Saba Bireda on community schools

What are community schools?

Community schools are public schools that provide students with the services they need to be prepared to learn. For example, a lot of community schools have school-based health services, additional learning opportunities for students after school, as well as mental health referrals, and other services that kids may not get outside of school. In addition, community schools actually also provide services to parents and community members. Many community schools offer job training, ESL classes, and other antipoverty services such as benefits enrollment, assistance with tax forms--anything that actually helps parents be able to provide their students and their families with a more secure and economic wellbeing.

How do community schools help improve student achievement?

We know that high standards and excellent academic instruction is really the key to students' learning in the classroom. But may students, especially those that live in poverty, come to school with several challenges that make it hard to learn. For example, a student who has repeat asthma attacks that go untreated because he doesn't have health care, or another student who has attention deficit disorder and hasn't gotten the proper mental health treatment, may find it really difficult to access the school curriculum. So, community schools actually help those students meet the needs that they have outside of the classroom so that they're better prepared in the classroom. In addition, community schools have proven to increase parent involvement in their students' education, which is a huge factor in increasing student achievement. Parents who are at the school to use services such as English as a second language classes or job training classes are already at the school site, can talk to their students' teachers, and can be more involved with school life.

What steps can we take to implement community schools?

At a local level, districts can seek out private/public funding options to fund community schools. For example, in Chicago, which has a huge private/public funding initiative to implement community schools, there have been 150 schools started since 2001. School districts can also use stimulus funds to support community school development. On the federal level, Congress is considering legislation to expand community schools. This five-year grant program, which was introduced by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senator Ben Nelson, would provide federal funding for school districts across the nation to partner with community-based organizations to start and sustain community schools.