The Community Agenda for America’s Public Schools
The challenges our nation faces in educating all of our young people are alarming. Yet in seeking solutions we often find ourselves divided. Public schools are too fundamental to our democratic values to leave isolated from other community institutions. This does not serve our children well. We must act collectively.
Schools now enroll the most diverse group of young people in our history; their progress depends on the environment in which they live and learn. Too many districts are experiencing stagnant high school graduation rates and unacceptably low performance in math and science. Too many students are disengaged, and too many young people are seen as problems rather than as individuals with assets, hopes and dreams. As citizens, we are less involved with our schools and in our democracy. Community issues – poverty, violence, family stability, and substance abuse-- are school issues.
These are realities – not excuses. Without question our schools need qualified teachers and strong principals, and like all public institutions they must be accountable. But just as surely we know that our young people and their families need more connections, more support, more opportunities, and more learning time to be successful. We can and we must do both. We must create effective schools that have robust relationships with families and other community institutions.
We cannot make this happen without a willingness to work together. Missing from the education reform and accountability debate, however, is serious dialogue about how to harness the shared capacity of our schools and communities to achieve our common goals.
Therefore, we propose The Community Agenda for America ’s Public Schools. The Community Agenda is built on four core beliefs:
- Communities and schools are fundamentally and positively interconnected. Engaged communities build strong schools; effective schools are essential to strong communities.
- Schools can make a difference in the lives of all children. The quality of schools matters. High academic standards, rigorous curricula, high quality teachers, effective school leadership, aligned tests, accountability, and strong professional development are important factors for student success.
- Children do better when their families do better. We recognize this inextricable connection and actively support the strengthening and empowering of families.
- The development of the whole child is a critical factor for student success. Children grow into successful adulthood through high-quality instructional opportunities in school and out of school, by exploring their talents and interests through experiences that stretch their aspirations and by receiving the social, emotional, and physical support they need to succeed.
At the heart of our Community Agenda is a commitment to work together to create strong and purposeful partnerships for change and results.
This idea – fully embraced – would make all Americans responsible and accountable for excellent schools and the positive development of all our young people. Every institution that influences positive outcomes for children and youth must be part of the agenda - schools, families, government, youth development organizations, health, mental health and family support agencies, higher education and faith-based institutions, community organizing and community development groups, unions and business. Each brings assets and expertise, each must change how it does its work and all must work together to close the opportunity gap.
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Understanding Obama's education vision
From NBC's Chuck Todd
The White House beat is more than just what happens at the Oval Office. We're doing out best to cover every department and every utterance made by members of President Obama's Cabinet. To that end, here are the most intriguing portions of Education Secretary Arne Duncan's interview last night with Charlie Rose.
Duncan gave a vision for public schools that I haven't yet heard the president articulate as clearly as Duncan did on Charlie Rose.
Duncan envisions a public school becoming a community center, meaning that when he advocates the lengthening of the school day, he's not necessarily calling for more public money to be spent on after-school programs. But, literally, using the building as a community center. So private groups, like the Boys and Girls club or the YMCA would hold classes there; maybe private arts foundations would do the same and maybe these private groups would help pay for equipment they would need and the school could get the benefit. This, of course, is done in many communities at many schools on an ad hoc basis, but hasn't been part of a national mandate.
Again, I'm highlighting because this was the light bulb moment for me when I truly understood what the president was attempting to advocate for his education programs.
Here are the direct excerpts.
I'm starting with Duncan being asked to describe the length of an average school day:
DUNCAN: I think our schools should be open 12, 13, 14 hours a day. So it’s not just length --
ROSE: So eight to eight, or something like that?
DUNCAN: Yes, and let me tell you what -- not just lengthening, obviously, the school day, but a wide variety of after school activities: drama, arts, sports, chess, debate, academic enrichment, programs for parents, GED, ESL, family literacy nights, potluck dinners. At home, we attached health-care clinics to about two dozen of our schools. Where schools truly become the centers of the community, great things happen. So I think we need the schools open much longer hours, and by the way, we don’t have to do this all ourselves as educators. You can bring in great nonprofits: the YMCAs, the Boys and Girls Clubs, mentoring and tutoring groups to co-locate their services and bolster the community from the school. And every neighborhood in our country, you have schools. In every school, you have classrooms, you have computer labs, you have libraries, you have gyms, many have pools. Those buildings don’t belong to you or I. They don’t belong to the unions. They belong to the community. We have these great physical resources, and we even maximize them.
ROSE: Keep them open 12 hours a day, 12 months a year.
DUNCAN: Yes.
ROSE: Twelve hours a day, 12 months a year.
