Community Schools Show Promise As School Improvement Strategy

Washington, D.C. - Community schools can be a successful strategy for improving schools under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), according to a report released today by the National Education Policy Center and the Learning Policy Institute. The report, Community Schools: An Evidence-Based Strategy for Equitable School Improvement, reveals that community schools, an increasingly popular school improvement strategy, are strongly supported by research evidence, as required by ESSA. The report was released at an event organized by the Coalition for Community Schools.

Community schools are schools that partner with community agencies and local government to provide an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, and youth and community development. They provide expanded learning time and opportunities, engage families actively, and emphasize collaborative practices. Lead author Jeannie Oakes noted that, “Although the approach is appropriate for students of all backgrounds, many community schools serve neighborhoods where poverty and racism erect barriers to learning, and where families have few resources to supplement what typical schools provide.”

Authors Oakes, Anna Maier, and Julia Daniel examined 125 peer-reviewed studies, program evaluations, and published research reviews investigating the impact of community schools or their component parts on a range of outcomes. The authors evaluated the studies against the criteria set forth in ESSA for determining which interventions may be considered “evidence-based” and found that there is sufficient evidence to support the broad use of community schools as an “evidence-based” reform strategy. The report stresses that community schools can be a particularly important strategy for transforming high-poverty schools.

Community Schools details how implementing the community schools strategy affects multiple domains — achievement, attendance, behavior, adult and peer relationships, and attitudes—but cautions that those effects will likely take time to be fully realized. Accordingly, the report provides research-based lessons that describe the evidence-based characteristics of well-implemented successful programs.

These lessons stress the importance of:

  • taking a comprehensive approach;
  • adapting the strategy to local contexts;
  • providing sufficient planning time to build trusting relationships between the school and partners;
  • involving young people, parents, and community members as part of the needs assessment, design, planning and implementation processes;
  • using evaluation strategies that provide useful information about implementation and exposure to services, as well as progress toward hoped-for outcomes; and
  • using data for continuous program refinement, while allowing sufficient time for the strategy to fully mature.

The report also recommends support for further rigorous studies of community schools in order to develop a better understanding of the conditions under which the various elements of the community schools strategy are most effective.

Jeannie Oakes summed up the report’s significance: “The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), requires that federally funded interventions be ‘evidence-based.’ Our review makes clear that policymakers, educators, and communities can make community schools part of their evidence-based ESSA state plans.”

Find Community Schools: An Evidence-Based Strategy for Equitable School Improvement, by Jeannie Oakes, Anna Maier, and Julia Daniel, at: nepc.colorado.edu/publication.

 

Featured

  • Fellowes Launches New 3D Modular, Product Configurators

    Contract interiors and architectural solutions provider Fellowes recently announced the launch of new 3D modular and product configurators for several of its product lines, according to a news release. The new products offer SIF file integration and pricing for the Volo, Markerboards, Sena, and Rising product lines in connection with 3D Cloud, which provides 3D product visualization and 3D digital asset management.

  • Epson Receives Seven AV Industry Awards

    Projectors manufacturer Epson recently announced that it received multiple awards across the Higher Ed AV Awards, SCN Stellar Service Awards, and InfoComm 2025, according to a news release. The company was recognized for three projectors from its PowerLite L-Series line, accessories, installation process, and its customer support team.

  • old university building with visible aging signs, overlaid with digital data graphics like thermal maps, charts, and system icons

    Modernizing Higher Education Infrastructure: Why Smarter Facility Management Is Essential to Protecting Aging Schools

    Schools now have the opportunity to adopt smarter, more strategic approaches to futureproof operations and enhance the on-campus experience.

  • Addressing the Housing Affordability Crisis Through Creative Campus Development

    Many Southern California college and university campuses are living amidst surging housing costs, driving the need to house more of their populations on campus. Especially for community colleges, the need to support millions of unhoused and housing insecure students has become a prominent issue that lawmakers and institutions alike are trying to solve.

Digital Edition