities partner with a school; establish shared governance; and commit time, personnel and resources to eliminate barriers to student success.

The Community Partnership Schools™ model is a multiple core partner approach co-founded in 2010 at Evans High School in Orlando by the Children’s Home Society of Florida, Orange County Public Schools and University of Central Florida. Community Partnership Schools always have these four core partners: a school district, a healthcare provider, a nonprofit, and a university or college. They may have other core partners as well.

Community-Based Lead Agency Approach

The community-based-lead-agency approach is built on a partnership between a community-based agency and a school. The community-based agency employs a site coordinator or director to lead the community school’s operations. The agency also is responsible for identifying and prioritizing the school’s needs, engaging stakeholders, leveraging resources, and coordinating with service providers to offer on-site programming and supports.

Children’s Aid (formerly Children’s Aid Society), a private child welfare agency in New York City, has been operating community schools using the community-based lead agency approach since 1992.

University-Assisted Approach

The University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) approach involves a partnership between a school or school district and a university or college. The university or college serves as the lead partner and appoints a coordinator to strategize and manage the community school’s operations. The coordinator also works to mobilize the vast resources of a university or college to help transform a traditional public school.

Two University of Pennsylvania students initiated the UACS approach in 1985. Today, this approach is a major component of U Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships in Philadelphia.

In Florida, The Education Effect uses the UACS approach in a partnership between Florida International University and schools in Miami’s urban core.

School as Lead Agency Approach

In the school-as-lead-agency approach, a school or school district assumes the lead role and hires a coordinator or director to oversee community school partnerships and operations.

For the Evansville, Indiana, school system, leveraging community support it “paramount.” Evansville created a School Community Council to guide the work of partners and schools from the district level. It also has assigned district staff to support the transformation of its schools into community schools (learn more about this school-as-lead-agency approach).

Community-Managed Approach

“Community-managed” community schools are led by parents, community members or non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They also are more common outside of the United States, particularly in communities that either created a local school or assumed the responsibility for managing a government-established school.

Save the Children reaches millions of children though its education programs. The NGO works with communities to create safe and stimulating preschool environments, as well as to support a child’s education at home. It also works with national and local governments to improve access to education, including in times of conflict or in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Ellis, A. (2019). The Impact of the Community Partnership Schools Model Community School on Graduation and Attendance Rates in One Florida High School (1). Doctoral dissertation, University of Central Florida. STARS.