DUNCAN: And I would go to six or seven days a week, not just Monday through Friday.
ROSE: Seven days a week. So the school becomes the center of community life.
DUNCAN: When the school becomes the center of community life, great things are going to happen for those families, and great things are going to happen to those children.
ROSE: Okay. Then tell me why that hasn’t happened before. I mean, who has stood in the way of that happening before? ...
DUNCAN: I don’t think there’s one person that’s stood in --
ROSE: I don’t mean an individual, but has there been an organization? Has it been an institution? Has it to do with resources? Has it do to with a mindset about education?
DUNCAN: I think it’s the latter. I think it’s the lack of creativity and it’s a lack of understanding what our children need. And this is what I think we’ve just been slow to react. If you go back 30 or 40 years ago, the average child could get out of school at 2:30, mom was at home, child would go home to mom, dad was working, and get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at 2:30. Today, you have more two-parent working families. You have more single moms working two, three jobs. You have unfortunately maybe children going home to no-parent families. So our society has changed. Our schools have not kept pace, and this is a chance to really create what I think the 21st century school needs to look like. This needs to be the norm, not the exception. Time matter tremendously, and all of our families need our stores open longer hours.
ROSE: Is this a big-ticket item in terms of financial resources?
DUNCAN: Finances is a piece of this, and we, again, have significant financial resources, unprecedented financial resources coming to the table. Let me be clear. This is thinking differently and being creative. What if the school system runs from 9:00 to 3:00, and what if they give the school to a great non-profit partner, the YMCAs, the Boys and Girls Clubs, whatever it might be, to run it from 3:00 to 9:00, not charge them rent, open the buildings and put them -- have all of their resources into better tutoring, better mentoring, and then bringing other non-profits. The money that I spent on this to open our schools long in Chicago was arguably the best money I spent because it was so highly leveraged. And you had all these phenomenal partners coming in, working collectively and collaboratively to one spot, provide this vast array of academic enrichment, social, even medical services to children and their families. So, yes, you need resources to do that, but it’s not just about resources. It’s about thinking differently, partnering, collaborating and understanding what our children need today to be successful.
msnbc.com
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The Community Agenda for America’s Public Schools is an action plan to ensure that all children enter school healthy, ready to learn and succeed. It prepares students to pursue post secondary education and become productive family and community members. The Community Agenda will help struggling youth, families and communities improve their lives by fostering school and community partnerships that support student outcomes. Key national leaders from education, youth development, community engagement, health and social services, and higher education organizations will sign on to a set of strategies and solutions enabling communities to support public education.
Quality education is critical and schools cannot do the job in isolation. For all students to achieve academic success the community must become active partners in addressing the challenges in the lives of youth, their families and neighborhoods, enabling schools to remain focused on their core mission of education.
For further information visit: www.communityschools.org
Contact person: Shital C. Shah, Research Associate, shahs@iel.org
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The Power of Partnerships: Providing a Well-Rounded Education for All
By butterfi
Created 2002-09-03 07:00
The community school at IS 218, along with the other nine New York City schools with which the Children's Aid Society has partnered, is based on a simple but powerful notion: Children can succeed academically only when all of their health, nutrition, emotional, and developmental needs are met.
Keeping Kids in School -- and Parents at Work
One of the first areas you see when you walk into IS 218 is the free clinic. It's where Dr. Hugh Gilgoff dispenses antibiotics, makes sure students are current on their immunizations, and works as part of a team of educators, social workers, and other medical professionals to make sure students stay healthy -- and stay in school.
On one typical March school day, for example, a student came in to the clinic complaining of tightness in his chest from an asthma flare-up. The student had two treatments on the clinic's Albuterol machine and then went back to class once the tightness had subsided. "We kept him in school, kept him learning," says Dr. Gilgoff. Without the school-based clinic, the student would have missed an entire day of school and his parent would have missed a day of work -- and perhaps the wages that went along with it.
The clinic at IS 218 provides students with a broad array of medical services -- from taking care of immunizations to treating chronic problems, such as asthma.
Credit: Edutopia
Social workers are available twelve hours a day for students and their family members, and provide another vital piece of the safety net designed to keep kids in school. They counsel students individually. They organize group sessions around common concerns, such as anger management or self-esteem. And they help children and adults alike -- including school staff -- deal with both daily stressors and life-changing events.
For the Washington Heights community, the fall of 2001 brought with it two such events. First came the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, followed by the crash of a passenger airliner headed for the Dominican Republic, the birthplace of many area residents. No one at IS 218 was untouched by these tragic events. Friends and family members were injured or killed. And everyone's sense of security was shaken.
Now, more than ever, the students seek out adults to guide them through the turbulent times.
