Community Schools Online is a list-serve maintained by the Coalition for Community Schools and provides updates on developments in the filed of community schools and the work of the Coalition.

Community Schools National Awards for Excellence 2007. Deadline March 22nd

Individual community schools and community-wide initiatives that have been operating for three or more years and have demonstrated positive results for students, families and/or communities are invited to submit an application by March 22nd. Awards will be announced in May and given on Capitol Hill on June 14. Three individual schools (an elementary, middle and high school), and up to two communities will be honored. 

• Download the selection criteria (77 KB Microsoft Word doc
• Download the school application form (56 KB Microsoft Word doc) 
• Download the community application form (48 KB Microsoft Word doc)
• View profiles of previous award winners (4.55 MB PDF)

Community Schools in the News. PTA Magazine Dedicated to Community Schools

Community schools are the focus of this month’s national PTA magazine, Our Children. The issue emphasizes the ways in which schools engage their communities to improve student success.  The Coalition is grateful to the National PTA, a Coalition partner, for their focus on community schools.  There are four feature articles:

Community Schools: Bolstering the American Dream by Lisa Villarreal of the San Francisco Foundation uses the story of the Stevenson-YMCA Community School, an elementary school in Long Beach, CA, to illustrate the vision of community schools.

Community Schools and Community Building by Mark Warren at the Harvard Graduate School of Education focuses on the work of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA) in eight Chicago schools.  LSNA uses a community organizing strategy to build parent participation and leadership at the schools.  The LSNA community schools are part of the Chicago Community Schools Initiative.

This month’s edition also has a variety of article on community building and community schools, anecdotes about community schools in action, as well as a feature story on cross-boundary school leadership.  All of these articles make a strong and convincing case for community schools.

Community Schools in Action highlights the work of university assisted community schools, Communities In Schools and the ChildrenÂ’s Aid Society.

Leading Across Boundaries: The Community School Way by Coalition Director Marty Blank discusses the principles and practices of shared leadership in community schools. The article focuses on what successful community school leaders do to break down barriers between communities and schools that hinder progress. 

For the full magazine see here.

Youth Today Features the Role of Partnerships in Afterschool

Partnerships between school and community-based organizations (CBOs) are becoming increasingly common in after-school programs. Research is beginning to show that these types of partnerships are not only helping to improve student achievement, they also provide the capacity and expertise to reintroduce youth development, recreation and arts programs into schools.

“That’s why Chicago, Cincinnati, Baltimore and other cities are expanding community school programs that include school and youth organization collaborations. Their objectives include boosting parental involvement, coordinating access to medial and mental health services and running after schools program can also enhance academic learning.” according to reporter Jim Myers.

Successful partnerships require adaptability and a commitment to maintaining good relationships from both CBOs and schools. To work in schools, CBOs must often change their program models and offerings; while schools need to appreciate the particular strengths of CBO partners. 

To read this article click here.

Coalition Letter Published in New York Times

On March 3, The New York Times published a letter to the editor written by the Coalition’s staff director Marty Blank and research director Amy Berg.

The letter, featured below, responds to David Brook’s March 1st column, “A Critique of Pure Reason.”  Brooks challenges the innovative presidential nominee to go beyond the standard campaign call to improve schools.  The creative candidate, he believes, will be the one who recognizes the importance of addressing students’ emotional needs early in life. 

It is essential, Brooks argues, to establish a secure emotional base from birth, to ensure that a child will be ready to learn once he or she reaches school. This then begs the question, if schools alone can not prepare students to learn, what can government do about it?

Brooks believes that it can support programs that help children develop healthy attachments with their parents. Brooks offers The Nurse-Family Partnerships program as an example of something that works well. 

British lawmakers have recently bought in to this argument, crafting new national policies to help families build strong emotional bonds with their young children as a means to improve educational and social outcomes.  For Brooks, it is up to our government, especially its potential new leaders, to follow this lead.  

The Coalition responded  

To the Editor:

David Brooks is correct in calling for candidates to talk about education policy in terms that reflect what we know today about how young people develop and learn. Decades of research in brain development and psychology make clear that out-of-school factors like parental relationships, physical and emotional health, and feelings of efficacy have a direct influence on young people's academic success. We ignore this at our country's peril.

However, schools alone don't have the ability to influence these factors. Public and private agencies must work in partnership with schools to address the health, housing and other needs of students and their families.

In other words, it will "take a village" to ensure that no child is left behind.

Martin J. Blank, Amy C. Berg // Washington, March 1, 2007

To see the published letter, go to NYT.