"Students come down and say 'Do you have a minute?'" says Scott Bloom, director of mental health for the school-based clinics run by the Children's Aid Society. They talk about bad dreams, about anxiety over an upcoming test, or a frightening news report. They ask, "Am I going to be safe? Are my mom and dad going to be safe?"
"We're always there. We can talk anytime," says Bloom. "That's very positive for kids. It's something they can count on."
Through IS 218's innovative "Recyle-a-Bicycle" program, students can earn the opportunity to build their own bike using recycled parts.
Credit: Edutopia
From Bach to Bicycles
At many schools, students pack up their books and head home when the bell rings at three o'clock. But at IS 218, the afternoon bell doesn't signal the end of the day -- just a continuation. In one room, the string ensemble is practicing. The group of talented young musicians meets every day -- the only such program in the entire school district. Down the hall, students are sorting through bike parts, tightening wheels, and assembling bikes as part of a recycling program. Elsewhere in the three-story facility, students are participating in math and reading literacy programs, using the school's new wireless laptops, or choreographing a dance number.
Isabel is what you might call a "regular" at the Recycle-a-Bicycle program. You'll find her in the classroom-turned-bike shop on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, where she dutifully logged her hours to qualify for the ultimate reward: to build her own bicycle and take it home.
"I like being here," Isabel says as she tightens the wheel on her bike-in-progress. "I like building my own bike and learning how it works."
The innovative recycling program began in 1993 with a grant from the New York City Department of Sanitation, which was eager to get discarded bike parts "out of the waste stream and on to the streets," says program coordinator Audrey Warren.
Besides being good for the environment, the program is also an excellent opportunity to encourage students to think mechanically, to tinker, "to do things they're not likely to do anywhere else," says Warren. "They ask questions like: Why do we use ball bearings? What is friction? and How do ball bearings reduce friction?" she adds. "My hope is that they then go back and ask those same questions of their science teachers."
Wireless laptop computers are the latest addition to IS 218's computer lab, used throughout the school day and as part of the after-shcool program.
Credit: Edutopia
Writing Yes in Your Heart
Rather than trying to replicate what goes on during the school day, CAS' role in the after-school program is to support and enhance the work of classroom teachers. Traditionally, that support has come in the form of enrichment and athletic opportunities, but increasingly it also includes providing students with the extra assistance they need to succeed academically.
For some students, that means help with homework before they move on to the "fun" activities. For others it means participating in literacy and mathematics programs, geared toward helping students develop the skills they need to perform at grade level.
A leadership team comprised of CAS staff, teachers, and school administrators develops each new offering jointly. Often, in fact, it's the classroom teachers who lead the after-school activities, providing another level of continuity between what happens during the school day and what happens before and after the bell rings. Teachers who choose to work in the after-school program get paid for the extra hours they put in.
By just about every measure, these joint efforts are paying off. A study conducted by Fordham University researchers found that reading and math scores on standardized tests are higher at IS 218 than at comparable middle schools. Both student and teacher attendance is higher than at other local schools, with the student attendance rate surpassing that of every other middle school in the district (and significantly better than the citywide average). Researchers also found that CAS community schools are safer, have more involved parents, and are considered "special" by students, staff, and parents.
"It doesn't mean there aren't challenges," concedes Jane Quinn, assistant executive director for Community Schools for the Children's Aid Society. "There's never enough space. There's never enough money. And the needs are always greater than the resources we can bring to the table, even collectively. But if you have the word yes written in your heart, you can make almost anything happen. We're living proof of that in our schools in New York City."
Roberta Furger is a contributing writer for Edutopia.
Links:
[1] http://www.edutopia.org/childrens-aid-society-video
[2] http://www.edutopia.org/childrens-aid-society
[3] http://www.edutopia.org/learning-design
[4] http://www.edutopia.org/new-day-for-learning
Center for Community School Partnerships
University of California Davis
The Center for Community School Partnerships engages in research, evaluation, and technical assistance to connect schools and communities in ways that support student success, youth well-being, and collaborative community-school partnerships.
Located in the UC Davis School of Education, the Center for Community School Partnerships (CCSP) was established as the Healthy Start Field Office in 1992. During the past decade, CCSP has served over 800 community-school partnership sites across the state of California, and has provided national and international consultation in education reform and collaborative partnership policy.
At the core of our practice is the firm belief that our work be informed by what is happening in the field of community-schools at the national and state levels. An examination of the successes and challenges of people working in community-school partnerships through the national and state policy framework has allowed us to develop practical and workable solutions, many of which are adaptable to other communities and situations.
Programs and Projects of CCSP include:
University of California Davis
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